Gustavo Arellano chosen as Commencement Speaker at Fullerton College

This just in: Fullerton College has chosen one of the O.C.'s favorite native sons, Gustavo Arellano, as its commencement speaker. This year is Fullerton College's centennial year.

As Gustavo says, "It really is an honor, especially given I'm a product of the community college system."

We couldn't agree more. Devoted readers of Dissent will remember that Rebel Girl has nominated Gustavo as a commencement speaker for years (years!) now.

She has all but given up especially since the last time it was made clear to her in no uncertain terms just how inappropriate a nominee such as Gustavo was. She can take a hint. (For the record, the committee wasn't too impressed with local hijab-wearing feminist journalists or Middle Eastern scholars from neighboring UCs either.) Make of that what you will. All Rebel Girl can tell you is that is was one of the most toxic meetings she has ever attended and that is saying a great deal.



Read all about Fullerton's choice here.

Read about IVC's commencement speaker process here. Perhaps this is the year when Tom Hanks will visit the little college in the orange groves. We'll see.

*

Rank and Fail

     RANK AND FAIL. The faculty union (Faculty Association) is conducting an election, but the election won’t be valid unless at least half of the membership participates. The polls have been open for many days, but they close in two, and, as of this morning, participation was 40 or 50 short of the all-important 50% number.
     Wow.
     Union leaders were plenty worried, and so the word got out: it’s time to start twisting arms. The twisting commenced, and, as of mid-afternoon, it appeared that the effort was successful or nearly so. Whew!
     It’s a pretty miserable situation when membership won’t even show up for elections (voting is online and takes about 10 seconds, if one dithers), but, as we know, some unionists are more miserable than others. By this morning, IVC’s School of Humanities and Languages had achieved 100% participation in the election. But certain other schools that shall remain nameless (Fart Sine) are at a participation rate in the 20s.
     Failure to achieve a valid election would seriously embarrass the union, given that faculty and the district have entered contract negotiations, a period in which leaders routinely attend board meetings to speak on behalf of faculty, that supposed passionate and hard-working crew. When faculty don’t even show up for their elections, it kinda takes the starch out of all of it.

School of a Snifter

     SCHOOL F'ARTS. Speaking of certain, ahem, pesky schools and divisions (Fat Rinse), it turns out that IVC’s School of Fine Arts (Fat Risen) is attempting to change its name. Word of this development inspired lots of loose talk down at the A200 building (at IVC) this morning. One wag noted that “Fine Arts” has such anagrams as:

A Snifter
After Sin
Sane Rift
Fart Sine
Aft Rinse
Fat Risen
Fat Rinse
Fat Resin
Ant Fires

Shatter, The Rats
A Shit Loon Scoffer

     Fine Arts seeks to change its name to “The Arts.” Some mocked that idea. One wag suggested that Fine Arts simply change its name to the “School f’arts.” Very continental, that.
     For what it’s worth, here are some anagrams for "The Arts”:

Threats
Hatters
Shatter (past tense, I suppose, of shitter, as in "The faculty descended into the latrine, shattering all hope")
The Rats

     My fave: Shatter.
     Perfect.

*P.S. Anagrams of “School of Fine Arts”:

A Shit Loon Scoffer
Facile Hoof Snorts
Foolish Snot Farce
Folio Of Snatchers
Hoofs Of Clarinets
Fornicate Of Slosh

Young Theodore's right eye

All freakin' ears

Chancellor's ears not to scale

At about 3:00 this afternoon, SOCCCD Chancellor Gary Poertner sent us this message:

I think the Chancellor and trustees have in mind bein' all freakin' ears for this "listening session."

The flier says that "administrators and managers are not scheduled to attend." I think that means they're bein' told to stay away.

Let's hope that circumstance inspires some folks to start tellin' it like it is.

 

Some of our readers have commented:

Anonymous 8:35 AM, April 22, 2014

     I hope someone, more than one someone, will speak to the miscarriage of process (once again) in the IVC Foundation Scholarship program. It is an indefensible mess. Attempts to reform have failed and once again the excuse is there is no time to address problems because the end of the year is upon us. We've been here before people. It's disgraceful. I assure you this kind of thing doesn't happen at other institutions. Why they don't review the plans of other colleges and adjust ours is beyond me. They have some kind of weird allegiance to an entirely broke system.

Anonymous 8:47 AM, April 22, 2014

     No one want to point out that it is broken or just how broken it is because then someone (or more) will have be take responsibility - or perhaps liability.
     This happens every year at this time but then it's full steam ahead to the end with no stopping it. A runaway train. Unfortunately, it's a runaway train loaded with other people's money and good intentions and driven by people who aren't capable.

Anonymous 10:14 AM, April 22, 2014

     Come on. No one tells it like it is with everyone taking down names. It's another photo op, an empty public gesture to satisfy the Accreds: "Look! We came! We listened! Ta da!"

An economic blockbuster? A non-believer in the religion of wealth

Taking On Adam Smith (and Karl Marx) (New York Times)

     …In his new book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” (Harvard University Press), Mr. [Thomas] Piketty, 42, has written a blockbuster, at least in the world of economics. His book punctures earlier assumptions about the benevolence of advanced capitalism and forecasts sharply increasing inequality of wealth in industrialized countries, with deep and deleterious impact on democratic values of justice and fairness.
. . .
     …“Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” with its title echoing Marx’s “Das Kapital,” is meant to be a return to the kind of economic history, of political economy, written by predecessors like Marx and Adam Smith. It is nothing less than a broad effort to understand Western societies and the economic rules that underpin them. And in the process, by debunking the idea that “wealth raises all boats,” Mr. Piketty has thrown down a challenge to democratic governments to deal with an increasing gap between the rich and the poor — the very theme of inequality that recently moved both Pope Francis and President Obama to warn of its consequences.
. . .
     His findings, aided by the power of modern computers, are based on centuries of statistics on wealth accumulation and economic growth in advanced industrial countries. They are also rather simply stated: The rate of growth of income from capital is several times larger than the rate of economic growth, meaning a comparatively shrinking share going to income earned from wages, which rarely increase faster than overall economic activity. Inequality surges when population and the economy grow slowly.
. . .
     “It’s very difficult to make a democratic system work when you have such extreme inequality” in income, he said, “and such extreme inequality in terms of political influence and the production of knowledge and information. One of the big lessons of the 20th century is that we don’t need 19th-century inequality to grow.” But that’s just where the capitalist world is heading again, he concludes….

See also FORCES OF DIVERGENCE (New Yorker, 3/31/14)

A Russian and his eggs

In the district, FIVE YEARS AGO:

The IVC clock tower (1979-2006)

Original post: The Spirit of the Clock Tower
TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2009

     Irvine Valley College once had a clock tower. It was a good clock tower, as clock towers go. But some of its timber was rotten.
     So they tore it down.

     We managed to rescue the clock’s hands. That’s all that’s left. Plus our memories.
     The clock tower is gone. But the spirit of the clock tower survives.
     Here are some pictures that the Reb and I took today around campus and inside the new BSTIC building.

The A-quad: somebody told us that they put this slab of concrete "right on top of the bricks."

"So the bricks are OK," he said.

"Oh."

SEE

• The replacement clock tower adventure
• How to replace a landmark
• His vision

(Just a little humor mostly.)

LATE NEWS:

• JOHN YOO STARS IN A MOST CIVILIZED DEBATE ON TORTURE: The big debate today at Chapman University. (Matt Coker gives us the blow-by-blow in OC Weekly.)
• Bush lawyer defends waterboarding in local debate: John Yoo, whose memos justified controversial interrogation tactics, defends the practices during a Chapman University debate. (Martin Wisckol in the Reg.)

Outdoor sculpture invitational

ORIGINAL POST:
Breaking news! 
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2009

     I was Googling today and came across a “Social Media Release” dated April 20 about an event that occurred a full week ago. (See.) Here it is:

Irvine Valley College Foundation Awards Dinner - Raises More Than $43,000

     The 21th annual Irvine Valley College Foundation Awards Dinner sponsored by Grainger raised more than $43,000. The gala was held on April 13, 2009 at the Irvine Marriott. [Note: Grainger is a supplier of facilities maintenance products.]
     Patrick Healy, NBC Channel 4 News reporter, was the keynote speaker, and Maria Hall-Brown, producer of KOCE-TV’s “Real Orange,” served as the master of ceremonies. [Hall-Brown has done some decent journalism in recent years. In the 80s and 90s, she was an actress, appearing in David Carradine’s Open Fire (1988), among other movies.]
     The evening wouldn't have been complete without an auction of city officials for charity. [I’ll spare you the corny details.]
     Four individuals were recognized for their outstanding contributions to the college with presentation of the IVC Medal, the Foundation’s highest honor. Medal winners were:



• Howard J. Klein of Klein, O’Neill & Singh…
• Fawn Tanriverdi, a counselor at the college, ….
• Raymond A. Lee and Jeffrey C. Joy of Greenberg Traurig LLP….

     Since 1985, IVC has been serving students…. [etc.]

     This “media release” appears on the pitchengine site.
     I’m told that a real effort was made to make this particular Foundation dinner a class act—to raise it to a "new level," as one person put it. Those who attended tell me that Hall-Brown did a fine job as MC and the person who ran the auction was also good. Almost everything was first-rate.
     I’m also told that, unfortunately, KNBC reporter Patrick Healy, the keynote speaker, bombed bigtime. All seem to agree that the fellow was dreadfully longwinded and dull.
     How is that even possible? I mean, isn’t he out there every night to cover such events as treed cats, traffic accidents, decapitated horses, and, in general, the day of the locust—while looking fairly natty? C’mon!
     Whoever booked Healy obviously didn't ask the right questions—such as, Is he a dull speaker?
     And how come Mr. Tom Fuentes wasn’t the MC? Isn’t he always the MC? You've gotta admit: Tom always brings something beyond his florid, over-the-top "master of ceremonies" performance. With Tom, especially if he's had a few belts, there's always the possibility that—oh, I don't know—he might suddenly break down and finally explain what his goddam problem is. The tension and excitement can be incredible!
     Well, no. No doubt the switch to Hall-Brown was an unexpected ray of sunshine, a delightful pocket full of posies. Plus Fuentes' presence just reminds everyone that, since 2000, the Foundation seems to have drifted increasingly toward the ever-narrowing and staunch world of Tom Fuentes Republicans. That's some serious staunchitude, man. And some serious narrowification.
     Next year, I plan to attend and to provide a detailed report, cuz enquiring minds wanna know about snazzy events at IVC where people dress up and somebody might trip and knock over Raghu or say something completely ridiculous that nevertheless reveals the horror, the heart of darkness, of that man's soul.

The College Faculty Crisis (NYT editorial, 4/13/14)

     The public colleges and universities that educate more than 70 percent of this country’s students were burdened by rising costs and dwindling state revenues long before the recession. They reacted by raising tuition, slashing course offerings and, sometimes, by cutting enrollment.
     They also cut labor costs by replacing full-time professors who retired with part-time instructors, who typically have no health or pension benefits and are often abysmally paid, earning in the vicinity of $3,000 per course.
     The part-timers are often considered “invisible faculty,” because they rarely participate in academic life and typically bolt from campus the moment class ends. That researchers still know little about them — or how well they do their jobs — is especially startling given that a little more than half of all college faculty members are now part-timers, and they far outnumber full-time faculty members on most community college campuses.
     The portrait of these instructors that emerges from a new study by the Center for Community College Student Engagement, a research center at the University of Texas at Austin, is alarming. The report, based on survey responses from more than 71,000 teachers, found that part-timers face many challenges. Because they are treated almost like transient workers, they are given little reason to make an investment in the institution.
     They often learn which courses they are teaching just weeks or even days before the start of the semester, so there is almost no time to prepare. They often lack office space or administrative or technical support and are rarely given any guidance on how to do their jobs effectively. According to the report, they are implicitly told: “Just show up every Thursday at 5 o’clock and deliver a lecture to your class. Give a midterm and a final exam, and then turn in a grade, and the college will pay you a notably small amount of money.”
     The colleges expect little of these teachers. Not surprisingly, they often act accordingly. They spend significantly less time than full-time teachers preparing for class, advising students or giving written or oral feedback. And they are far less likely to participate in instructional activities — like tutoring, academic goal setting or developing community-based projects — that can benefit students.
     This situation is terrible, especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds whom community colleges typically attract. On those campuses, nearly two-thirds of the students arrive needing remedial instruction in math, English or both, and often lack the basic competencies they need to move beyond remediation to a degree.
     The community colleges have to do a better job of screening the part-time instructors they hire, and developing their skills, which means providing mentors and career paths that give them the opportunity to engage with campus life.
     All of this will require more money for higher salaries and professional development. College degrees worth having don’t come cheap. Public officials who determine community college budgets should know full well that colleges, like other institutions, only get what they pay for.