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I believe the sleaziest part of our higher education system is the community college. Yes, the \u201cfor profit\u201d schools are arguably close, but I\u2019m a firm believer in integrity, so I give the for-profit sector some slack for making their decisions with profit, and nothing else, in mind.<\/p>\n
Community colleges, on the other hand, are often indefensible in their looting of the student loan (and grant) dollar. Time and again I\u2019ve seen admin rake in the money while shortchanging students at every opportunity. Most particularly obnoxious to me is when a Poo-Bah finally is tossed from campus for excessive plundering. Ok, the tossing is fine, I\u2019m happy with that, but what infuriates me is the golden parachute the Poo Bah receives in addition to his plundering.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to give him severance, because we\u2019re breaking his contract!\u201d says the trustees, and this assertion silences the local papers\u2026but I find it weak. We\u2019ve had community colleges for well over a century now, it really seems by now someone could have figured out how to put in a \u201cwe won\u2019t give you an extra million dollars if we catch you stealing\u201d clause in the employment contract.<\/p>\n
Adding to my fury of how community colleges operate is the hypocrisy. The vast bulk of community college faculty are paid almost nothing, even as the rulers of the school screech about how precious having an education is. The students there are trained in feminism, communism, and racism\u2026and then turned out into a world which really doesn\u2019t need people skilled in such things. The reason is because it\u2019s cheap to hire teachers of \u201cskills\u201d like racism or whatever. On the other hand, training in real job skills useful to the modern world (hi computers!) is rare at community colleges\u2014hiring teachers for such things would cut into administrative bonuses.<\/p>\n
Getting back to those contracts, perhaps my lack of knowledge of how the law works is what prevents me from appreciating why scurrilous Poo Bahs always reap great rewards for being let out of their contract (even when they resign, they get handed a bag of phat loot<\/a>). Contracts are iron-clad, right?<\/p>\n The Maricopa Community Colleges Governing Board<\/a> has put forth a resolution<\/a> that would abolish the 40-year-old “meet and confer” negotiation process with faculty and replace it with a policy that “recognizes the Governing Board as the final approval authority for all policy matters.”<\/em><\/p>\n Bottom line, the governing board is voting to simply annihilate the faculty contracts, and change the system to a \u201cdo whatever we want\u201d system. 40 years ago, you see, higher education was strongly influenced by educators, and so a system was put in place to make education about education, instead of about looting.<\/p>\n The current governing board doesn\u2019t want that, and the old \u201cmeet and confer\u201d system was cutting into the looting. Yes, there’ll be a vote on these changes, though faculty won’t be the ones voting, just the ones who stand to profit by the new rules. I’ll be shocked, shocked, when the vote doesn’t go through as planned. Being familiar with how this process works, it\u2019s easy for me to read between the lines of the administrative defense of the new rules:<\/p>\n The proposal will “allow changes to be accomplished more quickly and reduce the amount of valuable resources devoted to policy development while not inhibiting decision-making by the district\u2019s administration or the governing board.”<\/em><\/p>\n Ah, yes, the \u201cwe need to make quick changes\u201d justification. I remember when from one semester to the next, passing rates in our remedial courses went from 50% to 85%. No, human ability didn\u2019t change suddenly, and no, we didn\u2019t change the course syllabus or books, and no, we didn\u2019t go to restricted admissions.<\/p>\n What happened was admin simply threatened us: pass 85% of the students or be replaced. Admin\u2019s newfound ability to do so was because they eliminated the department head, and replaced him with an administrative mouthpiece: she made it pretty clear what the new rules for faculty were. \u201dPolicy changes\u201d as admin calls them were very quick after she was awarded power.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s continue to sift through this risible defense of the proposed new rules:<\/p>\n \u2026reduce the amount of valuable resources devoted to policy development\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cReduce the amount of valuable resources\u2026\u201d also brings a knowing chuckle to me. Admin pour ridiculous resources into Vision for Excellence<\/a> plans and have hired so many additional administrators that campuses often have more admin than faculty on them\u2026they have plenty of resources to spend on \u201cpolicy development\u201d and have thrown those resources away. The only concern here is to pour more resources into administrative pockets.<\/p>\n More from the defense, and more laughs:<\/p>\n \u2026 not inhibiting decision-making by the district\u2019s administration or the governing board.”<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNot inhibiting decision-making\u2026\u201d is the true heart of the matter here. They\u2019re just removing any chance of integrity getting into their way. Honest, the only goal here is to remove the faculty so that the major plundering can begin in earnest, nothing more.<\/p>\n Perhaps even more troubling to faculty, the resolution also would direct the chancellor<\/a> to create a new faculty policy manual by October. The new manual would allow the chancellor to “at her discretion, incorporate portions of the existing policy manual.” \u2026The manual covers issues such as academic freedom, salary schedules, workload and code of ethics.<\/em><\/p>\n So instead of the manual being written by faculty to govern how faculty are to be treated, it\u2019ll be written by the Poo Bah\u2026and the Poo Bah alone will decide how faculty are to be treated.<\/p>\n How is this not, obviously, a recipe for disaster? The line about \u201cat her discretion\u201d is especially farcical. She may, if she wants, use a part of the existing manual is comedy gold, in fact, as she clearly can do whatever she wants, there\u2019s no need to put this line in at all, except to mislead the gullible into thinking she\u2019ll actually respect faculty wishes.<\/p>\n I really feel the need to remind the gentle reader that Maricopa\u2019s community college system already has a reputation for fraud and looting<\/a>, and allow me to re-highlight some examples I mentioned before:<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026vehicle stipends large enough to buy a new car annually\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Recently retired Chancellor Rufus Glasper’s $408,017 compensation package included at least $55,000 in special allowances in 2015<\/strong>. That included a $32,500 spending or discretionary allowance and a $22,400 auto allowance.<\/em><\/p>\n Fourteen [administrators] had car allowances of $18,000 each, with 11 of those having been raised 76 percent since 2012<\/em><\/p>\n At least 19 district executives were given spending allowances of $800 to $32,500 last year<\/strong>. Thirteen had allowances of $9,600 each, and 12 had their allowances roughly tripled since 2012\u2026There are no restrictions on how the funds are spent.<\/em> I could go on, but it\u2019s funny how admin is spinning faculty concerns here as \u201cfear-mongering.\u201d In light of the above, only a fool would trust the good intentions of admin if they were given even more power to plunder, right?<\/p>\n Northeast Valley News took statements <\/a>from several faculty and administrative sources that fear intimidation and\/or reprisal for coming forward with information.<\/em><\/p>\n Yeah, no kidding. At least faculty know what they\u2019re up against. I wish them luck, though their only real hope is for the voting public to make it clear that they\u2019ve had enough plundering.<\/p>\n Definitely, good luck with that.<\/p>\n www.professorconfess.blogspot.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\n \u201c\u2026other perks such as cellphone and iPad allowances, and life insurance coverage, are included.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n