Journalism at Irvine Valley College

Just got off the phone with a local political writer, and we got to talking about Irvine Valley College.

"At IVC, student life--it's kind of dead, isn't it?" she said.

"Well, it is a bit sleepy, I guess," I responded.

"Yeah, when I go to Saddleback College, stuff seems to be going on. There are student hangouts. There's a student paper. Stuff doesn't happen much at IVC."

It wasn't always so. About ten years ago, some exciting stuff was going on, including protest marches, vigils, film series, and the bold hoistage of Ragu Spaghetti Sauce jars.

We had a student newspaper then, the Voice. Below is a typical issue. It's headlines: "SOCCCD trustee race heats up!" "Faculty members vote no confidence in IVC's president!" It editorialized about Prop 39. It had four pages of lively sports coverage.


The Voice was put out by the Journalism program, which was directed by a full-time instructor and supported by staff.

For a while, it was a great little paper.

Do you know who broke the "Frogue denies the Holocaust" story? It wasn't the OC Register. Nope. It was student reporter Ked Francis of the IVC Voice (see Is trustee Steven Frogue a Holocaust denier?). (Ked is now a professional reporter.)

The Voice won awards: the ACP National Newspaper General Excellence Award 1996; the newspaper of the Year Award, 1997, 1998; the JACC General Excellence Award, 1999, 2000.

Voice reporters did some great muckraking stories about IVC administration. There were lots of positive stories, too. The paper was way cool, and students seemed interested in what was going on. They hung out. They talked. They littered. (Well, you can't have everything.)

Eventually, then-President Raghu Mathur got his mits all over the journalism program and he made sure that the Voice and other student publications cranked out fluff and propaganda that promoted Raghu's interests and the interests of his minions. It was appalling.

The journalism program soon died an ignominious death.

Well, now, there's talk of reviving journalism at IVC. The School of Humanities and Languages, which last housed Journalism, has stepped up to the plate, and plans are afoot to write new courses, some of which might be taught next Fall. (Mass Media is a likely candidate.)


But KNOW THIS. A journalism program (or simply the offering of journalism courses) and a student newspaper are NOT the same thing. It takes lots of money to put out a paper. Printing alone is very expensive, but then there's the purchase of computers, software, and other equipment. Plus you need to secure a special space to house all this stuff. The old journalism space--it always kinda reminded me of the movie His Girl Friday--has now been taken over by IVC's Honors Program, and it seems unlikely that Honors will be moved anywhere any time soon.

If you've been listening to the Board, the Chancellor, and the college presidents lately, then you know that budget-tightening and enrollment management are the focus right now. Even the hiring of new full-time faculty seems to be on hold, or at least it's slowed down to nearly nothing.

Money is tight.

One possible source of funds is student government, which, at IVC, has a budget of around $400,000 a year. There's no reason why student government can't pay for this stuff.

I'll ask 'em. Don't hold your breath.

Still, with this latest development re journalism, we're moving in a positive direction. We'll build up the program as best we can, and then, maybe, if we can find our way to some money and support (e.g., eventually hiring a full-time journalism instructor), the students will have a newspaper again.

Let's hope the new paper, when it arrives--if it arrives--will be as good as the old Voice during its brief heyday.

ONE MORE THING: Here's a positive factoid. As we reported two months ago (The good news and the bad news), new legislation now protects college newspapers from the meddling and censorship of the Raghu P. Mathurs of the world. Yippee!

OTHER RECENT POSTS:

• Friday, Sept. 29
Chunk visits ATEP It's hoppin'!
• Friday, Sept. 29
Full circle Dennis White announces exodus

Chunk visits ATEP

(Listen to Park Ranger Bob on the Frank Peters Show)
After class today, I shot on over to Redhill Avenue, in Tustin, and, at Warner Ave., I entered the enormous property that once was the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station. The facility and its two famous hangers came into existence in 1942 as the Santa Ana Naval Air Station, home to blimps that patrolled the coastline for Japanese submarines. When the base was turned over to the Marines in 1951, it was named the Marine Corps Air Facility, Santa Ana.

The Marines, the Navy, and the feds no longer have any presence on the property, and they have no claim to it--unless, of course, we fail to be in full-development mode by 2009. We own this 68-acre lot, but we must "use it or lose it." Potentially, if we drop the developmental ball, the lot could revert to the Navy, which would be only too glad to acquire so valuable a piece of property.

These days, the "base" is guarded by rent-a-cops hired by the city, who write down the name and license plate of each visitor. No doubt the info is sent immediately to Karl Rove. Or Karl Karcher. (For a cool map of the entire planned development, see Tustin Legacy Master Plan.)

I said hello to the guard, who gave me directions. I swung my car over to the left and headed for my destination--ATEP, the SOCCCD's third campus. I love old, historic places, and surely this counts. I was happy to soon come across an old chapel that, I've learned, is likely to be restored to its 1942 splendor by a local veterans organization. Surrounded by abandoned apartment buildings that have seen better days--they'll be razed--the chapel still looks impressive from some angles.


I spotted an old exercise area nearby:

It's always a little sad and creepy to see abandoned places and things.

Mostly, the old Marine base property is empty space, although there are signs that much is under construction and more is coming. Eventually, the property will include an impressive park, snaking through its middle.

Provost Kopecky and his two assistants now occupy a nice office space in a building--formerly barracks--owned by the Orange County Rescue Mission. (The OCRM owns six acres adjacent to ATEP.) ATEP uses this space and, in exchange, the rescue mission uses a nearby parking lot on ATEP property.

You should go to ATEP's website. There, you'll find loads of useful information, plus some artist renderings of how the complex may look some day:

Check out the drawing on top--the guy on the sidewalk. Wait a minute! Isn't that Park Ranger Bob!?

I blew up that part of the painting to get a closer look. Here's what I got:

Why, it's KEANU REEVES! Hmmm, for years now, the Reb has been telling me that there's a picture of "Keanu" in Glenn Roquemore's office. That made no sense. And now this. I'm confused.

Anyway, I walked inside the ATEP office and met the people there, including Tere Fluegeman, ATEP's Director of Public Information & Marketing. She was kind enough to take me on a brief tour.

THE TOUR

First, we visited the site of classrooms now under construction. It looks like the foundations are about to be poured. Yesterday, the building parts--they'll be bolted onto the concrete--started arriving. So things are hoppin'.

Next, she took me to an impressive helicopter hanger, which will be an important part of the ATEP complex. The outside wall still sports Marine parking space markings, including one for a certain Sergeant Major with an apparent deformity of the hand.


Tere took me inside, where we encountered a small film crew--the ATEP grounds are often rented for filming.

Somebody told me that, recently, there was an Emeritus film crew on the grounds.

"Emeritus?"

"Yup."

"Old people, making a film?"

"Yeah. They looked pretty young though. Maybe they were wearin' disguises."

Tere explained that there were at least two owls living inside the hanger. She pointed to a spot fifty feet above my head: a nest. Then she pointed to spots on the floor: owl crap stains.

"Owls, eh? What do they eat in here? Mice? It doesn't look like there's too many mice in here! The place is squeaky clean!"

"Dunno. We leave the doors open sometimes. Maybe they fly out."

Tere told me a quick owl crap story, which was pretty good, and then we moved on.

Essentially, that was the end of my tour.

CHUNK SANS TOUR GUIDE:

Well, I’m a standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me (Take It Easy)

I thanked Tere and then I headed out on my own. When Tere told me that the military have zero presence at the base, I felt relieved, 'cause I was hoping to drive around taking some snaps, and I know what paranoid knuckleheads the military can be. (I recall that time I was checkin' out a missile silo in central Montana....) So off I went to take snaps.

I started to take a picture of an old building, which happened to have a truck in its parking lot. The truck suddenly roared to life and sped toward me. It stopped and then the driver demanded to know what I was doing.

"Takin' a picture."

In response, he said something, I don't know what. He seemed pissed. If he were a bird, his feathers would be all puffed out. In fact, I do believe that he did have feathers and they were in Full Fluff. Testosterone was in the air.

Finally, he said, "Are you taking a picture of me, or are you taking a picture of the building!"

"The building, dude."

He roared off. He was (I think) driving an Irvine Ranch Water District truck.

Later, I was in an entirely different part of the base, taking pictures of the blimp hangers. Suddenly, another IRWD truck swung by and slowed down to look me over. I think the driver was getting my license plate number. I motioned absurdly to my back plates as if to help him to read the numbers better. He sped off.

Ten minutes later, this happened again. I felt as though I was in a scene from Parallax View.

Then I remembered. The Irvine Ranch Water District is powerful. It spends even more money than the SOCCCD! We're talkin' hundreds of millions! I think these bastards think they own the city!

But isn't the base in Tustin? Whatever.

Full circle

Well, IVC’s Vice President of Instruction, Dennis White, is toast after all.

On Wednesday, Dennis requested 15 minutes at the start of Thursday's Academic Senate meeting. He wanted to make an announcement. Obviously, he was going to announce his toasthood.

I’m a senator, and so I went to the meeting (yesterday) as per usual. But I brought my camera. As I entered, I saw Dennis. He looked dapper, as always. He stood off to the side while the usual pre-meeting hustle and bustle murmured. The room was fuller than usual. I spotted a few administrators, including several deans.

I usually sit in front, but, this time, I decided I’d better sit off to the side to take a picture. (It won’t do to flash a camera right into a person’s face.) People kept trailing in. At one point, I counted well over 30 people.

A few minutes after 2:00, Wendy started the meeting. We went through the usual preliminaries, and then we got to “public comments.” Dennis was asked to make his remarks. He got up to speak. He faced a friendly audience.

Dennis jovially explained that this was the last day he’d be wearing a suit. He reminded us of his first day on campu nearly four years agos: he wore a pink shirt and a pretty flower, which probably sent signals that he had not intended. No matter: he decided that, for today, he’d wear that same shirt—to “come full circle.”

He offered many words of praise for his colleagues in the college community. He noted the collegiality that now characterizes governance at IVC—a huge improvement over three years ago.

He’s right about that. And, undoubtedly, Dennis can take some of the credit for it.

He spoke of our college’s great potential. It can be the best community college in the state, he said, with some passion.

He said he wanted to mention a few individuals in particular. He thanked Greg B, the Senate President when Dennis arrived, who made a real effort to help the new VPI get up to speed. He thanked Bill H, who has always given wise advice and who, he said, has become a good friend. He thanked Dotty S, the director of our Honors Program, noting how extraordinarily well he and Dotty worked together.


To my surprise, he thanked yours truly. He referred slyly to the Dissent, which, he said, administrators read, whether or not they will admit to it.

He thanked Kathy S, chair of the Curriculum Committee, for her guidance and leadership.

He seemed to offer a very special “thank you” to Wendy G, our Senate Prez, “the most special person on campus,” and a “super gal.” Those of us who have worked with Wendy in the Senate know that she has worked very hard for the good of the college and that, over the last three years, she has come to trust and rely on Dennis and to regard him as a friend.

Smiling, Dennis recalled the early months of his tenure, when he decided to issue some unusual guidelines (i.e., prohibitions) for instructors regarding discussions of the war in the classroom. The sh*t really hit the fan that time.

When reporters and TV crews were on the IVC lawn looking for people to interview, he spotted Wendy wearing her usual casual teaching duds. Off she went somewhere. An hour or so later (said Dennis), when reporters asked again if anyone had anything to say about the “discussion ban,” why, there was Wendy, in a very telegenic black outfit with white pearls. She just happened to drop by, and, yes, as a matter of fact she did have something to say about that issue!

When he arrived, said Dennis, he promised that he would try to put IVC on an “international scale.” Six weeks later, he did. We laughed.

Dennis also praise Gwen, who is like a sister to him and who became his “sounding board.” He praised the deans, the “finest anywhere.” He praised his staff, whom he called his “foundation.”

He thanked his "gal" and family.

“It’s been a fun run,” he said. It's also been by far the “most challenging” time of his career.

He thanked us again, and left.

When he referred to me, he mentioned the night, four years ago, when he was appointed by the board. He described how I had spoken to him and filled him in on all the “bad things” about the district.

Well, maybe so. Back in 2003, in Dissent, I wrote about that moment in this way:

Who is this “Dennis White” anyway?

Why, he’s our dapper new VP of Instruction. I recall first meeting Dennis, last November, outside Saddleback’s Library 104, on the night of his appointment. He seemed like a nice guy, so I apprised him of the recent history of our district.

When I finished, he paused; he thunk; he assured me that he wouldn’t do anything indecent or illegal.

I said: “I hate to break it to you, but if you’re a decent guy, you’ll be gone within a year.”

Well, I was wrong. —He lasted nearly four years.

(Dennis will remain employed by the district until the end of December. His last day on the job will be a week from today.)

Chunk's day in pictures

Got a note from Provost (aka "Park Ranger") Bob Kopecky, explaining that ATEP's first buildings arrived today!

After my 9:30 class (Intro to Philosophy), I walked out to one of the fields.

These scenes reminded me of the famous closing shot of Carol Reed's The Third Man.

I stopped by the Performing Arts Complex, which is under construction. I can watch construction all day. It's like watching one of those food shows.

It's amazing how quickly these things go up, isn't it?

I spotted a jet contrail just above the library.



That wag, Bob K, also sent me a picture of what he called "ATEP mountain":



After my 12:30 class (also Intro), I rushed over to B100 for the Academic Senate meeting. It turns out that VPI Dennis White was there to announce his exodus and to say a few words to friends. (More about that tomorrow.)


Went out to Waters and hoisted a few with friends. Then headed home.

On the toll road, I figured, what the hell, why not take a few snaps out the window? It was a beautiful night.

So long, Dennis. We wish you well.

OTHER RECENT POSTS:

• Thursday, Sept. 28
Chancellor Mathur's ominous fiscal "warning"

• Wednesday, Sept. 27
Lazy Susan

Chancellor Mathur's ominous fiscal "warning"

I've been planning to add some audio posts from Monday's BOARD MEETING, but I've been stymied by technical difficulties. Have you ever read Poe's "The Imp of the Perverse"?

In particular, I wanted to post Chancellor Mathur's grim "warning" regarding the budget situation. Mostly, he made points that will be familiar to those who are aware of the views and policies of our trustees.

Here are the points he made:

The state budget situation "does not look good." The budget for 07-08 is going to be "tight."

In future, new expenditures (for new staff or faculty hires, etc.) will entail cuts somewhere else. "Something's got to go," if something else is brought in. We need to "prioritize."


We cannot ignore the bleak state budget situation on the grounds that we are a "basic aid district" (whose resources derive from local property taxes, not state money), for we might not always be a basic aid district. If we were to cease being a basic aid district, we would experience "drastic cuts," for we would be treated like any other district.

Hence, we need to be careful and to do what we can to encourage enrollments.

Marketing and outreach must be the responsibility of the colleges, not the district. Recent district money for marketing and outreach was a one-time use of basic aid money.

Lazy Susan

1. THEY'LL SPIN ANYTHING


2. STILL NO KEYS

I'm told that some at IVC still don't have keys to go with their new door locks. This means that some rooms are simply left open all the time.

Um, didn't they change the locks in the first place 'cause of security?

Typical.

3. A VISIT FROM COMET THE KITTEN

Is there anyone who doesn't love kittens? Here's Comet.




4. BEING THERE

Try, if you can, to make it to tomorrow's IVC Academic Senate meeting (2 p.m., in the B100 bldg.). There'll be a special announcement near the start of the meeting that you won't want to miss.

Or so I've been told.

Bill Jay caught sleeping (updated)

Just got back from the (South Orange County Community College District) board meeting. It was a snoozefest, especially on Trustee Jay's end of the stage.

I arrived at 7:00 sharp, just before the meeting started, and I found some people buzzing about the axe that had reportedly just fallen on Dennis White's neck. There was talk of a retirement party for the poor fellow.

It just goes to show. When the time came for Mr. Fuentes to announce actions taken during closed session (it is, of course, only during closed session that axes fall), he had nothing to report. Several of us sat up in surprise.

I looked back at Dennis, who did his best impression of a poker player. A good poker player. A short poker player.

Later, during the break, Dennis told me, "your report of my demise was premature." I laughed.

[Update Tuesday: friends reminded me today that last night's non-decision concerning Dennis might mean merely that the board could not agree on the terms of his exit. That is, possibly, Dennis is "toast," and the only issue is how he'll be buttered.]

For some reason, there was no mention of public comments at the start of the meeting. I've attended dozens of these board meetings, and, even when nobody's filled out those ugly "squawk" slips, the board Prez always stops to say that now's the time for public remarks.

Not this time.

I looked at the agenda: sure enough, "public comments" were agendized for 3:00, but not for 7:00.

As you know, by 7:00, the trustees had already been meeting since 3:00 in the afternoon--first to get an update on ATEP from Park Ranger Kopecky, and then for the closed session. I didn't attend the open ATEP meeting, but I overheard an administrator say that, during that session, one trustee "hit the nail on the head when he said 'Sh*t, or get off the pot'!"


Someone else seemed to say that ATEP needs to connect with some Big Money. Park Ranger Bob answered that Big Money's on the way and he declared that sh*tting would soon commence. He seemed generally positive about the meeting.

There were lots of resolutions to honor teachers (now called "Professors") of the year and various others. Tom Fuentes always handles the reading of resolutions, putting on his Big Dramatic Voice. He leaves quite an impression.

The theatrical fellow wore a modest yet subtly impertinent business suit. At one point, he removed his jacket, one arm at a time, revealing a delightful peach shirt and powder blue tie with yellow dots.

It was a salute to small pox.

(Cheap shot time:) At one point, Tom misread one of the resolutions and spoke of "enlarged learners." Everyone pointed and laughed. (Well, no. They're too afraid of the fellow for that. He shoots that stink eye like a cafffeinated Marine with a double-barreled laser beam.)

During board reports, trustees mostly revealed that they wanted to go home ASAP. Most skipped their report, but Marcia couldn't help herself. She described all of her recent adventures. At one point she squealed, "I saw a shark in a tank at Saddleabck College!"

She's funny.


A kid named "Rockwell Bower" (I think) came to report on the proposed IVC student government budget, which is about $400,000. Wagner noted that ASIVC is "spending more than [it] is taking in." That was bad enough, but Don also seemed to think that more of the budget should be going back to students.

According to the proposed budget, Clubs and some programs were set to receive lots of money from the students. Wagner questioned giving money to clubs, which, he seemed to say, should be self-sufficient. It's another instance of governmental meddling, evidently.

Then Trustee Fuentes questioned the sizeable profits coming from the bookstore. Why not cut profits and lower book prices? Fuentes told the kid that he'd appreciate an "earnest effort" to address his and Don's concerns next time.

The kid looked like he'd been smacked across the face with a tuna.

In the end, everyone supported the budget--except for Don.

After the meeting, referring to Mr. Bower, an administrator said to me that "tonight, your son sure did get smacked around a lot!"

Item 49 concerned topics for future board discussions. Nancy Padberg suggested that the board should discuss (or just have) board forums at the two colleges. John Williams, looking staunch and annoyed, seemed to want to give to the Chancellor more authority to deal with relatively inexpensive projects--those up to $50K. That the board has to spend so much of its time on so many dinky items was ridiculous, he seemed to say.

Padberg responded by saying that Williams' view was "irresponsible."

Marcia was worried about "avian flu." Gotta be prepared for that. All heads nodded gravely.

Wendy G jumped in to remind everyone that we've still got those mid-term Accreditation reports to write, and so lets put that on the list. Bob C fretted about the full-time/part-time ratio. More grave nods. --Well, maybe half nods.


Bill Jay slept through some of the discussion of the district budget--and who could blame him? Eventually, it was approved. Mathur yammered about the need to become more vigilant about enrollments. More nodding. Except for Bill.

The new Board Policy 2100.2 (role and scope of authority of the senates) was approved without comment, which is great, since now we can tell the Accreds that things are moving in the right direction on that score.

Oh yeah. At one point, IVC Prez Glenn Roquemore was grilled about the infamous classrooms snafu--you know, the new temps weren't ready for the first week of classes, creating chaos and unfettered paroxysms of shriekage.

It was way cool. Glenn explained that the guy who was supposed to do the work "went on vacation." Wagner didn't like that answer, so he asked more questions. Glenn's answers didn't seem to reduce the heat of Don's peevitude, which seemed to bubble over, spreading a vast and hideous miasma of fetid staunchitudinal harrumphitude.

He's a delightful fellow.

Spankin' new Vice Chancellor Andreea Serban was funny (and smart) again, in that Transylvanian accent of hers. She's a star! I took a picture of her hair.

The Saddelback student gov. president announced the students' upcoming "hot dog eating contest." That struck me as utterly absurd. Later, Wendy expressed the wish that she could come to meetings reporting hot dog eating contests. We all laughed. In truth, some who laughed were weenies.

Fuentes gave me the stink eye. In general, he said almost nothing during the meeting and he looked particularly evil, even for him.

I think he thinks he owns the world.

OTHER RECENT POSTS:

• Saturday, Sept. 23
The "bone" motif

• Friday, Sept. 22
"You will kiss my F-ing ass," said the college trustee