Day of protest

Prop. 8 opponents rally across California to protest gay-marriage ban:

Expressing anger, disappointment and humor, thousands of gay-rights advocates marched across the state and nation Saturday in largely peaceful protests against California's passage of an initiative banning same-sex marriage.

In Los Angeles, protesters clustered shoulder to shoulder near City Hall before setting off on a downtown march, chanting and carrying rainbow flags and signs bearing messages such as "No More Mr. Nice Gay" and "No on Hate."
…
The Los Angeles Police Department estimated that 10,000 to 12,000 people attended the event, well below the 40,000 the department had expected.

Still, demonstrators called the event a success, noting that participants had been galvanized by a loosely organized grass-roots campaign that sprang up after the Nov. 4 election.

"Considering it started on Facebook and became as organized as it was, it's pretty amazing," said Dave Coleman, 43.

A representative of the Proposition 8 campaign said the protests would have little effect. "They can protest all they like, and it doesn't change the fact that Prop. 8 has passed and the election is now over," said Frank Schubert, manager for the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign.

In San Francisco, a crowd estimated by police at 7,500 converged on the city's civic center, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Milk," a reference to the county's first openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk, who was assassinated 30 years ago.
…
Demonstrators also gathered in Boston, New York and other cities across the nation, the Associated Press reported.

Across California, the rallies took on a carnival-like atmosphere. About 200 protesters gathered at Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza. In Sacramento, police estimated that 1,500 marched peacefully on the Capitol…. (LA Times)

See also

Bay Area demonstrations condemn Prop. 8 (San Francisco Chronicle)
Emotion swells at Prop. 8 protest (Oakland Tribune)
Wealthy gay men backed anti-Prop. 8 effort (San Francisco Chronicle)

Hangin' with the nieces and nephew on a Saturday afternoon

Adam is 3 and a half, almost.

Natalie is barely 1.

Natalie's twin, Cathryn.

Sarah is nearly six.

But guess what (Tom Fuentes ♥ Mike Carona, and other factoids)

WRITTEN OFF? Thursday’s big earthquake drill seemed to go off well at Saddleback College.

The event was, um, no great shakes at IVC, however, where classes were briefly interrupted by an intercom announcement of the grand event followed by—nothing, except over at the Student Services Bldg. (An administrator later told me that the event only targeted SSB; but then, why the intercom announcement campus-wide?)

Many were bewildered.

“Wow. Now, I guess, we’re prepared for the Big One,” I told my class. I launched into a brief lecture on the importance of having an emergency stash (water, food, first aid) in car and home. Then it was back to free will and determinism.

The OC Reg reports (Saddleback College continues with earthquake preparedness) that Saddleback actually continued its preparedness exercises on Friday.

…Saddleback College emergency leaders gathered Friday at a campus emergency operations center to simulate an earthquake scenario involving significant damage to the campus.


In the scenario, the college served as an evacuation shelter for 1,000 citizens displaced by the hypothetical earthquake. The simulation included establishing plans and procedures in serving as an evacuation site, assessing the casualties and damage at Saddleback College, identifying the administration and logistics associated with executing an evacuation shelter and mass care plan, and establishing communication protocol with the Orange County Emergency Operations Center and media outlets….

Meanwhile, over at IVC, people were joking that, obviously, Chancellor Mathur has written off our little college to the north.

Maybe he read up about liquifaction. Dunno.

OODLES OF TAXPAYER MONEY. One of the more irksome elements of Mr. Tom Fuentes’ recent campaign for reelection (to the SOCCCD board) was his boast that our district is a friend to the taxpayer, for, unlike other districts, it has not pursued bonds.

That boast was, of course, a classic example of the fallacy of suppressed evidence, for, in fact, our district spends oodles of taxpayer money. Shitloads even. It has been able to do so without resorting to bonds because it employs an unusual funding approach that draws from local property tax funds rather than state funds. (It’s called “basic aid.”)

During good times in which home prices remain high, the district is showered with cash. So it’s been swimming in dough—taxpayer dough—for years.

But guess what.

As the LA Times reports this morning (Orange County faces budget squeeze), “Orange County officials are trying to slash tens of millions of dollars in spending, cutbacks that could lead to layoffs and jeopardize public services….”

That’s because tax revenues are expected to drop bigtime. But we haven’t seen the worst of it yet:

The squeeze on local government is expected to tighten further next year when the full impact of property tax adjustments hits. As property values have slumped, homeowners have asked for their homes to be reassessed—a process that will cut the government's property tax revenue.
…
Despite its above-average per capita income, Orange County has been hard hit by the economic downturn. Median home prices in Orange County plunged 28% in July, unemployment increased to 5.7% and sales tax revenue designated for law enforcement is down 3% from 2007, Mauk said in a memorandum calling for the cutbacks.

"We have to do it because the revenues are going to be down not only this year but more dramatically next year," said county Supervisor Bill Campbell….

MEANWHILE, IN THE FUENTESPHERE:

R. Scott Moxley over in the OC Weekly (Is OC GOP Shill Jon Fleischman Goofy, a Moron and a Shakedown Artist too?) provides a transcript of a conversation between former Sheriff (and IVC "Hometown Hero") Mike Carona and his pal Don Haidl:

Don Haidl: Is somebody paying that goofy bastard [Jon Fleischman]?

Mike Carona: Big bucks. Big bucks. You and I had a difference of opinion on him. I just think he was a moron on his best day, but . . . Well, apparently . . . (Laughs)

They're willing to pay morons a lot of money because I was probably paying him when he left $90,000 a year. He made four times what I was paying him in a year, he made it in six months. And, uh, it's all through that silly ass Flash Report. He was doing consulting for business and stuff like that, too, you know? He's doing a George Jaramillo . . . He's doing a shakedown.

More power to him, I guess, you know?

—An August 13, 2007 FBI-recorded exchange between then-Sheriff Mike Carona and his onetime Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl about Carona's taxpayer-paid flack whose job at the Orange County Sheriff's Department was to spin/attack reporters investigating Carona's questionable activities. Fleischman, who is a heavyweight in California Republican Party circles and is a protege of Michael J. Schroeder, left the OCSD before the FBI and IRS indicted Carona on corruption charges. [—From Moxley's piece in the OC Weekly.]

MORMONS, PROP 8, and the "CREATOR'S PLAN":

An article in yesterday’s New York Times ( Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage) tells the story of the role of Mormons in the recent successful effort (in California) to ban same-sex marriage:

...Shortly after receiving the invitation from the San Francisco Archdiocese, the Mormon leadership in Salt Lake City issued a four-paragraph decree to be read to congregations, saying “the formation of families is central to the Creator’s plan,” and urging members to become involved with the cause....

SATURDAY A BIG DAY FOR SUPPORTERS OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE:

The Times reports this morning (Protests to be a key test for Proposition 8 opponents) that “A series of protests against the passage of Proposition 8 scheduled to take place today in Los Angeles and across the country will be a key test for a loosely formed Internet-based movement that has emerged since California voters banned gay marriage last week.”

Some of us have high hopes.

♥ Prop. 8 protests could become national movement (San Francisco Chronicle, today)

GUSTAVO ARELLANO VISITS IVC AND UCI:

OC Weekly columnist and bestselling author Gustavo Arellano was a guest last week at one of Rebel Girl’s writing classes here at IVC. The event was a success.

Evidently, Arellano was also a guest at UCI. According to UCI’s The New University (Ask the Mexican), Arrellano visited UCI on the 5th to discuss immigration, among other topics:

“[My new book {Orange County: A Personal History}] is trying to give a richer, more honest understanding of the real Orange County, which often gets ignored in favor of its myths,” Arellano said.
…
He spoke, for example, about the history of racism in Orange County. “Orange County is the Mexican-hating capital of the country,” Arellano joked.
…
Keeping with his theme of publicizing historically significant, but unknown events, the Anaheim native also discussed the community-mobilizing effect school segregation had on returning Mexican -American World War II veterans.

“Here were these Mexican Americans who bled for their country, and they came home to a place that said their kids had to go to worse-off schools,” Arellano said. After a suit and countersuit, the 1946 Mendez v Westminster case was finally resolved at the state level by Thurgood Marshall, who later worked on Brown v. Board of Education.”

In his book, these major city events that barely made a blip on Orange County’s historical radar are paralleled by events in Arellano’s family, making otherwise distant issues relevant.
…
“As a reporter, this is the best place to work because you have all these crazy stories of insane people,” Arellano said. “Orange County has become the Ellis Island of the 21st century, and I want to be here and take as big a part as I can.”

Arrellano [sic] will be teaching a course on the history and evolution of Orange County for the School of Social Sciences this coming winter quarter.

All in a Day's Work: Sucker Punch

sucker punch : to punch (a person) suddenly without warning and often without apparent provocation

REBEL GIRL has had a good semester thus far, inspired by new texts and new students. She feels challenged and so do her students. It makes for a lively classroom.

At this point in the semester, students are making the necessary progress, some more than others. There are always those who excelled from the beginning and those who have failed to do so. Then there are those who are surprised by their own ability to progress – there's something special about that bunch. In the beginning, Rebel Girl worried they would drop even though she saw their potential, even though they may have failed the first paper. Stay, she counseled, I know you can do it if you manage your time and focus. They stayed –and now, well, many of them are doing more than passing; some are on their ways to earning B's. They discuss writing and critical thinking with an awareness that they admit they lacked 10 weeks ago. When asked, they say, somewhat shyly that they can see their own progress, notice the difference.

Huzzah.

About this time, Rebel Girl queries them about their future classes. Who's taking Writing 2 next semester, she asks. Hands rise. Excellent. She advises them on Writing 180 opportunities, the reading classes and reminds them not to overload themselves.

So yesterday, in consultation with one of those students who is making her own surprised way to a B, Rebel Girl asks, "What are your plans for the Spring?"

"Oh, I'm taking writing," the student says, "but at another college."

"Why?"

"Well, I heard it's easier."

Rebel Girl goes into her standard patter on this subject: "You don't need easy. You don't want easy. You want to be prepared for the university where things are not easy and besides, you're doing WELL. Look at this paper." They stare at the 5 page rhetorical analysis of a poem by Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Hass.

The student is now embarrassed.

"Is this what your friends told you?" Rebel Girl asks.

"Yes," the student says, "but my counselor told me to do it too." She says the word "counslor" with a certain defensive pride.

"Your counselor here? At this college?" Rebel Girl's voice has gone up an octave at this point.

The student nods. She seems uncomfortable so Rebel Girl lets it go. Besides, she knows when she has lost. This student is a fairly reliable witness. She works on the campus. She will, next semester, take all her classes here expect writing. Writing she will take at another college. This on the advice of her academic counselor here, at this college.

Sigh. Big sigh.

Rebel Girl might dismiss this if this was the first time she heard this story. But it isn't.

There's ways to read this story.

One way is that the counselor wants to "help" the student achieve her academic goals and thinks an easy A is the way to do it. That version, of course, insults the smart student, the student that Reb has worked hard to teach the semester. Perhaps the counselor thinks the student isn't as capable as Reb thinks she is.

Maybe the counselor thinks Reb and her colleagues have standards in their writing courses that are higher than necessary, hence the suggestion to move on to another institution where the standards are, uh, different. Reb has certainly heard that one before.

Maybe the counselor wanted to ease up crowded classrooms on campus here on campus. After all, we certainly have seen a rise in enrollment so maybe this is part of some kind of enrollment management strategy.

Maybe the student's narrative isn't as reliable as Reb thinks it is and no counselor ever suggested anything of the sort because he or she would recognize how it undermines our educational mission and so poorly serves our students.

Maybe.

What do you think?

FERPA and Mathur

This morning’s Inside Higher Ed (Vigilante Justice on Plagiarism) reports that an instructor in Texas has been fired for publicly humiliating students who plagiarized in his course:

On [Loye Young’s] syllabus at Texas A&M International University this fall, he wrote: “No form of dishonesty is acceptable. I will promptly and publicly fail and humiliate anyone caught lying, cheating, or stealing. That includes academic dishonesty, copyright violations, software piracy, or any other form of dishonesty.”

…. Young, who owns a computer business in Laredo and doesn’t depend on a teaching job for his livelihood, thinks humiliation is part of the justice system. He noted in an interview Wednesday that “there’s a reason that trials are in public.”

When he caught six students in his management information systems course cheating, he wrote about it on his course blog …, naming the students and telling the world that he had caught them and that they would receive an F for the course and be reported to university officials.
…
When university administrators realized that Young had followed through on his threat to fail and publicly humiliate the students, they put the failing grades on hold — the cases are now being referred to an honors council for consideration and the F’s may or may not stand. But action against Young was quick: He was fired. The university says he violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law known widely as the Buckley Amendment or FERPA, which generally bars the release of educational records about students without their permission….

Gosh, this reminds me of the career of our own Raghu P. Mathur, who, as you know, started his illustrious acadamic career as a chemistry instructor at Irvine Valley College. When the "chair" model was instituted in the mid-80s, Mathur immediately seized that role and would not let go of it.

The following is from Dissent 16 (1/11/99):

Dissent has been provided a photocopy of a memo sent by then-president (of IVC) Dan Larios to then-chair [of the School of Physical Sciences an Technologies] Raghu P. Mathur in May of 1996. ... As the following memo makes clear, President Larios ... could not abide Mathur’s conduct:

TO: Raghu Mathur....

DATE : May 14, 1996

SUBJECT: School Chair Election

By a vote of the faculty of the School of Physical Sciences and Technologies you have been recommended to serve another two year term as School Chair. As you know, the recommendation of your school has been forwarded to me for approval. It is the purpose of this memo to explain to you that I have some serious reservations about your leadership as School Chair.

As an administrator of Irvine Valley College, you have been repeatedly directed by me to resolve administrative matters within the administrative structure of the college. During the past year you have circumvented processes established by the Instructional Council and Board Policy, you have appealed directly to the Chancellor and board members when clearly directed not to and have generally operated in a spirit of bad faith which has undermined both the IVC governance model and has discredited your nominal support of it. I have spoken to you repeatedly about these issues and stated to you on March 29, 1996, that I have lost trust and confidence in your ability to lead your school.

I am giving you the 1996-97 academic year to regain my trust and confidence in your leadership ability. During this year you will be evaluated quarterly by the Office of Instruction. If at anytime you do not conduct yourself within established and agreed upon laws, policies, and procedures, I will exercise my right to remove you as School Chair.

It is in the best interest of the faculty, staff, and students of Irvine Valley College that you work within established administrative and governance structures of IVC and the Saddleback Community College District. Implicit in your accepting the nomination and election as School Chair is an expectation that in so doing, you are a willing participant in the governance model endorsed by IVC. In addition, I would expect you to realize that all recommendations for School Chair are forwarded to me for final approval. If, in good faith and in practice, you do not support the governance model you will be removed from your position as School Chair.

I am hopeful that in the future you will become a positive, contributing member of IVC’s administrative team. If I can be of any help in this process do not hesitate to call upon me.

DL/bw

I should provide some context. By early 1996, Larios had become fed up with Mathur for reasons cited in the memo among others. He was determined, therefore, to decline Mathur’s re-appointment as chair of his school. True to form, Raghu got wind of this and lobbied the board. As a result, Larios was told that he was not to pull the plug on Raghu. So Larios did what he thought he could get away with—re-appointing Mathur for one year on a probationary basis.

There was a “final straw” that precipitated Larios’ [desire] not to re-appoint Mathur as chair.

Dissent has been shown a copy of a letter, dated March 18, 1996, from the district’s attorney, Spencer Covert, to Dan Larios, President of IVC. The letter indicates that, in the opinion of Covert’s firm, Raghu Mathur acted improperly when he distributed a document to the Board of Trustees and others—a document that contained a student’s transcripts. Covert explains that the matter falls under the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) and that Mathur’s action thus violated district policy (5619), which refers to FERPA.

Recently, I have learned that, in violating FERPA as he did, Mathur placed the district in serious jeopardy of litigation. Further, it appears that, back in 1996, in an attempt to protect the district, administrators never told the student in question that her rights had been violated by Mathur.

But why had Raghu distributed a student’s transcripts in the first place? What could lead him to do something so unseemly and unprofessional?

A detailed account of this sordid tale would be tedious, and so I will sketch only its chief elements. [The upshot: Mathur attempted to discredit VPI Terry Burgess regarding the latter’s decision to sign off—in appropriately, according Mathur—on a student’s petition to be allowed to forgo a lab requirement. Mathur could find no one at IVC willing to pursue the matter, and so he turned to the board. In the end, it became necessary for President Larios to send out a college-wide memo explaining that Burgess had in no sense acted improperly in signing the student’s petition.]

As indicated above, Mathur, hopeful of discrediting Burgess, also pursued the card signing matter with the Board of Trustees, once again circumventing established procedures. He sent the Board a document including a cover letter, the above-mentioned resolution, and a copy of the student’s transcripts, thereby violating the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act and district policies.

At about this time, Larios, by then utterly fed up with Mathur, composed a letter of reprimand, reprinted below:

TO: Raghu Mathur....
FROM: Daniel L. Larios, President
DATE: March 26, 1996
SUBJECT: Letter of Reprimand

On February 14 and March 8,1996 you disseminated School of Physical Sciences and Technologies memoranda to the Chancellor, District Board of Trustees, Saddleback Community College District Faculty Association and the Irvine Valley College Academic Senate. In your role as an Irvine Valley College administrator you have not conducted yourself within established and agreed upon laws, policies, and procedures.

You have clearly violated the instructional Council’s Statement of Practice (Attachment #1) issued September 11, 1995. In addition, you and the full-time faculty members of the School of Physical Sciences and Technologies, as signatories of the aforementioned memorandum of March 8, have violated Saddleback Community College District Board Policy 5615 (Attachment #2) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (“FERPA”) by distributing confidential student records. FERPA regulates access to educational records of students and protects their rights in preventing the disclosure of personally identifiable information with certain limited exceptions, in the absence of student and/or parental written consent.

The Irvine Valley College Catalog, page 229, under the heading “Student Privacy Rights,” explicitly references FERPA and extends such protection to students of the District.

I am hereby directing you that this misbehavior cease and that you work within the established administrative and governance structures of Irvine Valley College and the Saddleback Community College District. As an administrator of Irvine Valley College, you have been repeatedly directed by me to resolve administrative matters within the administrative structure of the college. To continue to pursue college matters with the district Chancellor and Board of Trustees is contrary to the explicit direction I have given you and constitutes insubordination.

If you continue to persist in not observing established laws and Board of Trustees’ and college policies and procedures, I will be obligated to take formal disciplinary action against you.

A copy of this letter will be placed in your personnel file.

DLL/bw

This letter was never sent.

On March 29, Larios met with Mathur. The meeting was witnessed by an impartial administrator, who took notes. According to those notes, the following exchange occurred:

Larios: “I believe that a reprimand is in order because of the communication that you sent out to the board. It contained, without permission, a transcript of a student. You violated her rights under the Family Practice act and our own Board Rule 5619. But because of the meeting this morning I am not going to give you the letter I have prepared.”

Mathur: “It was a good meeting and I suggest that you tell Terry, and we can put it all behind us now because of the meeting.”

Larios: “You need to let go of focusing on Terry, Raghu. It is not healthy for you. Your school has to become a part of this college. You are going to have to change. Can I report to the Board on April 22nd that all of this is behind us?”

Mathur: “Yes, you can, but you have to tell Terry and Pam [Deegan] the same thing. I am willing to cooperate.”

Larios: “Your school depends on you for leadership and you have let them down. Will you put this behind you now? You have good people in your school and they depend on your leadership ability, which I have lost confidence in.”

As reported in Dissent XVI, Mathur learned of Larios’ intention to reject Mathur’s re-appointment as school chair, and so he scrambled to lobby the Board, telling them who knows what. (As you know, Mathur has a history of lying—even to Instructional Council, which formally censured him.) As a consequence, Larios was directed not to stand in the way of Mathur’s reappointment. In the end (May 14), Larios sent Mathur a somewhat toned down version of the above memo—the document reproduced in Dissent XVI.

In subsequent months, Mathur worked hard to rehabilitate his reputation, though his tactics remained unchanged. For instance, he contrived to have the faculty of his school send to Larios a memo “commending” him for all of his fine work.

The man’s shameless.

END

Later, of course, Mathur sued Burgess and me for violating his privacy by reporting the above. We countersued and won. Mathur was ordered to pay our attorney fees ($34,000).

Mathur then sued the district for not protecting him. The district settled and paid Mathur $40,000 (as I recall). Not long after, Mathur was appointed Chancellor.

Red

The little people among us.

These three will grow up together.

How lucky.

Neeeeewwws

This morning, our pal Marla Jo Fisher reports on a Special public hearing TONIGHT on SOCCCD techology park. Says Marla, "The meeting is scheduled in the chancellor’s conference room instead of its regular venue, which is the first time I’ve ever seen a public hearing scheduled for a conference room. Maybe they don’t expect anyone to show up."

Hmmmm. This board sure is dedicated to open government and transparency. Sure. I wonder if denizens of the colleges even know where the conference room is? Doubt it.

From this morning's Inside Higher Ed:
Gates Foundation to Spend Big on Community Colleges:

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced plans Tuesday to focus its time — and hundreds of millions of new dollars — on college completion, particularly at community colleges.
…
In announcing the plans, at a meeting with education leaders held in Seattle, foundation leaders spoke with passion not only about the importance of higher education, but about the poor graduation and retention rates at many institutions.
…
“For the last 40 years, the U.S. has been encouraging enrollment and access — with federal aid like Pell Grants and guaranteed student loans. That’s important, and it has helped. More young people enrolled in college this year than ever before,” [Melinda Gates] said. “But the payoff doesn’t come with enrolling in college; the payoff comes when a student gets a postsecondary degree that helps them get a job with a family wage – and that’s not happening nearly enough. The college completion rate in America has been flat since the 1970s. We were once first in the world in postsecondary completion rates, we now rank tenth. That’s a danger for the nation’s economy, and it’s a tragedy for our citizens.”

As a result, she said that the foundation’s work in education would focus on “not just college enrollment, but college completion.” The foundation plans two major efforts in the years ahead, she noted. One will focus on helping more disadvantaged students finish high school so that college is a possibility for them. The other will focus on college completion. The emphasis will be on community colleges, she said….

Protests and reaction re Prop 8 continue (KTLA):

New York Times spoof

Cat fights are the new rage on campus