California Community College ba(t)ch degrees?

A four-year degree from a two-year school? It could happen (Contra Costa Times) With tens of thousands being turned away from state universities, California lawmakers likely will consider granting community colleges the right to offer a limited number of bachelor's degrees. … Bachelor's and higher degrees are offered by University of California and California State University campuses, while community colleges offer two-year associate degrees and certificates for a variety of professions. … [Assemblyman Marty Block, D-San Diego] said he began considering community college baccalaureates after San Diego State recently closed admissions to local applicants. The decision left many qualified San Diego-area students without a local university option, he said….

Comments

‪Anonymous‬ said...
nooooooooooo!
10:29 AM, December 21, 2009
‪Anonymous‬ said...
Hey, they're already doing it in several states. Get used to it!
10:59 AM, December 21, 2009
‪Anonymous‬ said...
I LIKE the fact that our students move on!
11:02 AM, December 21, 2009
‪Anonymous‬ said...
What good is a degree from anywhere if there isn't a job out there after graduation?
1:51 PM, December 21, 2009
Anonymous said...
And thus the state could cut its cost per bachelor's degree substantially. Neat trick.
6:18 PM, December 21, 2009

Pictured: "Orange Union High School," 1920. Now Chapman U.

Old Town Irvine

DID YOU KNOW THAT, until the fifties, "Irvine" was Irvine Village, located on Sand Canyon? It was founded as a "hub" by the Irvine Ranch in 1887—when the Santa Fe Railroad came through—and soon included a lima bean warehouse (1895), general store (1911), hotel (1913), blacksmith's shop (1916), and post office. By the mid-60s, the focus had shifted to the new development surrounding UCI, and "Irvine village" became "East Irvine." The new-fangled fools with their planned city to the southwest took the name "Irvine."

"East Irvine" didn't stick, I guess. Today, I dropped by what is now called "Old Town Irvine," the neat product of redevelopment (and some bulldozing) by the city in 1984.

Here's a photo of the warehouse as it appeared in the 40s or 50s:

I took the shot below—of the northeast part of the building, now occupied by Tia Juana's Long Bar—maybe a year or two ago. (See history.)

I'm not sure when this one (below) was taken. It is a shot from the east, about where the 5 meets the toll road nowadays. Observe that we see two long buildings. I suspect that they were joined after the 1984 redevelopment.

You can see that western warehouse(?) below, too:

I'm told—by a friend who once worked in the building—that much of the original (processing?) machinery is preserved and visible inside the west end (at right), now offices. I'll check that out one of these days.

Below: judging by the hairstyles, this pic is, what, from the 1930s?

This shot (below) is from an earlier era, I think. Circa 1910-1920?

The general store, hotel, etc. were restored and moved closer to the warehouse decades ago. The Knowlwood restaurant occupies the old blacksmith's shop.

This appears to be from circa 1920-25. The general store?

The hotel? Circa 1913?

Compare these images with the restorations depicted above.

The east end, about a year ago.

According to La Quinta, the hotel includes "unique rooms built in a lima bean silo."

Pepper tree, across Sand Canyon, near the spot where, I believe, the general store once stood.

For information about the "Old Town" redevelopment project (1984), see city document. "Old town" was first designated "Myford," after James Irvine's son, since the name "Irvine" had already been taken. That was in the 1880s. By 1914, the other Irvine must've dissolved, cuz the name became available; they took it. Hence: "Irvine Village." Then, in 1964, the Irvine Co. needed the name for their UC-centric development to the southwest. "Irvine" or "Irvine Village" became "East Irvine," or "Old Town Irvine." Now, it's pretty much forgotten, except by customers of Tia Juana's Long Bar.

Holiday cat

TigerAnn pretty much does what she wants to do. You can make requests, but she generally ignores them. Luckily, most of what she wants to do is pretty acceptable. Plus she tolerates hugs and kisses and such--up to a point. It cannot be denied that she has settled into a kind of permanent peevishness, although it is combined with a kittenesque inclination to do stuff, keep active, rip around.

Most cats I've known betray at least a hint of solicitousness, unless they're solitary brutes who seek to avoid or destroy humanity. Not TigerAnn. If I'm working on my laptop and she wants attention, she'll climb right on my chest or laptop and plant herself there, as though my interests couldn't possibly matter. It is a remarkable thing. It is marvelous. Sometimes, I try to communicate the existence of my contrary interests, but it is of no use whatsoever. She commences pressing keys, standing on them. Her expression: utter inscrutability.

She is, I think, a tolerant cat. That is, she tolerates me. She does not annoy easily. If I want something from her, she will quietly ignore me, communicating only an utter indifference to my interests. She is, in her mind, rising to the occasion, waiting patiently for me to just go away. She is virtuous.

The infernal feline often looks into the distance, but I have yet to observe her actually offering an opinion or inclination about it. I am vexed.

The Chihuahua asks, “Why not bite?”

OK, I’m caught between a rock and a hard place.

Dissent the Blog is a lot of things, but, to me, it is first and foremost a watchdog. There isn’t a heck of a lot of internal watchdoggery in this district, that’s for sure. And there is no effective external watchdoggery. The Accreds? It is to laugh. The press? They're a skeleton crew on a sinking ship.

There's DtB. We’re a scruffy little Chihuahua, yapping in the corner.

We’ve got full-time jobs as teachers, and so it isn’t easy keeping DtB going. We do the best we can.

We have “friends” (who are sometimes unfriendly) who just don’t get the watchdog thing. They keep coming at us with “don’t say that! It’ll hurt the college!” or “Who the f*ck do you think you are!”

Well, sure. But the problem is that people with power will make mistakes and, beyond that, they will do things they shouldn’t be doing. We understand about mistakes. We’re all human. But sometimes the only way to get powerful people to stop doing things they shouldn’t be doing is to drag their hinky endeavors into the light of day, cuz you can’t appeal to some of these people with reason or morality or decency. Hey, don't think I haven't tried.

(Remember those "Brown Act" lawsuits? Wendy and I (et al.) didn't just suddenly sue the district. We came to the board and apprised them of their error. We explained how they could fix it. They stared. Then they said "fuck you." And consider this "prayer" lawsuit. Did we (I joined the effort recently) just up and sue the district? Hell no. We made efforts to moderate the board's behavior over a period of several years. The board resented our persistence, our criticisms. So what did they do? They laid on the religion even thicker. It was that same "fuck you." --People With Power, man. Just try to reason with 'em. See what you get.)

I don’t want to hurt the college or the district. But there are people with power who think they’ve got Gyges’ Ring. And they do things, man. There’s nothing unusual about this. It is the way it is. You can try to work with these people and, sometimes, they’ll cooperate. Most often, though, they’re just gonna do whatever they can get away with. They change only when you bring their actions out into the open--or smack 'em over the head with a lawsuit. (Remember the senates' "hiring policy" lawsuit? Same thing.)

So let’s talk about this “Lutheran high school” business.

It all started like this, see. On Thursday, F, a historian, walked over to my office and asked about a history course being taught at a Lutheran high school. What’s that all about?, he asked. I’m in the senate, so he figured I’d know.

I didn’t know. Increasingly, things go on that seem to operate below the radar. I couldn’t recall anything about it. I looked up the course on the online schedule, and there it was, apparently a regular 3-unit history class, taught by one of our adjuncts.

Odd.

I did a little research on this Crean Lutheran South High School and found pretty much what you’d expect to find. “Decidedly Christian, Distinctly excellent.” That’s how they describe themselves. OK.

On their webpage, they trumpeted their arrangements with Irvine Valley College (and Concordia U, which is Lutheran). They said, “CLS and IVC offer a partnership that provides Crean Lutheran students the opportunity to take college courses at IVC, at no cost, to bolster their academic resumes.”

When I had a little time, I researched the history of Crean Lutheran South (CLS), and I learned that it was largely bankrolled by John Crean, the founder of Fleetwood Enterprises. I recalled that Trustee Tom Fuentes had some sort of association with Fleetwood, and so I dug that up. The story of Fleetwood’s rise to the top, Crean’s acrimonious exit, and Fleetwood’s slide to the bottom seemed interesting to me, especially given that Crean was a local character and one of the right wing movers and shakers of OC. Plus I always enjoy adding pieces to the enormous jigsaw puzzle that I call the Fuentesphere, a sprawling rogues' gallery—Carona, Rackauckas, Street, Schroeder, et al.—punctuated with the occasional decent dupe.

To me the issue here, if there was one, concerned the apparent fact that we were using CLS as a site for instruction. These Crean courses did after all appear in our schedules of courses — without apparent restriction or qualification.

(As it turns out, their inclusion there was a mistake. They are in fact courses that IVC has contracted to offer at Crean, for Crean students, paid for by Crean.)

Still under the (I think reasonable) impression that IVC’s Crean courses were regular offerings, I posted the story, gently (yes, gently) raising the question of whether it was appropriate to use a Lutheran high school as an off-campus site.

Then the shit hit the fan. Friday morning, I got word that the paragraph about Crean and IVC was “wrong.” Well, yes, there was a problem, for the post proceeded on the assumption, inspired by the college's own published schedule, that they were regular offerings.

Throughout the day (Friday), I made changes to the post, setting the record straight, but noting the schedule snafu. I would get word that the changes were “OK” with administration.

That annoyed me. This whole business was caused, not by my poor reporting, but by the rather massive error of publishing a schedule of courses that included “contract ed” courses that are NOT open to the community to take. As usual, I got the feeling that my real sin was shining a spotlight on something that normally chugs along quietly, unnoticed, unexamined, like our "early college" program (though, with some effort, the latter has finally come under scrutiny).

They don't want no stinkin' watchdog stirring up dust.

Over the years, we’ve not been pure, watchdog-wise. That’s all down to me and not my partner, the Reb, who, re monitoring the Powerful, is all watchdog, zero puppy. I’ve often sat on “stories” (i.e., held back reports). I have tried to compromise with certain faculty leaders and administrators about our watchdoggery. I’ve bent over backwards for them.

Now, that would be tolerable (to me, not to Reb), I suppose, if these people were to appreciate the nature of the sacrifice we are making and the position we are in. But it seems that they don’t. Again, yesterday, I found myself getting the word from on high that my corrections and deletions were acceptable to them, as though I had entered the scene only to paint erroneous pictures.

Well, that’s just bullshit.

The college is pissed because we’ve shined a spotlight on a hinky corner of their operation. Noting that the IVC’s Crean courses are “contract ed” settles one issue. But there are other issues here. There are facts, simple incontrovertible facts, not opinion, that are, well, unfortunate. If some of us in the college community had been included in the decisions about this program, we would have said: don't go there. This is trouble.

But no.

These facts. Now, just why shouldn't I state them?


[Note: (1) I am NOT stating them and have not stated them. I have, however, contacted someone with the VPI's office. (2) N.B. In my view, this "episode" points to the folly of administration's new practice of leaving faculty out of the loop, as they seemed to do in the case of the "early college" program. If this Crean business were to have been pursued with normal faculty involvement, none of the unfortunate circumstances/facts would have arisen.]

Pics: taken today at Jan's

Comments:

Anonymous‬ said...
Thank you, Chunk. Over the years, the fair shake you have so often given this college and district has sometimes actually revived my old love of IVC.

About your current post, I have a couple of questions that I think any department chair would ask. How is it that the thinly disguised F did not know that HIST 20 and 21--6 units of osh--were being offered at this off-campus site? And if these units do not represent osh taken from the department's allotment for the semester, who is paying the adjunct? And if the adjunct is being paid from a pot different from the instructional budget, is he held to the 9-unit limit?
3:30 PM, December 19, 2009

‪Anonymous‬ said...
Yes, whose dime are we spending here? And why?

Where is the Academic Senate on this: Saddleback just went after HS students taking classes without paying.
7:17 PM

‪Anonymous‬ said...
Please note that an instructor who regularly teaches History for IVC (Hist 1) teaches Poli Sci (PS 1) over at Crean HS - curious discipline shift.
8:10 PM

‪B. von Traven said...
3:30, I just got home. I don't have an answer to your questions, though, as I explained yesterday, our courses at Crean are "contract ed," which means that Crean, not the taxpayer, pays for them. ¶ At some point, a request went out for volunteers to teach at Crean. Adjunct faculty got this email, but possibly all faculty did. This, of course, is not the same thing as running this arrangement past the academic senate. I don't recall it being presented there, but it is possible that it was and I missed it somehow. We'll see.
9:21 PM

‪Anonymous‬ said...
Someone is pulling something here - the question is just what and why.
9:32 PM

‪Anonymous‬ said...
Who is in charge of articulation now that Kate Clark has retired?
10:22 PM

‪Anonymous‬ said...
Do the instructors who teach Contract Ed need to be credentialed or qualified in the same way we are? or are there difefrent standards? I expect if the courses are being offered for college credit need to be taught by instructors who meet the same standards otherwise the courses are worthless - in terms of college credit anyway.
9:14 AM, December 20, 2009

‪B. von Traven said...
The standards depend on the courses. It appears that the courses offered at Crean are transferable (i.e., "credit") courses, and so the usual standards apply. In fact, the instructors sent to Crean by IVC are part of the existing pool of instructors at IVC, and so they are prima facie qualified. All is well unless Crean starts assigning these instructors courses that they are not qualified to teach--e.g., if a historian, who is qualified to teach transferable history courses, commences teaching, say, transferable econ courses.
9:30 AM

‪Anonymous‬ said...
But CREAN should not be assigning instructors to courses - that something that IVC (chairs and deans) should do - RIGHT????
3:21 PM

‪Anonymous‬ said...
Roy, the entries to your blog have been and are remarkable. We applaud you for the questions you have raised, the research you have done, and the closer to the truth on a number of issues that never would have come to light that you have delivered to us.

We are not "community" colleges any longer. The transparancy that would be wonderful if our District and college administrations shared matters that affect the intergrity of the colleges. We are fortunate to have not just a philosopher who teaches that subject but a man who practices philosophy--the pursuit of questions, the answers of which might improve the quality of our lives and the work we do.

Community bespeakes a communion between and among the members of it. We have very infrequently found that in the SOCCCD. That does not mean that we can't get better at becoming a community. I hope that we do.

Thank you, Philosopher Roy.
4:01 PM

‪Anonymous‬ said...
Hear, hear!
4:07 PM

Anonymous said...
Something is fishy. 

Generally (generally, not all - take the Jesuits for example) parochial schools have their own standards of behavior one must observe - some of these would be at odds with the academic freedom we enjoy. 

Keep barking.
8:29 AM, December 21, 2009

Anonymous said...
Who IS in charge of articulation?

I can't find anything on the website about who took over from Kate.
9:27 AM

B. von Traven said...
9:27, I believe that Tam Do is our articulation officer. I'm not sure what would be gained contacting Tam, however. This semester, near as I can tell, qualified instructors are teaching the IVC Crean courses. I'm told, however, that universities sometimes balk at college courses offered at high schools. (I'm not sure if this is a significant concern.) But, as I have said, in this case, IVC (adjunct) faculty are teaching the courses. My understanding is that this "program" (if that is the term for it) is being run out of Dave Anderson's office. [My source: two of our Crean instructors. Anderson--a nice guy--is the Director of Extended Education.]
10:04 AM

Anonymous said...
Sorry to be stupid BUT who's assigning the adjunct instrcutors to these courses? The dept. chairs or Anderson or both? Who decides if they're qualified to teach the college credit classes? Faculty or admin? Why would someone who teaches history at IVC teach Poli Sci at Creaon?
10:24 AM

B. von Traven said...
10:24, with regard to your last question: someone with a masters in history can, I believe, teach political science courses if they also have a bachelors in political science (I looked up the rules). Whether the instructor to whom you are referring has the requisite BA--well, I just don't know. Further, I would think that the relevant IVC dept/school (faculty/dean) would determine whether a person with these credentials should be teaching one of our Poli Sci courses. Re your first query: As of this moment, I don't have a clear picture of who was involved in assigning faculty to Crean courses. My communications with some of our Crean instructors makes clear that the man with the answers is Dave Anderson, Director of Extended Education (at IVC). He would know about Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 (see online schedule).
10:39 AM

Political science:

Master’s in political science, government, public administration, or international relations OR

*Bachelor’s in any of the above AND Master’s in economics, history, social science, sociology, any ethnic studies, JD, or LL.B. OR

*The equivalent

From Minimum Qualifications for Faculty and Administrators in California Community Colleges, February 2008

B. von Traven said...
Above (at 10:04), I wrote: "I'm told, however, that universities sometimes balk at college courses offered at high schools." I checked my notes, and I should have said that universities sometimes balk at college courses offered at high schools that are not open to the public. One of my sources, who is very reliable, seems to think that these courses are NOT open to the public, but only to Crean Lutheran students. But, again, I do not know whether this is a significant concern. No doubt experts do know.
10:42 AM, December 21, 2009

Irvine Valley College: contract ed at a Lutheran high school* [Crean & Fuentes]

[*See correction/clarification below.] Ever hear of Orange County’s John Crean? He was well known—in some circles, not mine—for two reasons. First, his was a classic rags to riches story: starting in the early 50s with nothing, he built a nice RV business, Fleetwood Enterprises. Eventually, it became a vast tin-can-on-wheels empire. When Crean retired in 1998, Fleetwood was a $3 billion-a-year Fortune 500 company.

Second, he was a generous philanthropist. According to the Reg, he and his wife Donna gave to many organizations, including “Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, the Orange County Philharmonic Society, Opera Pacific, the YWCA Hotel for Women, the Crystal Cathedral, the Santa Ana Zoo, the Balboa Theater, the Children's Bureau of Southern California, and the Orange County Republican Party.”

At the time of his death at 81—that was less than three years ago—he lived in Santa Ana Heights.

For many, he was an icon of old-fashioned American can-do-itude. So, in 2000, he wrote his autobiography, called The Wheel and I – John Crean: Driving Fleetwood Enterprises to the Top.

Oddly, he wrote the book with Jim Washburn, the journalist (LA Times, OC Weekly, etc.). I kinda know Jim Washburn, cuz I knew this gal (she was my next door neighbor c. 1990) who occasionally sang with his rock band. Washburn writes about music, guitars, his penis, and even politics. He’s not the kind you’d expect to find partnering with a Christian conservative—albeit an interesting Christian conservative—like John Crean!

Crean and Tom Fuentes:

The book has two "forwards," one by Stan Freberg (?!) and the other by our own trustee Tom Fuentes, who, evidently, was an old pal and associate.

Sadly, in 2008, about two years after Crean’s death, Fleetwood Enterprises filed for bankruptcy protection. At the time, the Press-Enterprise told the sad tale of hubris and decline:

Crean retired in early 1998, and forced the company to buy out most of his stake – 5.2 million shares of stock worth $176 million. He remained on the board for a year until he was ousted in a struggle for board control.

The same year, Fleetwood started buying up retail sales centers to catch up with their competitors who had been on a spending spree for dealerships to boost profits…Fleetwood took on a mountain of debt and eventually bought 245 retail stores to sell their homes, sometimes competing with their independent dealers that carried Fleetwood products.

Tom Fuentes, the retired chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, was a Fleetwood board member and a longtime Crean confidante. Fuentes said the company's leaders ignored two of Crean's biggest principles. They expanded from manufacturing to retailing, and borrowed money to do it.

Crean abhorred debt and had wanted to reinvest profits into the company and its manufacturing processes. Owning retail sites brought Fleetwood more issues than its leadership could deal with, Fuentes said. It meant buying real estate and hiring sales personnel.

"John's idea was to allow dealers, whose livelihood depends on it, to sell the product," Fuentes said. "Management getting into retail was a completely different story."….

Fuentes, who was voted off Fleetwood's board after Crean and his son, Andrew, were ousted, said he has seen a similar pattern in other businesses. An entrepreneur starts a business and spends 40 years making it successful. But the next generation's leaders believe they can go one better and are willing to break the original mold to do it….

But, again, the Creans got out long before things went south.

[DIGRESSION, 7/28/14:

A 1996 Article about early Fuentes' associates, Butcher & Forde (see):

The 'Darth Vaders of Direct Mail' (LA Times, 3/3/96)

     In 1982, a mailer for Republican congressional candidate [John Crean's son] Johnnie Crean claimed that his opponent was facing "voter fraud, tax fraud, conspiracy and perjury charges." Only the fine print revealed that the charges were leveled by Crean.
     "In Butcher's mind, right was what worked. Wrong was what didn't. He was always surprised when other people didn't see it that way," Crean said.
     On a TV talk show about that time, Butcher defended his tactics: "Political consultants are not paid to decide what's right."

Butcher and Forde split up about then. In 2014, Forde was revealed to be the secret decision-maker of Larry Agran's "Great Park" boondoggle. --End of Digression.]

Crean Lutheran South High School (CLS):

Well, one of the Creans’ special projects was the establishment of the [Crean] Lutheran South High School (CLS) in Irvine—the belated twin of Orange Lutheran high school, in Orange. (Oddly enough, the northern school is located just yards from my childhood home.) The Creans provided $350K in seed money in 2003 and pledged another $10 million in 2007, when the school opened.

Naturally, the school, with about 300 kids, is unmistakably religious. And why not? As the school’s website often reminds us, CLS is “decidedly Christian, distinctively excellent.” The school, says CLS’s website,

teaches and responds to the love of the Triune God: the Father, creator of all that exists Jesus Christ, the Son, who became human to suffer and die for the sins of all human beings and to rise to life again in the ultimate victory over death and Satan and the Holy Spirit, who creates faith through God's Word and Sacraments...The three persons of the Trinity are coequal and coeternal, one God.

Yep, sounds Lutheran all right. That stuff never did make any sense to me. I sported a quizzical look during my teenage years, you know. This's why.

And these Lutherans are pretty conservative, too. The CLS website sports videos, including a presentation by well-known conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt and his conversation with a CLS official on his program.

Check out these videos. Hewitt’s historical notions are, um, pretty special. As a Christian, he says, you’ve gotta know about history. That means you've got to know about the Jews, who gave us Jesus. Then you’ve gotta know about the Romans, who spread Christianity. Then, he says, you’ve gotta know about “the English.”

The English? I think he's skipping a few chapters.

Well, again, this is all well and good. If the Crean Lutherans wanna hang out with the likes of Hugh Hewitt and teach goofy history, then more power to ‘em, I say.

Irvine Valley College: contract ed at CLS

But now get this. This morning, it came to my attention that Irvine Valley College offers some of its credit courses at CLS! [CORRECTION (SEE BELOW): It does, but, contrary to the impression left by IVC's schedule of classes, these are not regular offerings but special "contract ed" courses open only to a specific population, namely, students of CLS.]

I already knew about our “early college” program [see note below], which has our instructors teaching college classes to allegedly prepared kids at Tustin, Irvine, and Lake Forest high schools. Some faculty feel that such instruction—i.e., facing a room full of young and unruly and unprepared high school kids—will inevitably experience powerful pressures to lower standards—perhaps to a place south of "college." Teachers know how that can happen—how hard it is to just hand out Ds and Fs, if that's what's called for.

But I didn’t know we were teaching at this Lutheran school too! [CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: I have been informed by a reliable source that the IVC courses taught at Crean are in no sense part of the "early college" program--though, of course, I never said they were. They are "contract ed" courses, and they do not get their funding from the state. This means, I gather, that they need not be open to the public but may be designed for some specific population, such as, say, the employees of the local AT&T office. Hence, there is no issue of whether we should be using parochial schools as off-campus sites for "IVC courses." They are not ordinary IVC courses. My issue then is that these courses appear on the schedule of classes with no indication that enrollment is restricted in any way, suggesting, of course, that they are ordinary IVC courses. They are not.]

1:15 p.m. Lemme try this again. Here's one way to look at this whole episode: a fuss was created by a simple error, namely, the college including these Crean Lutheran courses in the Schedule of Courses, thereby (a) clearly implying that a religious school is among our off-campus instructional sites, and (b) potentially thwarting non-CLS students who attempt to enroll in these courses only to find that they may not do so. Now, in fact, the implication--(a)--is false, for these courses are not regular IVC offerings; rather, they are courses that we offer to CLS students as our part of a contract with CLS in which they pay for instruction.

Contract ed is a common way for a college to make money. It works like this: Some entity (e.g., a local business) needs to educate a group of employees (e.g., in expository writing); we educate them; the entity pays for it. Please note that, if the state were to pay for the instruction, it would be necessary to make enrollment open to the public--for we are a "community" college funded by taxpayer dollars. Contract ed courses do not need to be open. When I wrote the original post, I proceeded on the assumption (caused by (a) above) that our CLS courses were the regular, state-funded kind.

I suppose that one might argue that community colleges should not engage in "contract ed," though it is not obvious to me what that argument would be. Assuming that there is no objection to the concept of contract ed, one might argue that some sort of line (that should not be crossed) is crossed when the entity with whom the college contracts is religious. Again, it is not obvious to me what that line is and why it should not be crossed.

Comments

Anonymous said...
If I were a student, say, of the Muslim faith and wore a hijab, I'd want to know if the off-campus course I signed up for was being taught in a religious institution. I'm sure this off-campus site is clearly identified as a Lutheran school site, yes? Students are informed of this, are they not?
7:55 PM, December 17, 2009

Anonymous said...
Curiouser and curiouser.
8:11 PM

Anonymous said...
Can they do that?
9:16 PM

Anonymous said...
Wow, that's special! Who pays? Its website touts that our college courses are "free" for Crean students - so who pays? ¶ And I notice that the instructional dates are different from our calendar - the fall classes start later are still being taught into late Jaunary! What's up with that?
6:53 AM

Anonymous said...
There seems to be a pattern here...
8:37 AM

Anonymous said...
Why can't they just build a decent multi-purpose classroom building at IVC (like they have at all the other colleges) so we can teach more classes on campus?
10:01 AM

Anonymous said...
I'd want to know *who is teaching* the courses. If it's faculty of the religious institution, I'd be more than worried. If it is IVC faculty, I'd be less worried. Is it just being used as a physical site? The different instruction dates would indicate not.... ¶ Hmmm--yep, I'd be concerned, big-time.
--MAH
11:04 AM

Anonymous said...
Qualified IVC faculty are teaching the courses. --RB
11:37 AM

Anonymous said...
To Anonymous at 11:37: thrift lad, tis because of thrift. Think Hamlet--something is indeed amiss.
--Anonymous at 12:20 or so.
12:18 PM

Anonymous said...
Chunk, Your clarification just made an odd fact even stranger - I don't get the situation at all now. The classes are listed in our schedule as IVC classes taught off-campus.... ¶ What IS contract ed anyway? How deos the curriculum differ? ¶ Whose great idea was this?
12:29 PM

Anonymous said...
Face it: they don't tell us ANYTHING and never will. Plus, they're SLOPPY.
12:49 PM

Anonymous said...
12:29, please see my added comments after the red paragraph. --RB
1:28 PM

Anonymous said...
That us: IVC, the In 'n Out Burger of higher ed.
1:31 PM

Anonymous said...
But, are these courses (and Contract Ed courses in general) transferable? Do they articulate?
1:46 PM

Anonymous said...
Yes, as far as I know, they transfer. They are taught by our (qualified) instructors and carry the usual credits/units. Sometimes, I believe, contract ed provides non-transferable courses, but, in this case, the courses are transferable (i.e., they have recognized units/credits). IVC has a "community ed" division that provides non-transferable courses, such as the "Emeritus" courses that we offer at Laguna Hills Village to a very particular population. Faculty tend to view these courses with, um, suspicion, in part because, typically, they are not taught by our faculty--standards for Emeritus are, well, different. It is a bit surprising to find these transferable courses, taught by our own faculty, managed by the "community ed" people. --RB
2:02 PM

Anonymous said...
How can I sign up to teach THERE rather than at IVC? Can it be part of my load? who do I talk to?
4:43 PM

B. von Traven said...
4:43, I would talk to my dean. My guess is that CLS wants more kinds of courses that will give their students a leg up when they apply for college. Right now, only three or so departments offer any courses there: history, economics, political science. It is likely, however, that any decision to add other disciplines will involve academic chairs and other faculty in those disciplines.
5:17 PM

Anonymous said...
Professor $:43,
I expect that some of us would be more acceptable to the Crean HS people than others...but DO talk to your dean.
6:47 PM

Anonymous said...
Non @ 6:47:
It doesn't matter if our instructors are "acceptable" or not to Crean - WE do all the hiring per board approved processes and our contract! The Crean HS people should have no say at all.
8:27 PM

Old boys, young boys in the OC GOP

As you know, OC right-wingers maintain a kind of Old Boy farm system—they spot hot young prospects (almost invariably young men) and groom ‘em, usually running ‘em through the Young Republicans for starters.

One of Tom Fuentes’ groomies was a young fella named Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, the son of a local GOP mayor. Fuentes wrote him letters and bought ‘im suits at South Coast Plaza; he even took ‘im to dinner and sauna at the Balboa Bay Club, or so Nielsen wrote in one of his letters to a kid in Virginia. Naturally, young Jeff’s local GOP connections got him into a fancy local lawfirm. I bet he had one of those Junior Deputy badges, too. He prayed a lot. He knew Mike Schroeder.

He was an up-and-comer.

But then, in 2003, he was accused of pedophilia. Gosh. He noisily denied the charge and flashed his pious Christian credentials for several years. But then another young victim turned up—he kept some of Jeff's romantic/pious letters—and so he was convicted. Yep, admitted it and everything.

Dang!

Today, R. Scott Moxley, who is likely more responsible than anybody for bringing Jeff to justice, reports that they’ve let loose the former Great Right Hope:

Ex-Dana Rohrabacher Aide Turned Convicted Pedophile Gets Out of Prison

Jeffrey Ray Nielsen—the Orange County Republican activist, close Washington, D.C., aide to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and convicted pedophile—is out of prison and living in Laguna Beach, according to a California Attorney General's website that tracts the whereabouts of sex predators.

Twenty months ago, in March 2008, a judge sentenced Nielsen to serve 36 months in prison after he reluctantly acknowledged that he was guilty of targeting seventh, eighth and ninth grade middle school boys as his sex partners.

I previously reported that Nielsen landed in a private prison. He was also charged with possession of a huge cache of man-boy and boy-boy sex pornography, but a bonehead mistake by prosecutors allowed that count to expire before taking necessary court action.

Getting justice in the case was never a sure thing. The 39-year-old Nielsen, once an intern for District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, liked to brag about his personal connections that extended to then-Sheriff Mike Carona. Indeed, thanks to his friendship with OC Republican Chairman Scott Baugh, he landed a well-paying job at a large law firm and a gig representing a local government agency as a lobbyist.

With the aid of high-powered criminal defense lawyer Paul S. Meyer, Nielsen spent nearly five years viciously attacking his accusers and portraying himself as a persecuted Christian conservative who was being smeared by a liberal press, naming this paper. (While he awaited trial, the Orange County Register wrote a story about how Nielsen loved puppies and, oddly, didn't mention the pending sex crimes charges.)

At one point, Meyer attempted to derail the Weekly's investigation by alleging to the FBI that I was part of blackmail scheme against his client. The laughable tactic didn't work. Nielsen ultimately pleaded guilty after I found a second boy in Virginia who backed up his story with love notes Nielsen had sent him. The State Bar of California revoked his license to practice law….

Do you ever stop and think just what kinds of people the OC right-wing Old Boy network comprises? Start with those with criminal convictions, and then work down to those just getting and keeping lucrative jobs despite gross incompetence and abject sleazitude. And I'm not even counting all those priests they protected for all those years.

If there is a God, I bet He's pissed.

See also: Mentoring Dos and Don'ts

Rebel Girl's Poetry Corner :"like angels clearing their throats"

"Stille Nacht, Heilege Nacht" by Peter Meinke

At Christmas, my sisters and I
learned to sing carols in German:
Grandpa would give us a quarter
apiece for performing, though
only Carol could carry a tune.
After the start of the War
Father forbade us to practice,
and when Grandpa asked for his songs
we told him they weren't allowed.
You are German, he shouted. Sing!

Singt, mein kinder, für mich!

We stood mute, unhappy, ashamed,
between father and son locking eyes
while the U-boats were nosing the currents
and propellers coughed in the skies
like angels clearing their throats.

*