The August BOT meeting: neither live nor direct

Brandye D got excited 'bout the
IVC A400 remodel project

     [Please see Tere's "Board Meeting Highlights"]
     Normally, I attend meetings of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees, but, on Monday, something came up. Missed the meeting.
     So this afternoon, I watched “streaming video” of the meeting, although, in truth, I think I fell asleep for some of it.
     As always, the meeting started with Clerk Marcia Milchiker reading out actions taken during closed session. She reported two actions, including the rejection of a “claim” made by a classified manager. The vote was 4-0, with trustees Bill Jay, Dave Lang, and Jim Wright abstaining.
     What’s that all about? The agenda for the closed session includes this item: “Anticipated Litigation/Significant Exposure to Litigation ... Claim of Tracy Daly.” I like Tracy, but she was considered close to the Mathur regime, and so when he left (it was a Nixonian exodus) she seemed to disappear into I-know-not-what.
     Bill Jay did the invocation, which started with the words “Dear heavenly father….” I think Bill was communicating more with his worldly audience than with the Lord. It seems to me that, if you address the Lord, then you really ought to address the Lord, and not the knuckleheads in the room or out there in TV Land. Accordingly, you ought to have something to say. I wish these trustees agreed.
     Naturally, there were no public comments. It’s Orange County.
     Next came board reports. Nothing special was reported. Mike Meldau, who’s chosen to retire from the board (not wishing to compete for his seat), said he had attended a tour of the newly refurbished Student Health Center at Saddleback College, and he was pretty excited about it. So was Marcia Milchiker, who seemed to announce that, on Sept. 17, the center would provide “free flea shots.” Marcia had also attended lots of the inservice activities, though none of that seemed to take. She was plenty excited about the “35” new faculty hires. Who isn’t?
     Newbie trustee Jim Wright also attended some inservice activities, and he seemed really to like the chancellor’s opening session, held at IVC, which he pronounced “very well done.” He had visited the newly fixed up Saddleback Library, too. It looks “wonderful,” he said.
     (Recently, some Saddleback faculty told me that the continuing disruptions caused by the library remodel were intolerable—scandalously so. They seemed especially snarky about a certain administrator.)
     Student trustee Park had lots to say. She’s been busy making appearances, I guess.

Wry non-remarks 'bout
Padbergian snubbage

     Board President Nancy Padberg then moved on to other business, but Dave Lang then noted that, once again, she had skipped over the goshdarned Chancellor’s report. Gary (Poertner, Chancellor) muttered that he could think of some wisecracks, but he'd leave 'em to himself while the cameras are rolling.
     That Gary can be pretty funny. (Sadly, his drollery was the highlight of the evening.)
     Gary reported that he appreciated seeing all the indications that folks are joining in the district’s “student completion” initiative, launched this summer. Tonight, he said, we’d hear from the two Academic Senates, and there would be many further presentations (by the senates, I think) in the coming months. With regard to this completion business, Gary once again stated that “we should be a leader in the state.”
     There were no trustee requests for reports.
     (Gary must be pleased. The current board doesn’t look for trouble, and the trustees generally proceed reasonably, and so meetings are strictly snore-worthy. How I long for the days when Steve would lecture us about “liars” and the "ADL" and Don would carp about “liberal busybodies” among librarians. And Tom’s staunch face alone could send small children and animals screaming into the night.)
     As you know, Bob "Buzzin' Bee" Cosgrove and Kathy "New Girl" Schmeidler are the presidents of our two Academic Senates. The two came up for the discussion item: “Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College: Role of the Academic Senate in Education Program Development.”
     Bob started off with a fine quip: that we'll just hire some consultants for all this work.
     After that, Bob and Kathy took turns squawkin’. In a fairly brief presentation, they laid out the academic senates’ role, starting with the verbiage in Title 5 and board policy re “delegation of authority” by the board to the senates. “We are the only ones who can develop curriculum,” said Kathy, with profoundly subtle snarkitude. She and Bob went on to explain how much faculty do beyond their teaching, what with committee work and program development and SLOs and whatnot. I think these two were softening up the trustees for future contract negotiations.
     After that, some sharpie—from Smith Barney—got up to discuss the health of the “retiree trust fund.” Not much has happened to the market in recent years, he joked. In fact, of course, buttloads have happened, including the Crash of 2008, but, despite it all, the fund has performed nearly 5% per year(?) since 2008.

Smith Barney sharpie

     Barney Boy yammered about Greece and the EU and all the wackiness of Europe. It’s hard to say what will happen next, he said. And so, as our investment consultant, he’s trying to keep a “balanced approach.”
     Nancy seemed pleased. “Sounds like you’re doing a pretty good job,” she non-joked. When Nancy said “sounds,” she meant “sounds.”
     The trustees discussed that big-assed golf driving range down at Saddleback. Apparently, geezers aren’t using it nearly as much as they once did, and so some kind of management adjustment has to be made.
     At one point, the board discussed the new Bio building project up at Irvine Valley College. Back in December (I think), the contractor went belly-up, but then that “surety” business kicked in—you know, the insurance for such emergencies. Brandye D did most of the ‘splainin’. The upshot seems to be that 3 or 4 new contractors are competing to take over the job, and that process should be settled within a couple of weeks. As a result of the delay, we are down maybe a million bucks, but I think she said we might be able to recover 40% of that.
     In response to one of Lang’s zingers, for some reason, Brandye got all excited—“It’s so exciting!” she said—and mentioned moving forward soon with the A400 remodel project at IVC.
     I think maybe Brandye is aware that some of the natives are restless over at IVC. And though no one appreciates Brandye's squeally enthusiasms more than I do, I think she underoverestimates their power to soothe the savage breast.
     While we’re on the subject (of breasts? savages? construction?), my dean always insists that, if it weren’t for VPI Craig J, H&L (my school) would never have gotten this building.
     Just sayin’.
     Next came the two student government kids with their budgets. The IVC kid gave a very brief report. Lang zeroed in on some requested allocation for $3k that produced an allocation of $13k. What’s that all about? I think the kid said that the “bookstore repair” was an unexpected expense. Oh.
     Not sure, but maybe that’s a reference to the recent discovery of the Mold Monster under that shitty old temporary that houses the bookstore. That discovery led to a decision to move the bookstore into B100, displacing various classes (ESL and whatnot). Those classes ended up in shitty temporaries.
     (To hear IVC administrators tell it, the story goes like this: Nixon/Agnew joined their bookstore colleagues in a routine inspection of the building, and then, surprise surprise, mold was discovered! Who'd've thunk?! With the cooperation of affected Schools/departments, Craig and Co. quickly moved classes out of B100 and in those CEC temporaries. Owing to this emergency, soon, the bookstore will move to B100, where it was fated to go anyway [years from now], according to the facilities master plan.
     (So, is that how it all came down? Golly, d'ya suppose there's more to the story?)

The Kathy and Bob Show: faculty do much work

     The Saddleback kid was equally brief. He yammered a bit about all the money dedicated to “student scholarships and cocurricular activities.” Lang or somebody noted that, in fact, they’re spending less this year than last year on that stuff, and so the kid explained that, yeah, but they’re spending more than they first said they would. Oh.
     As I recall, in the past, trustees, especially the late Tom Fuentes, have been troubled by the SC student government budget starting always with a big “rollover” from the year before. Not good. (What's the point of taking all this money and hanging on to it?) So it looks like they’re trying to address that. I dunno. I sure miss old Tom. He sure could make trouble. That was his special talent.
     VC Deb Fitzsimmons gave a relatively brief presentation on the district budget, which is lots like the last budget, I guess. That’s about when I fell asleep.
     For what it’s worth, had I actually been to the meeting, I think I would have fallen asleep at exactly the same spot.

A "lack" of writing and thinking well

     At yesterday’s Academic Senate meeting, senators were at one point obliged to read a document, evidently produced by a district committee or committees, that lists “barriers” to “Mutual Respect, Cooperation and Collaboration.”
     Yes, as I understand it, the document is yet another product of our seemingly endless and largely absurd effort to address the accrediting agency’s “recommendations.” These recommendations are in fact tasks issued by the Accreds in order to address problems at our college(s) that they have identified.
     For instance, in February, in a letter, the Accreds issued three recommendations, including this one:

[We] recommend that the district provide a clear delineation of its functional responsibilities, the district level process for decision making and the role of the district in college planning and decision-making…. 

     The letter stated that, despite recent “warnings” that it is out of compliance with the relevant standards, our college (IVC) has made enough progress that it is hereby declared "accredited." Nevertheless, the college must now produce a report that demonstrates that it has “addressed” the three recommendations, including the one above.
     I call our accreditation labors absurd in part because the process is so slow and cumbersome and generally ridiculous that, at times, the Accreds’ recommendations arrive only after the problem that gave rise to the recommendations has been largely overcome. But the Accred Machine will not stop; nor will it adjust.

     Consider: there’s been much fear and distrust—and “disrespecting”—in our district, owing in large part to the ruthlessness and pettiness and connivery of former district Chancellor (and nakedly ambitious wannabe) Raghu P. Mathur. (He's presently running for Laguna Hills City Council.)
     But Mathur left the district more than two years ago!
     Nevertheless, here we are, still addressing the absence of "mutual respect” (a euphemism, really, for prevailing Mathurian realpolitik) and the fear and distrust that it long engendered in dark, dark Raghustan. (Arguably, the atmosphere of hostility and fear was caused also by the bullying realpolitik of trustees Don Wagner and the late Tom Fuentes. But they, too, are long gone. In truth, we have a much better board and chancellor now. Admittedly, there seems to be some bullying at IVC that is unrelated to the Mathurian crowd.)
     So, do we write the Accreds, advising them that their recommendations are (to a degree) inappropriate because the source of the underlying problem is now gone?
     No, we do not. (Or we do, but this gets us absolutely nowhere.) Instead, like the Queen Mary or maybe the Titanic, we uselessly set about to turn the whole goddam operation around in mid-ocean. It’s a mammoth undertaking, and it is pretty dishonest; plus its pointless. But we are bound to do it anyway.
     Absurd.

     Back to yesterday’s Academic Senate meeting:
     In the course of addressing the Accreds' recommendations, a group (or groups) within the district have arrived at a list of five "barriers" (do these people realize that this is a metaphor?) to "mutual-respect" and "cooperation." Here they are:

Barrier 1: Unhealthy competition within and between IVC, Saddleback, and District Services.
Barrier 2: Lack of utilizing data and metrics for decision-making.
Barrier 3: Circumvention and lack of established policies, procedures, and protocols.
Barrier 4: Lack of district-wide perspective and mutual understanding and acceptance of the roles of each college and district services.
Barrier 5: Lack of district policy encouraging civility, respect, and collegial behavior

     Now, I won’t launch into a critique of the entire list, although someone really should do that.
     Nope, I want to focus on “barrier” #2 in particular. I don't really have a problem with 2, but I do have a problem with how it's expressed.
     Let’s read it again:

Lack of utilizing data and metrics for decision-making.

     Lack of utilizing data? Really?
     Suppose a man stands on railroad tracks and is fatally run down by a train. How should we describe this? Was there a “lack” of getting out of the train’s way?
     And what’s with the word “utilizing”? People who go to college learn to avoid “utilize” when “use” is adequate. Students are advised that, though there may be special situations in which the word “utilize” is appropriate, unnecessarily opting for “utilize” is pretentious. It is the writing of someone who is trying hard to sound important. (See this and this and this)
     Could it be that the crew who arrived at “barrier” #2 missed out on this familiar advice?
     If so, what are they doing in positions of authority at a college?
     “Metrics” is another word that is over-used by people who have little to say but who want to sound impressive nonetheless. The word refers to measurement or the results of measurement. And so “data and metrics” refers to—data. (See Economist style guide. See also here and here.)
     OK, let me give this thing a shot. What might the authors of "barrier 2" really be trying to say? How about:

[One impediment to mutual respect and cooperation in the district is the] failure to make decisions based on available information.

     Well, yeah.

Rebel Girl's Poetry Corner: "I am the horizon you ride towards, the thing you can never lasso"

Backdrop addresses cowboy

~ Margaret Atwood

Starspangled cowboy
sauntering out of the almost-
silly West, on your face
a porcelain grin,
tugging a papier-mâché cactus
on wheels behind you with a string,

you are innocent as a bathtub
full of bullets.

Your righteous eyes, your laconic
trigger-fingers
people the streets with villains:
as you move, the air in front of you
blossoms with targets

and you leave behind you a heroic
trail of desolation:
beer bottles
slaughtered by the side
of the road, bird-
skulls bleaching in the sunset.

I ought to be watching
from behind a cliff or a cardboard storefront
when the shooting starts, hands clasped
in admiration,
but I am elsewhere.

Then what about me

what about the I
confronting you on that border,
you are always trying to cross?

I am the horizon
you ride towards, the thing you can never lasso

I am also what surrounds you:
my brain
scattered with your
tincans, bones, empty shells,
the litter of your invasions.

I am the space you desecrate
as you pass through.

*

Landmark community college bill heads to governor (EdSource)

     One day after a survey warned that budget cuts have caused an unprecedented drop in enrollment at California’s community colleges, the state Legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill that could bring the first significant reforms in more than a decade to community colleges.
     The Student Success Act of 2012, by Democratic Senators Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach and Carol Liu of La Cañada Flintridge, received nearly unanimous bipartisan support. It would give new students more support early on, including orientation and better academic counseling, in an effort to improve dismal graduation rates. Only about a third of community college students earn an associate degree or a certificate, or transfer to a four-year college within six years.
     “While many students are getting out of the starting blocks at our community colleges, many fail to get across the finish line,” said Lowenthal in a written statement following Thursday’s vote. “This situation is unacceptable by any measure and demands immediate change.”
     The bill stems from the work of the Student Success Task Force, a panel established by the Legislature that developed 22 recommendations aimed at improving completion rates for students through a combination of financial and academic incentives, as well as reprioritizing resources….

Grade inflation: trustees gave themselves A's and B's. Evidence of discord

     Back in February and March, members of the SOCCCD board of trustees performed a “self evaluation” that included a survey that asked trustees to rate dozens of (positive) statements from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” (“Neutral” was the middle choice.)
     Seven people—presumably, the seven elected trustees—took the survey.
     Predictably, trustees generally gave themselves high grades. With regard to the vast majority of statements, most trustees gave the board either an A (strongly agree) or a B (agree).
     See for yourself: here (pdf)
     But there were a few exceptions. In a few cases, one trustee gave the board a D (disagree).
     More interestingly, in a few cases, multiple trustees gave the board a D. And, in some cases, several trustees selected the “neutral” (C) score:

The board expresses its authority only as a unit. Not?

Some trustees seem to think that some trustees are south of ethical, I guess.

Slow down and count the posies.

The Earth moved

     Some time after 1:00 p.m. today, I was lecturing in my Philosophy 2 (Ethics) course, yammerin' about our foolishness re earthquakes and such. Then, at 1:30, my students seemed suddenly to be highly entertained, in a wide-eyed sort of way, by something ("not me," I thought).
     Eventually, they told me that we'd just experienced a goshdarned earthquake—I must've been levitating at the time—caused by the usual tensions between sections of earthy crustiness.
     Alternatively, the Lord was briefly peeved about all that pious buggery and feculent caterwauling over in Tampa, Florida, and took it out on Yorba freakin' Linda. That's how He rolls, it seems.

Survey offers dire picture of California's two-year colleges (LA Times)
As demand increases but funding is cut, 470,000 students find themselves on waiting lists for needed classes. Things will get worse if further cuts become necessary.

     More than 470,000 community college students are beginning the fall semester on waiting lists, unable to get into the courses they need, according to a survey of California's two-year colleges that captures a system struggling amid severe budget cuts. (continued…