The Stain of Turin

● A month ago (Custodians vs. Wayne Ward), we reported that the CSEA local had written a letter to district HR officials regarding the case of Facilities and Maintenance worker Ruben M. In that letter, CSEA threatened to pursue a “hostile work environment/retaliation complaint” against IVC F&M Director Wayne Ward. Ward had decided to move Ruben to the swing shift, despite knowing the extreme hardship to Ruben's family that the action would create. In the letter, the CSEA suggested that Ward was taking this action to retaliate against Ruben for his involvement in the filing of an Unusual Occurance report against Ward.

A few weeks ago, Ruben and another F&M worker met with IVC President Roquemore concerning the alleged retaliation. Roquemore, I was told at the time, seemed sympathetic. He will not abide retaliation, he said.

Right. Ruben has now been moved to the swing shift. The union did not prevent it. Roquemore did not prevent it.

I'm told that Wayne now says that Ruben is being moved because he is a good, independent worker, just what is needed for the swing shift.

Ruben is also a very unhappy worker, as are many others in F&M.


● Today, a friend told a story about an attempt to replace a light bulb in one of the offices. An F&M worker was told about the need for the bulb. He said that he would have to get a ladder, and that would involve waiting until later in the afternoon, securing an electric cart, and then bringing the ladder (and, presumably, the bulb) to the office.

"Why not just use your radio to get somebody to bring a ladder and bulb?"

"Can't do that."

"How come?"

I've already forgotten the punchline. I think the F&M worker said that Wayne does not permit sudden variations in a worker's scheduled duties. Or maybe he said that two workers must not work together, cuz they might, um, something. I forget.

The point is that, owing to Wayne's absurd management policies, whatever they are, it now takes a great deal of time and effort to change a goddam light bulb.


● More than a year ago (Padberg visits), Trustee Nancy Padberg visited our college (IVC) and got a chance to tour several buildings, including A200. Inevitably, therefore, she encountered what we in the A200 building laughingly call the "faculty lounge."

It looks like shit. It's got no furniture, really. The floor is linoleum. Unmatching tables and chairs come and go. One finds students on the floor late at night.

Well, not long after that, we (with Nancy's help?) secured a promise from Prez Roquemore that things would change, that we'd finally get some real furniture for our "lounge," that all would be well.

A year later, we're still waiting.

Today, I was talking with someone in that big dumb empty space and they noticed that each of the four chairs around the one dumb table at the center of the "lounge" is (a) ugly and (b) different. (See picture.)

"Yeah," I said. "That really looks like shit."

Next to the ugliest of the four chairs is a big gaping trash container with one of those Hefty bags inside it. Lovely. Three feet from that is a paper shredder that no one uses. It's got a big plastic bag taped to one end of it. It's strictly Soviet Union, circa 1988.

My eyes wandered further to the right, where I noticed that, recently, an abandoned file cabinet that stood there for years had been removed. The removal left an ugly brown stain on the shitty linoleum. (See.)

"That's the Stain of Turin," said my friend.

"Yeah," I said, ignoring him. "But didn't we just get this linoleum? I mean, they made a big deal about how we were getting this 'new floor,' this linoleum, and now it's got this ugly brown stain."

"Yeah, somebody said they can see a rat's head in it."

We squinted at it for a while.


● The so-called "faculty lounge" is so utterly unfaculty-loungy that it is often used by students. Or it suddenly becomes a classroom annex.

Earlier this afternoon, an instructor was attempting to teach something to three or four of his students at the ugly little table in the center of the room. In the meantime, some faculty had gathered at the edge of the lounge zone to shoot the bull. It's like we were insisting on lounging in the lounge even though it doesn't have a shred of lounginess. This happens all the time.

I mean, where else are we going to hang out? We've got no place else to go!

I think the instructor was annoyed, but we stood our ground, cuz you get to talk to your colleagues sometimes between classes. I mean, that's like a human right or something, isn't it?

Soon, Wendy showed up, so, naturally, she commenced scheming her imminent takeover of the district. I said, "Wait! If we're gonna do that, let's get a picture." So here's what I got.


I hear that a Trustee actually told some faculty that Wendy "runs the district" or that she seeks to do so.

What does that even mean? That's about the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

● On my way out, I stopped by A100, where, on the wall along Glenn's office, official announcements are posted. I noticed something there. Here's what I found:


Hope you can read it. It says that the board will meet with the Accreditation Teams tomorrow (Thursday, the 30th) at 2:30 in the Chancellor's Conference Room (3rd floor, HSB) to discuss the PROGRESS REPORTS. It also says:

An opportunity will be provided at the beginning of the meeting for public comments on this matter.

Hot damn!

Not even close

This morning, the OC Reg is pretty peevish about the high salaries of our county's five Supervisors (It's good to be a supervisor), who make much more than their counterparts in LA and San Diego Counties.

But their salaries don’t even come close to SOCCCD Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur’s salary.

Heads up! Accreds visiting this week!

He's making a list and checking it twice
Gonna find out who's naughty and nice
"Warning" clause is coming to town

s you know, the Accreditation teams are visiting our two colleges this week. On Thursday, I believe, we'll have opportunities to speak with the teams.

WHAT'S UP

Our colleges’ Accred situation is complex, for each college is on two schedules. (1) Each is going through the standard accreditation process, which involves a midterm report, due in a year or so. (2) In the meantime, each college is going through the process of responding to the Accrediting agency’s recommendations.

You’ll recall that the Accreds were impressed by instruction, etc., but they were unhappy with, and RECOMMENDED remediation of:

● continued board micromanagement (Saddleback, IVC)
● administrative instability (Saddleback)
● lack of clarity re governance groups' roles and responsibilities (IVC)
● the plague of despair (IVC/SC?)

THIS WEEK'S ACCRED VISIT CONCERNS (ONLY) THE ABOVE RECOMMENDATIONS and whether our colleges are responding to them adequately. This is not the occasion to raise other concerns.

Back in September, I had occasion to describe each college's progress report draft. I reproduce that discussion below:

Saddleback College Progress Report:

✔ Re board micromanagement:

There are some issues that still need attention. Among them are these…(2) [T]he board’s rejection of college-determined institutional memberships…In March 2006, one board member pulled the American Library Association membership…The trustees spent portions of three board meetings debating whether or not the ALA endorsed pornography for children…[T]he board now requires detailed justification each time an institutional membership is requested or renewed.

…Another perception is that the board favors other units (such as ATEP) within the district over Saddleback College.

Evaluation: …[T]he question that requires clarification is whether the college defines its own mission, goals and objectives…? Or, whether it is the district that defines its mission, goals and objectives and the college…then defines its role in response to the district mission?....

✔ Re administrative instability:

The perception remains among faculty and classified staff that the governance style of the board and district discourages college administrators from taking risks to solve difficult problems….

Irvine Valley College Progress Report:

✔ Re board micromanagement:

[During a March 27 presentation,] [t]he Chancellor … states that there is no college that has lost accreditation because of micromanagement….The Chancellor intimates that the faculty and staff may invite micromanagement by the board, as noted in the following statement:

“To the faculty and staff, please don’t invite micromanagement by going directly to the board about college issues. Please come to me as chancellor and/or go to the college presidents.”

…During [a]…discussion…, other trustees [than Mr. Fuentes] raised concerns as to whether it would be prudent to continue denying that there is a problem with board micromanagement by blaming other constituent groups. In response to those concerns, … [Fuentes] states:

“I’m saying that the problem in this district is more a macromanagement by elements who ought not to be macromanaging than it is by a couple of trustees on this board micromanaging….”

…[T]he majority of the board and the chancellor believe that the issues in the district relate to macromanagement by faculty leaders rather than micromanagement by the board….

…On January 31, 2006, in opposition to the recommendation of the chancellor, the board voted to deny the colleges’ institutional membership in the American Library Association, alleging that: 1) the ALA is comprised of “liberal busybodies…”; 2) the ALA opposed the Child Internet Protection Act and therefore favored allowing children access to pornography in public libraries; and 3) the ALA opposed the USA Patriot Act.

…Similar board involvement occurred relative to the decision by the IVC administration to discontinue intercollegiate tennis…Based on the discussion of the board and presentations by members of the community, the college administration elected to continue the intercollegiate tennis program.

Rebel Girl's Poetry Corner: If I Had a Hammer

If Rebel Girl had a hammer, you can bet she'd hammer in the morning, in the evening, all over this campus. There is, indeed, much repair needed.

However, the inability to find the necessary tool to hammer out our particular strains of injustice and incompetence, plus the inability to generate many words continues (Week 2!), so Rebel Girl will do what some of her students sometimes do when faced with a blank page and a deadline: Quote! A lot!

It's an obvious enough strategy that she hopes will distract you enough to give her a passing grade for this week. Her offering is from Dean Young, a poet who lives part-time in Berkeley and the rest of the year where he teaches, in Iowa City. RG runs into him every other year at a summer writing conference where she serves the gods of poetry the best she can.

Hammer
BY DEAN YOUNG

Every Wednesday when I went to the shared office
before the class on the comma, etc.,
there was on the desk, among
the notes from students aggrieved and belly-up
and memos about lack of funding
and the quixotic feasibility memos
and labyrinthine parking memos
and quizzes pecked by red ink
and once orange peels,
a claw hammer.
There when I came and there when I left,
it didn’t seem in anyone’s employ.
There was no room left to hang anything.
It already knew how to structure an argument.
It already knew that it was all an illusion
that everything hadn’t blown apart
because of its proximity to oblivion,
having so recently come from oblivion itself.
Its epiphyses were already closed.
It wasn’t my future that was about to break its wrist
or my past that was god knows where.
It looked used a number of times
not entirely appropriately
but its wing was clearly healed.
Down the hall was someone with a glove
instead of a right hand.
A student came by looking for who?
Hard to understand
then hard to do.
I didn’t think much of stealing it,
having so many hammers at home.
There when I came, there when I left.
Ball peen, roofing, framing, sledge, one
so small of probably only ornamental use.
That was one of my gifts,
finding hammers by sides of roads, in snow, inheriting,
one given by a stranger for a jump in the rain.
It cannot be refused, the hammer.
You take the handle, test its balance
then lift it over your head.

Leprechauns & heaviness, obeisance-wise

obeisance: acknowledgment of another's superiority or importance : HOMAGE

There are some interesting—and perhaps important—items in this morning’s Inside Higher Ed. In its “Quick Takes” section, we learn:

● While many American policy makers of late have been worrying about increased competition from India’s universities, a report in the International Herald Tribune found that outside a small number of elite Indian universities, most of the country’s higher education system is in terrible shape. “Most of the 11 million students in the 18,000 Indian colleges and universities receive starkly inferior training, heavy on obeisance and light on marketable skills, students, educators and business leaders say,” according to the article. [My emphasis.]

Heavy on obeisance? Imagine that!

● A former student at the Art Institute of Portland, in Oregon, says that he was suspended and then expelled, in a series of events that started when he questioned another student’s belief in leprechauns and she complained about his questions, The Portland Mercury reported. Institute officials denied that anyone could be expelled for questioning another’s belief in leprechauns and suggested that other issues were involved.

● This morning’s lead article (Fixing Higher Ed, Legislator-Style) is a description of a new report on the state of higher ed in the U.S., and it ain’t pretty:

Higher education is in crisis, in large part because of government neglect, and states must take the lead in fixing the problems, a bipartisan group of state legislators says in a new report.

“Transforming Higher Education: National Imperative — State Responsibility,” the report from a 12-member special panel of the National Conference of State Legislators, in many ways falls in line with other recent studies that have identified concerns about access to and the performance of American colleges and universities….

Like those reports, the legislators’ study (a summary of which can be found here) cites statistics showing the United States slipping on international indicators, bemoans the effect that increasing tuitions and flattening financial aid have had on college access for low and middle income students and adult learners, and notes that those problems must be addressed if the country is to provide a meaningful future for the waves of educationally underprepared Americans preparing to slam into higher education and society….

…“The American higher education system is no longer the best in the world,” the NSCL report states without equivocation. “Although the United States has some of the best institutions in the world, we do a poor job overall in our mass education production.... The American higher education system is not preparing students for the 21st century global society.... Faculty are content with the teaching methods of the past and are not changing as the world is changing.”….

● ALSO: in this morning's New York Times (Pastor Chosen to Lead Christian Coalition Steps Down in Dispute Over Agenda):

The president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America, which has long served as a model for activism for the religious right, has stepped down, saying the group resisted his efforts to broaden its agenda to include reducing poverty and fighting global warming....

Jeez, what would Jesus say?

Gee Whizzery

Looks like the OC Register has decided to toss a fuzzy little softball at IVC. Check out “Irvine Valley College to build business center” in this morning’s edition, which notes the recent groundbreaking ceremony and offers a healthy dollop of Gee-Whizzery:

"There's just no doubt with a structure like this … it's a wonderful addition for the campus," said Glenn Roquemore…."This particular building will be at the cutting edge of technology."

Aesthetically, the center will have a "high-tech look on a low budget," said Raul Villalba, SOCCCD director of facilities planning.

"I think it will motivate students," [student Tomo] Mizuno said.

Also, DON’T FORGET: this is the week in which the ACCREDS visit re Validation of the 2006 Accreditation Progress Report.

Mentoring do's and don't's

Mentoring is a good thing. But you've gotta be careful. Many years ago, in one of my philosophy classes, I mentioned a very difficult essay—it was called, “Do the numbers count?”—and it was considered a brain-teaser by my pals back in grad school. In class, I briefly explained its argument. I mentioned that I found it difficult. The next day, a student from that class showed up for my office hours to explain the article to me. He had found it, read it, and understood it. I was astonished. There was no doubt in my mind that the kid was a genius. Subsequent conversations confirmed this. I was his mentor, I guess, for about a day or two. But some of his remarks soon revealed that he was, well, mentally ill. (Don’t ask.) I’m no expert, but I am certain that the kid was very dangerous, perhaps a psychopath. I tried to nix the mentor/mentee thing (and I tried to get the kid some counseling), but it was too late: he started stalking me and I had to call in the authorities. I hate when that happens. EARLIER TODAY, I read the latest article in the OC Weekly (Sad Chronicle) about accused child molester Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, a prominent local Republican activist with close ties to Republican bigwigs like Dana Rohrabacher, Michael Schroeder, Scott Baugh, and Tom Fuentes. According to the Weekly, back in 1996, then-25-year-old Nielsen was being mentored by the likes of Tom Fuentes. That, at any rate, is the impression left by letters printed by the Weekly and allegedly written at the time by Nielsen to a young boy in Virginia. In a letter dated October, Nielsen wrote:

It was really nice to get a letter from you and for you to call me. I understand that you are not able to call me as much as I call you. Just tell me when you want me to call. I don’t mind being the one doing the calling, as long as you’re there to receive the call…. So, here’s what’s going on with me. On Friday, Tom Fuentes (the chairman of the OC Republican Party) called me and wanted me to meet him at Macy’s at South Coast Plaza. I got there and he bought me a suit. Then he took me to dinner and the sauna at the ritzy Balboa Bay Club. [Name deleted] told me he likes to reward hard-working young Republicans that he likes and he knows are going to go far. It was really rewarding. As you know, I’ve been working really hard on the Scott Baugh campaign…. The only time I’m not working is when I’m watching a USC game, at church, asleep or writing you . . . or trying to get my law school applications together. I’ve got both my USC and Chapman applications typed. I’m working on getting all of my Letters of Recommendation together now. I’ve got Rohrabacher, Flanagan and Fuentes done. Today I found out that this guy who is the state chair of the Republican Party, Mike Schroeder (a friend of Rohrabacher), would also write me a letter of rec. It’s really good that he does because he’s on the board of trustees at USC Law School.

Gee, sounds like Jeff’s got some important friends there! Eventually, Scott Baugh got Nielsen a job with fancy Irvine law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Then (says the Weekly), in 2003, “Nielsen was arrested…for allegedly molesting a Westminster High School freshman boy and possessing a huge, illegal cache of man-boy pornography.” After several (suspicious) delays, the trial is set for January 22. I know what it’s like, Tom. You try to help a kid out, and what happens? They turn out to be psychopaths and accused child molesters, that’s what. I woulda nixed the suit-buying episode, though. And that “dinner and spa” business is a little off, I think. Sends the wrong signals fer sher. But, other than that, I feel your pain, brother.