"Negative press" caused by faculty? Here's the list

AST NIGHT, Chancellor Mathur did what he does best: he pointed a finger of blame at others, especially faculty. In particular, he asserted that "faculty leaders" somehow cause most of the negative press coverage that the district and the two colleges receive. (See previous blog [below].) Gee, is that true? I did a Lexis/Nexis search concerning the district and colleges going back three years. I did find lots of negative coverage. But the coverage was inspired, not by faculty leaders or faculty, but almost always by the board and the Chancellor. Check it out. This is everything that I found:

[UPDATE: notice that no articles concerning the Academic Senate's successful lawsuit against the district popped up. Not sure why. That the board violated a law and violated the Senate's rights surely counts as an instance of the board generating bad press.]

1. Saddleback rehabilitating 4 ill-constructed buildings The Orange County Register (California) October 9, 2005, Sunday BYLINE: By Amanda Strindberg MISSION VIEJO -- Efforts are under way at Saddleback College to repair four buildings that over the years have been plagued with mold growth, cracking foundations and uneven floors. 2. Bees City News Service August 12, 2005 Friday DATELINE: MISSION VIEJO Call it a case of bad buzz. A 16-show run of "Babes in Arms" that was scheduled through Sunday at Saddleback College's McKinney Theatre has been cut short because of bees, the Los Angeles Times reported. 3. TOM FUENTES, THIS IS YOUR PYRRHIC LIFE OC Weekly April 1, 2005, Friday BYLINE: GUSTAVO ARELLANO This is indeed a “negative” story about our district. It’s negative because it is highly skeptical of Trustee Fuentes’ remarks concerning the Spanish course in Santander, Spain. 4. OC Weekly, letters: “Spanish lessons” OC Weekly March 18, 2005, Friday [3 letters, all negative:] 1. I'm studying Spanish at Saddleback College and was stunned to read that it voted to cancel the Spanish study abroad program due to Spain's withdrawal of troops from Iraq …. 2. I'm a Republican who is pretty conservative, but I don't get the Spain thing. …. 3. I have dedicated my life to Spanish education here and abroad for 33 years, and I am disgusted that valuable linguistic and cultural programs can be jeopardized by neo-con trustees …. 5. DIARY OF A MAD COUNTY OC Weekly March 18, 2005, Friday BYLINE: STEVE LOWERY … March 10 Spaniards observe a moment of silence for the 191 people who died in a terrorist train bombing last year. One of those not observing silence or even on the premises is frequent OC house guest and prime minister at the time of the attacks, Jose Maria Aznar, who was in Mexico at the time, perhaps looking for his soul. Spain eventually pulled its troops out of Iraq, which eventually led the South Orange County Community College District, under the equally soulless thumb of former local Republican jefe Tom Fuentes, to cancel its study abroad program in Spain. While this will have little to no effect on Spain, it is yet another humiliation for Orange County, which seemed to be emerging from the hick/wacko shadow of the likes of Bob Dornan, Bill Dannemeyer, John Schmitz, John Birch and Wally George. …. 6. 'NO ENTIENDO'. (from Arellano’s column) OC Weekly March 11, 2005, Friday BYLINE: GUSTAVO ARELLANO As the chair of Orange County's Republican Party from 1984 until last year, Tom Fuentes distinguished himself by waging vindicative, sometimes bizarre campaigns against enemies real and perceived. As a trustee for the South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD), Fuentes continues his GOP battle plan by launching a campaign against . . . Spain?! 7. Two OC colleges end study-abroad program in Spain The Associated Press State & Local Wire March 6, 2005, Sunday, BC cycle Leaders of two community colleges in Orange County have ended their schools' study-abroad program in Spain, citing the country's troop withdrawal from Iraq. 8. News briefs from Southern California The Associated Press State & Local Wire May 18, 2004, Tuesday, BC cycle IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - Professors at Irvine Valley and Saddleback colleges overwhelmingly cast a no-confidence vote against South Orange County Community College District Chancellor Raghu Mathur…More than 93 percent voted in favor of no confidence, and 6 percent were against the union-sponsored measure, the district faculty association said. Out of 318 faculty eligible, 246 voted. 9. WAKE UP, WHITE PEOPLE! OC Weekly April 9, 2004, Friday BYLINE: Nick Schou Mission Viejo's Saddleback College is already infamous as the only California community college that can claim it once had a board president who was a Holocaust-denying high school history teacher--that'd be Steven J. Frogue. So it wasn't entirely unpredictable that students would soon get in on the act, turning an anti-racist teach-in into a forum on Jewish control of the media. 10. A CLOCK WORK ORANGE (Coker’s column) OC Weekly March 14, 2003, Friday BYLINE: matt coker Anyone who has attended meetings of local boards, councils and commissions is used to the superfluous public ass-kissing elected officials give one another. Taking such manufactured passion to new depths is the South Orange County Community College District board of trustees, which governs Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges. At a recent meeting, board president Don Wagner paused at one point to congratulate trustee Tom Fuentes for being re-elected to a 10th term as Orange County Republican Party chairman. Fuentes had earlier toasted fellow trustee John Williams for being sworn in as Orange County's new public administrator--the part-time elected official who oversees conservancies for feeble-minded folks who can't care for themselves and have no next-of-kin. But what Fuentes did next says a lot about Orange County Republicans, county government and that particular school board: he congratulated fellow trustee Nancy Padberg for being appointed to Williams' professional staff. The same board awarded a plum district administrative job to the trustee Padberg replaced--even though her qualifications were questionable. The funny thing--not funny ha-ha, but funny as in ironic--is Williams was first swept into his trustee seat as a reformer who would protect South County taxpayers by ending rampant cronyism on the part of faculty and administrators. Dissident trustee David Lang has long complained of cronyism practiced by Fuentes, Williams, Padberg, Wagner and Dorothy Fortune--Republicans who cast identical votes so often you'd think they trained at the old Soviet Politburo. We would have asked Padberg if she foresees any conflicts, but she was too busy nominating her new boss Williams to a seat on the California Community College Trustees board of directors. 11. Iraq-College City News Service March 31, 2003 Monday DATELINE: LOS ANGELES An Irvine Valley College administrator has warned instructors against discussing the Iraq war in class unless it is directly related to the subject they are teaching, it was reported today. 12. Irvine college bans classroom discussions of Iraq conflict The Associated Press State & Local Wire March 29, 2003, Saturday, BC cycle DATELINE: IRVINE, Calif. Irvine Valley College has banned classroom discussions of the war with Iraq unless they are linked to course work after a sobbing student complained about a professor's anti-war remarks.

Listen to Raghu blame our problems on faculty leadership

Item 26 of last night’s meeting of the board of trustees was a discussion of the recommendations offered not long ago by the Accreditation agency (ACCJC).

At one point, Chancellor Mathur focused on those recommendations that pertain to District operations. They are:

IVC (#6): The board should immediately cease micromanaging.
Saddleback (#5): The board should immediately cease micromanaging.

IVC (#7): all groups should regularly define and evaluate leadership roles and scopes of authority. (A paraphrase.)

Saddleback (#4): Essentially: The board should abandon its objectionable and unprofessional hiring procedure (for college and district executives) and begin giving constituency groups a meaningful say (in the process).

IVC (#8): deal with the hostility, cynicism, despair and fear that plague the college.
Saddleback (#6): deal with the hostility, cyncism, despair and fear that plague the college.

The accreditors' most severe criticisms were directed at our Board and distict leadership (i.e., the Chancellor, the chief cause of fear, distrust, etc.).

Last night, upon having outlined what the colleges and trustees are doing to respond to these recommendations, Chancellor Mathur decided to offer some "thoughts."

I present them in their entirety. They are in two clips, each about 4 minutes long:

PART 1:

1. Negative press coverage is caused chiefly by faculty leaders.
2. Only 1 or 2 trustees have micromanaged (in the past), and only occasionally; yet “the whole board” gets a bad name.
3. The board is trying not to micromanage now. Everyone should appreciate that.
4. Faculty leadership should work more with leadership and the board. They should do so respectfully and reasonably.
5. Faculty concerns about loss of accreditation owing to trustee micromanagement are erroneous and unhelpful.
6. Hostility and fear are spread by this talk by faculty leaders.

PART 2:

1. Some issues, e.g., institutional memberships, should be dealt with at the staff level.
2. The trust problem is perhaps a carryover from previous boards. (I.e., Dorothy Fortune did it, not these guys.)
3. This board has spent money to recruit students and to repair buildings. The board has been generous with salaries.
4. Yet there’s no balance and fair play on the part of faculty and staff, who never come to thank the board.
5. Let’s not use inflammatory language in discussing issues.
6. It is everyone’s responsibility, not just the board’s, to improve our reputation.
7. Just now, some faculty leaders left. See? We listen to them, but they don’t listen to us.
8. Faculty, staff, trustees: talk to me first about problematic agenda items. Don’t “grandstand.”
9. We need to commend each other more.
10. Faculty should cease “inviting” board micromanagement by going directly to the board with issues.
11. The board must be treated with utmost respect.
12. “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”

DEFIANCE: A brief report on tonight's wild board meeting

This’ll have to be fast. Gotta get some sleep. More tomorrow.

It was quite a meeting tonight. It was a horror movie, and Raghu and trustee Tom were the monsters. More on that in a moment.

During public comments, IVC Academic Senate Prez Wendy, on behalf of senators, noted that the district planning process is illegitimate, given that it was developed without Academic Senate input. She explained that failure to include faculty violated Title V and BP 2100.1. Hence the Academic Senate decided to pursue a “minimum conditions” complaint with the State Chancellor’s Office.

During trustee reports, Lang used his time to express his “disappointment” in Wendy’s remarks, which he rejected as erroneous. No, he said patronizingly, the district gets to pursue planning. Planning is not just the faculty’s purview.

Of course, she (i.e., the IVC senate) never said that. Rather, the point was that, according to Title V and 2100.1, the district is to rely primarily on the academic Senates regarding the development of a planning process.

Nancy Padberg indicated that she would have to leave early for some reason, and this got me to worryin’, since she was the 4th vote for “reinstatement” of the American Library Association to the approved district membership list. Sheesh.

During her report, Nancy expressed gratitude for last month’s staff report on trustee traveling expenses in the last year. I’m told that the report makes John Williams look pretty bad.

Well, on this night, Nancy requested that the report now be extended to “five years” in order to see whether the pattern of the last year was just an aberration.

Guess what? Williams, Fuentes, Wagner, and (I think) Lang voted that down!

Luckily, the public has a right to this info, so we’ll work on getting it for you.

There was some carping about item 31, “budget development discussion,” which requested the authorization of two guidelines. Trustee Fuentes used the occasion to complain that, in effect, the board was failing to follow its chosen policy according to which “basic aid” money would not be used for “ongoing expenses,” but, rather, only for “one-time expenses.” But, asserted Tom, each year, we permit these “one-time expenses.”

Near as I can tell, Mr. Poertner responded by saying that the colleges are $15 million in the hole, and they can’t operate without some help, so you better help them. I think he prevailed.

Mathur and the college presidents gave a slide show concerning responses to the Accred’s recommendations. That went on for a while. It seemed clear that Mathur and Co. are stuffing "Accreditation" items into board meetings because that leaves an impressions that they're serious about the Accred's recommendations, which, plainly, they are not.

At some point, Raghu stopped the whole show to read a lengthy statement regarding the Accreditation issue. In his mind, evidently, he was stepping up to the plate to provide some “leadership.”

I’ll have lots more, including audio files, maybe tomorrow. I'll just say for now that Raghu’s “leadership” took the particular form of his asserting that certain people are trying to tear down the district’s reputation, and that the real problem in the district is that a few faculty leaders are trying to run the whole show. Naturally, this message presupposes that the Accreds' recommendations are crap.

Plus, said Raghu, some of these people who want to control the district are indecorous and disrespectful (I think that last one was about me, though I’m not a “leader.”)

This went on and on and it was so obnoxious that the faculty union president and the two senate presidents got up and left in protest. Later in the evening, Mathur referred to that exodus as evidence that the problem is with faculty.

I think it was item 28—a resolution to affirm board and district commitment to address the Accreditation Teams’ recommendations—when Mr. Fuentes insisted that he wasn’t about to affirm any such thing. No, he would only affirm a statement that included mention of faculty “macromanagement.”

More than once, Fuentes asserted that the problem with the district isn’t board “micromanagement.” OK, maybe two trustees engaged in some micromanagement, but so what? Somebody’s gotta control these pesky over-reaching faculty leaders! There’s your problem!

Student Trustee Ho tried to mediate. He expressed the worry that Fuentes’ defiance might lead to our Accreditation ticket bein’ pulled. Fuentes then advised Ho not to buy into the nonsense that trustee actions threaten accreditation. Paul backed off immediately.

At some point, Nancy disappeared, and then item 29, “reinstatement of ALA to approved district membership list” came up. For some reason (graciousness? Nah), Fuentes moved to table the item, but that failed. (I think Marcia and Bill need to talk. They need to find a clue.)

And so the inevitable occurred: the vote was 3 to 3, and thus the reinstatement of ALA failed. It seems unlikely that the board will again agendize this issue.

Within minutes of that vote, Nancy returned to the meeting. D’oh!!!! Too late!

I noticed just after I got home that union president Lewis L sent faculty an email responding to Mathur’s obnoxious remarks. Check it out.

More later.

Heads up: tonight’s board meeting

DEAR GABACHO:

Is anything interesting liable to happen at tonight's meeting of the Board of Trustees? Inquiring minds wanna know. And so do I. --Inquiring Mind

Dear INQUIRING MIND:

As usual, the closed session items are potentially interesting, what with discussion of, e.g., the Mora v. Mathur (aka Raghu v. women) litigation. That should be going to trial soon. Will the district settle?

But these items seldom live up to their potential.

During board reports, maybe John Williams will describe his expensive and wasteful trip to Orlando. Yeah, that should be good. Nancy will smile slyly.


The open session items are another story. There are bound to be some sparks aflyin’.

Item 26 is for “information/discussion,” not action: SC/IVC ACCRED TEAM REC’S. There’s a chance that Trustee Tom will turn red and pop. Or Wagner will at long last peeve himself into a tiny dot on the floor. But seriously, folks, Tom’s liable to say something memorable, like “let’s put out a contract on those pesky unelected Accreds.”

Item 27 is, I believe, the “proposed” follow-up (4/24/06) to the February technical assistance meeting, involving the Academic Senate of CA and that silly trustees organization. (See the series of three blogs starting with Hammering out differences.)

You remember. No? Anyway, I think the board is supposed to say, “Yeah, let’s show up for that.” If they’re smart, they’ll tell Trustee Fuentes to stay home. Last time, he yammered about love while shooting wicked looks.

Item 28 is a “resolution” re the Accred rec’s. Evidently, Raghu is recommending that the board affirm its commitment to addressing the Accred’s rec’s. Maybe the Accreds heard about Trustee Tom’s mad sputterings and so this is damage-control. Could be. Don’t know.

Item 29 is the American Library Association issue. Last I heard, we’ve got four votes for reversing the January decision to discontinue the college libraries’ memberships in ALA. Still, Fuentes and Wagner will want to bloviate against the ALA, cuz it keeps the right-wingers happy.

Let’s hope some Librarians actually show up to speak up this time. If they don’t, then it’s open season on ‘em, satire-wise.

I do hope that Glenn will correct item 46, which is erroneous. (Left out one of the Teachers of the Year.)

During public remarks, IVC Academic Prez Wendy will make a few nasty remarks about Raghu and the Board on behalf of the IVC Academic Senate. She didn’t want to, but the Senators insisted.

St. Thomas Akimbo

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Tom and his pals are featured in the new Universal Studios motion picture "Slither."

No vulture

Check out Peggy Lowe's interview of Sheriff Mike Carona in this morning's OC Register (Carona responds to his doubters).

Here's my favorite part:

Carona: I've never defined myself politically. So when all this stuff came up, we'd sit down and talk about it, but I've just never defined myself as political. My job is political. To be able to become sheriff I had to run and become political. But once I've gotten over that hurdle, what I do is operational. What I love about this job, what I studied for, what I've trained for is the operational side. The politics – I'm not so sure I could sit in a room and be one of 40 votes or 50 votes.

It's why God didn't make me a vulture. I have to kill something. I got to go out and hunt it down. I can't wait around for it to die.

The dead and the pious

1. GOOD-BYE BUCKEROO. Buck Owens has died. He was 76. I hated “Hee Haw” but I loved this man’s best songs. Check 'em out.

2. RELIGIOUS RADICALS’ FINANCIERS. About a year ago (Feb., 2005), Time Magazine ran a front-page story on the 25 most influential Evangelicals in the country (Most influential evangelicals).

Number 1 on the list was Rick Warren, “America’s New People’s Pastor.” Warren pastors a little church down the street from my house. Saddleback Church has 22,000 members, and it’s hard for me not to think that those people are confusing religion with football. I wonder if they show up wearin’ that stupid make-up and doin’ the Wave.

Number 2 is—you guessed it!—Orange County’s own Howard and Roberta Ahmanson. Near as I can tell, Howard is one of Tom Fuentes’ pals. (Also: he provided the seed money for the organization that brought us Don Wagner and Nancy Padberg.)

Here’s what Time had to say about the Ahmansons:

The Financiers: Money makes the Word go round, and this wealthy, conservative Republican couple takes a dizzyingly ecclectic approach to funding evangelism. The projects that savings-and-loan multimillionaires Howard and Roberta Ahmanson have paid for over the years through Fieldstead & Co., a private philanthropy in Irvine, Calif., form a cornucopia of faith-based activism, including an institute linked to the antievolution intelligent-design movement and a study of social endeavors by Third World Pentecostal churches. The couple have been accused over the years of having an extremist agenda, mostly because a onetime pet charity, the Chalcedon Foundation, advocates the Christian reconstructionist branch of theology that says gays and other biblical lawbreakers should be stoned. Howard distanced himself from those views and resigned from the foundation board years ago.

The couple, both 55, now are warning powerful conservative Christians about the pitfalls of hubris in the aftermath of their victories over liberals last November. Says Roberta: "Christlike humility and [improving] the lives of human beings should be the goals."

OK, so Howard and Roberta have backed off of the “stoning” idea. Maybe. But saying that somebody used to be on the board of Chalcedon is a bit like saying that they used to be Devil Worshippers. Check out Chalcedon and the rest of the Ahmansons’ “Christian Reconstructionist” crowd. It’ll curl your hair.

While you’re at it, check out the Claremont Institute (one of Fuentes’ haunts), the Discovery Institute (the Earth is 6,000 years old!), and other organizations that the Ahmansons still fund.

And don’t be thinkin’ that Howard gave up his wild talk long ago. According to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in 1992, Howard explained that “My purpose is total integration of biblical law into our lives.”

Thank you, Howard, for the marvelously succinct statement of the Chalcedon project, aka Christian Reconstructionism.

This guy scares the shit out o' me. One of these days, I'll wake up and find out that I'm in deep doo-doo cuz I didn't go to the stupid church-mall down the road.

3. JARAMILLO POINTS TO CARONA. Did you see Peggy Lowe’s article in today’s Register about “Hometown Hero” and Fuentes star Mike Carona’s former assistant, George Jaramillo? Check it out. As I’m sure you know, Mike Carona is a devout Christian—you know, like Tom Fuentes.

Jaramillo says ex-boss Carona should be facing same charges
Outside court, fired assistant says sheriff misused department's copter.

SANTA ANA – Waving a manila envelope filled with what he said was evidence, fired Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo said Friday that Sheriff Mike Carona should be prosecuted for the same charges he is facing.

Jaramillo held court outside the courtroom after a routine hearing on the newest round of charges he faces, including perjury and misusing public resources. A grand jury found Jaramillo improperly used the Sheriff's Department helicopter for a ride to the airport with his wife in 2003.

Taking copies of Orange County Sheriff's Department logs from the envelope, Jaramillo accused Carona of using the helicopter up to 32 times for trips to an award ceremony, a ride to attend his son's soccer game and another trip with his "longtime mistress."

An Orange County Register investigation showed that the county's helicopters were used at least 16 times in 2002 to take Carona and others to award ceremonies, television interviews, the airport and a Lake Arrowhead retreat, costing taxpayers $26,000.

…Sheriff's officials have denied all of Jaramillo's claims as "outrageous lies."

Jaramillo has pleaded not guilty to all the charges he faces, which also include bribery and conflict of interest. His trial is set for September.

Why is it that the worst people I know are also the most pious? Explain that one to me, will you?