Interview with J. Michael Straczynski

J. Michael Straczynski is a man of many firsts. Back when the Internet was unknown to everyone except a tiny number of techies, geeks, wealthy dilettantes and nerds, he was the first showrunner (Hollywood-speak for a television show’s executive producer who handles day-to-day operations) to go online and interact with fans.

He was the first – and will likely ever be the only — scriptwriter to write 92 out of 110 episodes of a show, his brilliant creation “Babylon 5.” B5 was the first television show meant to run a certain number of seasons, five, with a definite beginning, middle, and end, and included dynamic storylines the characters and multiple, overlapping story arcs. Long form television writing is now common thanks to Straczynski.  He did it first.

He is probably the first journalist to cross over into a successful television career, likely the first journalist and television writer to cross over into mainstream comic book writing, and absolutely the first television and comic-writing journalist ever to become a major Hollywood screenwriter.

Other “firsts” include developing his own comic book line (Joe’s Comics), his own multimedia studio (Studio JMS), directing his first movie and creating an original series for Netflix.

The word “first” applies to Straczynski in many ways, including as a fiery, intelligent defender of the First Amendment.

From 2009 to 2010, students, faculty members, Sun journalists, and concerned citizens fought with a corrupt Southwestern College administration and governing board to keep the First Amendment Freedoms of Speech, Assembly, and the Press alive on the campus. In 2010, when the administration attempted to strangle the newspaper by tying its purse strings around its throat, Straczynski responded by undermining the administration the best way possible – financially.

It was definitely the first time that had happened.

And now, for the first time, an unbridled, warp speed first person Q&A interview with the 2013 Southwestern College Honorary Degree recipient:



First Amendment Warrior

In September 2010 Straczynski personally funded an issue of The Sun after former superintendent Raj Chopra and his vice presidents attempted to block publication. The issue broke the story of construction contract corruption involving college board members and administrators.

Sun: In the fall of 2010, the Chopra administration dug up a never-used print bidding policy to force the Southwestern College Sun to prevent printing a controversial issue. You stepped in and paid for the entire issue. Why did you feel this was necessary?

Scholarship Awarded from Worthy Organization

I just wanted to announce that I've received a scholarship award from San Diego Association of Black Journalists. This is one of the city's most worthy journalism organizations, and I'm proud to have won. But I have to say, the fact that my colleague from the Southwestern College Sun, Alexis Meza, has also been awarded one.

Alexis is a Sun sportswriter who has been chasing down a vast number of recruiting violations among the SWC basketball team. Pop over to the Sun website to check out a little of his work.

We'll be awarded scholarships on April 19 at a scholarship reception hosted by SDABJ at National University.

If you want tickets, all the contact information is on the fly

A Summer of Hoop-Jumping (Dealing With the Administration at Southwestern College, Part I)

I know a few college professors. To be truthful, I know a lot of college professors. They are as different from each other as any population, but like any subset of the people, they have their own recurrent topics of conversation.


One such topic, of course, is “students.” As a smaller part of that subject, another frequently mentioned discussion topic is ‘student excuses.’

“My student says they were dropped without warning while they were trying to register.” “Well, my student claims his financial aid package just disappeared.” “Oh yeah? Well, I know one who says…”

I’ve heard a lot of them: the comments, questions, disbelief. In one instance, a professor of my acquaintance described a situation that a student had with financial aid as “impossible.”

The same thing happened to me.

Don’t think I’m castigating the instructors – I’m not. Not everyone has yet had that student who was able to explain things, to clarify exactly what happened. I suspect that eventually all of them will, because frankly, this system is deeply flawed.

As a result of that flawed system, some students will never get a chance to try again. Some simply fall away from college, because they were wrongly dropped or rejected, or because “they” put up one last hoop, one too high for the student to jump through.

(This article also appears on the Patch network.)

A SUMMER OF HOOP-JUMPING

I applied for financial aid in May this year. I knew about what classes I wanted to take, and by that I mean I had a vague idea, but I was bound and determined to actually get that education. I want that degree I’d never acquired, but the education was my goal.

Okay, the degree really is the goal, but I didn’t want to muck about and try to game the system to get that degree with as little work as possible. I wanted to take those blasted classes and learn something.

I applied near the end of the spring semester. Things began to go wrong immediately. Every day I checked my email with a vague sense of dread, wondering what hoops Southwestern College had for me to leap through this time.

On two separate weekends, I received trios of emails in the middle of the night, starting late Friday – three days of three emails. Both times the format was the same: two emails that read “Congratulations! You’ve been approved for financial aid at SWC!” followed by one that said “We’re sorry, but you’ve been rejected.”

I’m a writer. I can handle rejection.

But each rejection including a line that read (and this is a quote): “…you are not eligible for the program due to the following reason:”

And… nothing. No reason, just a blank line.

Each time that happened, I packed up various documents, records, schedules, tax forms, and so on and hauled it all down to SWC’s financial aid department. Each time I was told, “Whoops! That’s a computer glitch. You shouldn’t have had to come down here. You’re fine.”

That happened twice.

On two other occasions, I received emails that read, “Your application for financial aid at Southwestern College has been received. However, the documents listed below are required to review your file.”

And… nothing. No documents listed, just a blank line.

Of course, these happened at different times than the terrible trios of emails occurred. So again, each time I packed up the document box and hauled it to SWC. And again, each time I was told, “Whoops! That’s another computer glitch. You don’t owe us anything.”

On my fourth and final trip to SWC this past summer to account for documents they didn’t need and to find out why I was eligible, eligible, and ineligible, I asked the employee at the financial aid desk if I needed to provide anything.

“No,” she said. “Your file is closed. You don’t need to bring anything else. We’ll review it and you should be set come autumn!” (I’m paraphrasing here. I didn’t know I’d need to record the conversation.)

Autumn arrived. I’d selected my classes and on the Sunday afternoon before I went back, I suddenly had a feeling of dread. I logged into the campus computer system to see how things were going.

They weren’t.

YOU NEED TO BRING THIS!

There was nothing there about a grant – nothing at all. The school had no record of it.

Had I discovered this during the week, I’d have broken land-speed records getting back to campus to find out just what the hell was going on. As it was, I didn’t get the chance. Stuck at home on Sunday, I dug around the various files and links attached to my records, and through a link titled “Documents,” I found that SWC needed a copy of my high school diploma.

I was actually speechless, until the swearing began.

Diligently, I’d brought copies of everything, including my passport, to the school. As far as I knew, I’d accounted for everything. What high school did I attend? When? Whom do we contact? Can we get copies of your high school transcript? Yep, yep, sure – I filled out all of it. But sometime late this summer, someone decided they wanted that one document.

I accept that. I also have it.

However, no one at SWC ever sent me an email informing me. In fact, no one ever contacted me about it at all. They apparently assumed I’d discover this need on my own. But then another question appeared.

WHO IS “THEY?”

Let me preface this by stating for the record: I don’t hold the SWC employees responsible. With all of California’s budget slashing going on – and thank you so much to the conservatives for making that happen while preserving those precious tax breaks for oil companies that have quit hiring locals and have moved many of their operations to countries with non-existent minimum wages – the campus employees are shorthanded and overworked. Each time I went there, I tried to be polite and reasonable, hence the reason I brought every document I had with me when I went.

But who is “they?” Who sent out these alerts? Who decided to send me ridiculous requests for nothing and constant trios of acceptance and rejection?

The computer system did. It’s all automatic, I’m told.

Seemingly, the computer system outranks the employees, and sends out what it wants at the time, whenever it wants to do it – except when it doesn’t. When it decided that I needed to jump through one more hoop before receiving any grants, it apparently chose to not let me know, and to rely on my scavenging through its innards to find out on my own.

Had I not done this, I never would have known about the damn diploma.

COMING NEXT TIME!

Students clutter up the campus, the Dean of Student Services ignores me, computer systems that are meant not to talk to each other, and how this is all my fault.



Non-Traditional (Part 6) - A Bit About the Students

The end of my first semester back at school was a busy time, what with all the running around, studying, writing, reading, staying up late, waking up early, and ignoring this blog… and that’s nothing on what most of the students I know do.

I was so frazzled that when I woke up, I’d have a mug of coffee with breakfast, or for it. I’d stop at a 7-11 about two hundred feet away, fill up my mug, and stop again at the one across the street from SWC. Then and only then did I feel fortified to start thinking.

Don’t get me wrong. I had a lot to do outside of school, but I saw a lot of students working their tails off to ace those finals and get those grades up. I am impressed. They impressed me, and by and large, they were those students who were here for an education, not a degree.

I say again – I was impressed.

I did well. I pulled some high grades on some finals, turned in some tremendous work, and now have a GPA floating at about 4.0. I’ll be honest. There’s some strutting involved. (But only because this is the first time in recorded history that I’ve rocked a 4.0. In fact, I’ve got some teachers back in the days of yore who would have laughed their rumps off had I told them I’d ever do that well.)

I’m going to show restraint. I’m going to keep my strutting to a minimum. Because I’ve seen students do a lot more, a lot better, and with a lot more obstacles. I know students who have kids and families, are carrying an insane number of classes, who have to travel from campus to campus, who are holding down overtime jobs while they go to school, and who are taking classes and writing essays that make me say, “whut?”

That’s impressive.

Now that I find myself jumping through the same ridiculous hoops that they jump, and digging out exactly what forms the admissions and financial aid people want, and dealing with SWC’s insanely rude and backwards computer systems, and trying to do everything the administration demands, I realize…

It’s really damn impressive. Not me. Them.

I’ve got some things to say about things, believe me. But it only took me a moment to realize that I didn’t want to use this space talking about them. I wanted to use this space for something better.

There are students that still drive me crazy with their laziness, their inability to arrive on time, their dishonest, and their willingness to cheat their ways to that degree.



Like this guy.

 But this isn’t about those people. This is just my way of saying how good it is to know students who do care, who strive to succeed, who work hard, who are never late and never miss a class, are honest and honorable.

This is my way of saying, “Wow, you folks really and truly impress me.” You are the reason that professors like doing what they do. You set an example for your classmates and your colleagues. You make coming into class a joy. You are helping to make the world a better place.

Keep it up.

And speaking as that non-traditional guy who’s gone back to school to improve himself, and who probably watches you and what you do more than you realize… thank you.

More Financial Shenanigans at SWC: Forensic Accountants to Investigate Alioto and the Contractors

Whoa. I need practice keeping these short. I had hoped to put this one up two or three days ago when the link to our stories on the Southwestern College Sun website. But it only came up sometime tonight. So with little adieu, allow me to present:

“Board Orders New Audit on Contracts, SWC Foundation” (on the SWC Sun website)

Allow me a minute to crow and say this is my third front-page article in a row. This makes me unusually happy. But more importantly, this is another financial story that grew and grew as I looked into it. I started this by going to an oversight committee meeting to hear a short positive audit report. But when I was there, I heard something disturbing. The next day, I spoke with Bob Temple, the new interim vice president of business and financial affairs at SWC. He gave me more still more disturbing information.

It grew like that. As it did, other reporters and other writers started finding more information that started to overlap what I had. And as we started looking into it, several things became clear.

The first is that Nick Alioto, the now-ex-vice president of business, was involved in many different questionable – possibly illegal – actions. We always knew that, but it was good to have it confirmed. Secondly, it also became clear that Henry Amigable, the project manager for Seville Construction who worked hand-in-hand with Alioto to oversee construction on campus, was almost as dirty as the vice-president. The third thing is that the entire construction situation is dirty and possibly corrupt.

We have one more issue coming out this semester. I hope to have a piece written with another couple of editors and reporters about the construction situation. And if I don’t get everything I want, I’ll try to follow up either this summer on the blog, or next fall at the paper.

So if that seems like I’m saying that I’ll likely be back in school next fall… yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Provided they’ll take me – and you can take that to mean either SWC or the Sun – I’ll be back.

I kind of like the place, you know?

Are You Going to the Governing Board Meeting? I Can Give You 22.5 Million Reasons To Go

This Wednesday, I’ll make another public appearance at the Southwestern College Governing Board meeting. Yes, I’ll be speaking, and yes, I’d like to invite any and all of you to come with me and make them hear what you have to say.


Why am I going? What on Earth could get me back in front of the board to ask just exactly what the hell is going on?

It appears that the SWC district might be expected to pay for more of Nick Alioto’s shenanigans again. To the tune of $22.5 million.

Alioto? Shure.

Alioto, as you know, is the former VP of Business and Financial Affairs at SWC and one of my personal targets. Given that he was heard referring to me as “an archenemy” – and yes, that’s in quotes, I am delighted with my role versus his Lex Luthorness.

So it should go as no surprise that I’m doing this as an activist, not a journalist.

The money is question arises from construction taking place at SWC. The plans and budgets were developed by Alioto, former superintendent Raj K. Chopra, Seville Construction’s former project manager Henry Amigable, and former SWC consultant John Wilson.

See a pattern?

The board will be discussing paying contracts to several different companies. Some of these contracts are appearing for the first time, but some are contracts that have grown larger since Alioto and Amigable signed them.

Apparently, Alioto – known as a financial wizard – didn’t realize that the construction contracts signed by he and Seville Construction didn’t include funding for the various subcontractors that Seville would be hiring, including the huge Echo Pacific Construction.

Now I’ll grant this is all back-of-the-envelope math, but it’s taken from the agenda of Wednesday’s coming board meeting. It appears that $4,338,077 in contracts needs to be replaced by $26,799,522 in contracts.

In other words, the district is being told that they need to pay an extra $22,461,445 to pay for the mistakes made by Alioto, Amigable, Wilson, and Chopra.


Nick Alioto


Yes, that’s nearly 22.5 million dollars paid out to the following companies: Echo Pacific Construction, Fordyce Construction, Arthur Gensler and Associates, NTD Architecture, Act Inc, Countrywide Mechanical Systems, Southern California Soils and Testing, Tel Tech Plus, The Casper Company, Rocky Coast Framers, RL Electric, Chambers Inc, Winzler and Kelly, Consulting and Inspection Services, Willock Contracting, GA Abell Inc, Barnhart Balfour Beatty, BCA Architects, BRG Consulting, Bytesolutions Inc, and Union Bank.

This would seem questionable at the best of times. But these aren’t the best of times. In early November, the voters threw Salcido off the governing board, leaving Chopra and Alioto unsupported. Late in November, Chopra resigned. That December, Wilson “retired” from his consultant position and Seville Construction fired Amigable. Alioto clung on until February, when he also resigned. With the possibly-guilty parties all scuttling away like cockroaches from a light bulb, it’s clear that these are the bad times. And during the bad times, one must question these facts even more diligently.

These decision-makers weren’t strangers. They were connected in many ways. Working together with Focuscom’s Dan Hom, who attempted to provide rah-rah spin about the project, the men were the architects of the college’s construction future.


It's a little like Caligula, but in English.


Wilson was the live-in boyfriend of Yolanda Salcido, the former GB president. Several other news outlets have already covered their conflicts of interest, so I won’t bother. Salcido hand-picked Chopra as her superintendent, and Chopra and Salcido hand-picked Alioto as his vice president.

In return, Chopra and Alioto hosted fundraisers for Salcido’s reelection campaign – which failed. But they coerced many, many contractors into donating, which included Seville and Echo Pacific.

Somehow these men “forgot” that the contracts they signed didn’t cover sub-contractors.

Though it’s not an exact parallel, it reminds me quite strongly of the story in the Los Angeles Times, which detailed the process of creating and using “body shops” in Los Angeles County.

With this process, the L.A. Community College District (we are also a CCD) used district bonds (which we are using) to hire numerous contractors (which we have) and select a project manager (we have Seville) to oversee the whole thing (which we are doing).

In return for this largesse, the contractors sub-contract the hiring of workers into smaller companies, and then everyone above them charges a cut for their pay. One contractor, Patricia Torres, earned $210 thousand, but the county was charged $563 thousand for her work.

URS Corp is allegedly the mastermind of all this. But also named several times for adding tax and pay markups – Seville Construction. In fact, URS Corp attempted to shuffle Torres from her position at URS to Seville, a common practice to move them away from their job, but keep them in the payroll mix.

With Alioto out at SWC and replaced by apparent straight-shooter Bob Temple, even in an intermittent role, Seville should be putting their best face forward.

They’re not.

In December, Seville removed Henry Amigable from his project manager position, later replacing him with Bob DeLiso. Amigable left Seville in February.



Bob DeLiso

 From 2006-2010, DeLiso worked at Harris & Associates, which was the “point company” for many of the construction projects paid for by the LA Community College District. The LA Times did not list them by name, but did say around “two dozen” other contractors were involved. I’d wager that Harris & Associates was one of them.

Before Harris & Associates, DeLiso worked for URS Corp for 32 years, from 1974 until 2006. This is the guy who is now the project manager for construction at SWC.

Amigable, who was fired from Seville, has also shuffled to a new position and is now working for Echo Pacific Construction, as their SWC project manager.

Remember that $22.5 million in question? Echo Pacific is the largest beneficiary of this “mistake.” With contracts of $4,024,977 outstanding, they are claiming they deserve $10,614,180.

That means they expect the governing board to vote to increase their coffers by $6,589,203.

And the guy in charge of it is Henry Amigable, who was part of this “mistake” happening in the first place.

Alioto, long believed to have hidden and spent down millions of dollars – and recently confirmed by the Southwestern College Sun, and written by Yours Truly -- somehow managed to sign these contracts and Amigable never said “boo.”

So, yeah, I’ll be at the governing board meeting on Wednesday. Unless DeLiso, Amigable, Seville, and Echo Pacific are strenuously investigated, the district must not pay for these decisions. At these times of brutal budget cuts and soaring property taxes, expecting the people of the district to cough up an additional $22.5 million is not just ludicrous.

It’s criminal.

Non-Traditional (Part 5) - One Foot in Journalism, One Foot in Activism - Or How Nick Alioto Made My College Days a Lot Harder

Now that I have returned to college, I have found myself in an unusual position this year. With both an interest in journalism, but also a nearly-complete lack of training, I decided to take journalism classes and write for the Southwestern College Sun. The Sun is widely considered the best two-year college newspaper in the country and one of the top two or three papers of any school there is. Max Branscomb, the advisor, is worshipped as a God Among Men in his field, and I’ll say his reputation is rightfully deserved.

I am there to relearn how to write. I know I am good at many things, but at the beginning of the year, I was rusty, rusty, rusty. Now I’m just rusty, but the improvement is something I do notice.

Also at the beginning of the year, I had to speak with Max; Lyndsay Winkley, the Editor-in-Chief; Albert Fulcher, the News Editor; and Marcela Appelhanz, the Assistant News Editor, and tell them that I was in an unusual position – a position I admit I both relished and loathed.

My desire was to both practice and retrain as a journalist. But I am also a political activist. I have been involved, am involved, and will be involved in progressive politics in the area, and none of that will change. So with one foot in journalism and one foot in activism, I had to set a few boundaries.

One of those boundaries was that I would never cover the Governing Board meetings as a journalist. As anyone here (or at my older blog, SWC Board Must Go) knows, I have never attended a GB meeting in an objective fashion. I have photographed board members, ripped publicly into them, and helped ringlead actions against them.

One of the other boundaries that I insisted on establishing was that I would not go after Nick Alioto, who was still then the Vice President for Business and Financial Affairs at SWC. He was also the dirtbag I’d pursued here, at my other blog, in person, with the press, and at every turn, to run him out of town and prove that he was the criminal that we all know him to be. I’ve even used this blog to poison his chances of future employment, and I’m happy to say that I have no intention of changing that. Fully one-third of the people that end up on the Washroom through a Google or Bing search come by searching for some version of Alioto’s name and position – either here in California or back in his home state of Wisconsin.

I set the boundary that I wouldn’t use journalism to chase Alioto, which appealed to my activist nature. I am not so hypocritical that I thought that fair. Even after he resigned a month or so into this semester, I tried not to chase him.

But every piece I wrote from then on twisted and turned and went back to the actions of Vice President Alioto. I started a small piece on a technology plan that had stalled and was going awry, and within a week determined that it had basically been sabotaged by Alioto himself. When a whistleblower unloaded information about money illegally spent, it became a story on Alioto’s decision to spend that money.

"Superintendent Shakes Up Tech Study Group" (February 22, 2011)

"Former VP Hid, Dumped Millions" (March 22, 2011)

The third story, regarding nothing more than the positive reports of an independent auditor, also twisted and turned, looped and swirled, and landed directly in the lap of Alioto himself. That one is not yet online. When it is, I’ll post it.

I remain with one foot in journalism and one foot in activism. I keep my worlds discrete and I make certain that I don’t set foot past my boundaries. I’ll be present at this week’s Governing Board meeting. I’ve got something to tell them – something that I’ll say well, thoroughly, and loud.

It won’t be as a journalist.

But as a journalist, I’ve finally decided it is okay to use my blog to showcase what I’ve written for the Sun. Feel free to comment, blast, critique, or complain. I’m good with all that.

After all, as a journalist, I wrote these for the good of the college, the district, the students, and the public. But it’s as an activist that I have no trouble whatsoever showing them to you.

Enjoy!

Feb. 22, 2011 - "Superintendent Shakes Up Tech Study Group"

March 22, 2011 - Former VP Hid, Dumped Millions"

Non-Alioto: March 22, 2011 - "Budget Cuts Force College to Plan For Worst"

SWC Governing Board to Southwestern College Sun: "Stop the Press" - Sun to GB: "To Hell With That!"

[I first posted this at SWC Board Must Go! a few hours ago.]

It's no secret to anyone that the Governing Board of SWC has major issues with its school newspaper, the Southwestern College Sun. The Sun, which is unquestionably one of the finest student-run newspapers in the country, has received numerous awards for its writers, its advisor, Max Branscomb, and for the paper itself.

Why does the Board have problems with it? Because the Sun insists on printing the truth.

This time, the board and the administration have gone several steps over the line past just complaining about it, to...

I'll let the following letter speak for itself. As a person highly interested in the Sun, I received a copy of this letter today and have spoken with the writer.

As usual, I have edited it only to remove the writer's phone number.

Southwestern College Board Must Go!

As of just a couple days ago, I have started running a website dedicated to defeating our corrupt Governing Board at Southwestern College, by voting the bums out in November. The site is not a Writer's Washroom site, but it is certainly related to the work I did last year to trash the Board at every opportunity.

The site is located at: http://www.swcboardmustgo/ - and I'd love some visitors familiar with the situation over there. If things go right, we'll have essays from students, members of the faculty, and me; a video or two; maybe some nifty evidence of corruption; and more surprises than you can shake a stick at.

If you'd like to write something for the site, email me here at my usual address, or visit the SWC Board Must Go! website and join in.

This does also mean that I will be keeping most, if not all, of my new anti-Board work over there, and not here. For my South County-based readers, this may be a hassle. For those of you who come from elsewhere and just like reading the drivel that I post, this will probably be a blessing.

One last thought: I still get a buttload of hits from people searching for "Nick Alioto" or some combination of his name on this site.

(Some real recent searches: "Nick Alioto Wisconsin Criminal", "Nick Alioto Wisconsin School Corruption", "Nick Alioto Southwestern Corrupt", "Nick Alioto Kenosha Wisconsin Rip-Off", and "Nick Alioto Thief". I'm not saying any of that; I'm just saying what searches brought you to me.)

If you know Nick Alioto from the past - people of Wisconsin, I'm talking to you, then I would love to hear from you. I'd like to know every stinking thing he did in the Midwest to rip off all those school districts. Anyone want to drop some knowledge on me, do so. Send me an email. If you want to remain confidential, I'll respect that. If you want to trash him publicly, I'll respect that even more.

Thanks for visiting everyone, and remember: SWC Board Must Go!

Southwestern College Earns Prestigious Award from the Thomas Jefferson Center - the "Muzzle" Award!

Yes, folks, it is official. Our own little campus corner of the world has received one of the most perfectly representational awards that could be given us. The prestigious Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression has awarded one of its ten annual "Muzzle" awards to "The Administration of Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California."

Please, oh please, use this link to check it out.

It takes a brain-dead administration to try to hide from this "honor" bestowed by a non-partisan organization affiliated with the University of Virginia. Having heard no rumbles of response from any member of the administration or board, we can assume they either haven't been informed yet, or they simply don't care.

I feel certain that we can assume that they know, which means that they don't care. Remember, this is an administration that, when confronted with the actual financial status of the school* basically used that first-grade response, "nuh-uh."

After watching President Raj K. Chopra, Vice-President Nick Alioto, and the board spend a couple semester stomping on the students' and professors' civil rights, it feels good to see them called out by the folks who actually keep tabs on situations like these. I feel delighted in knowing that we've drawn enough attention here that attention will remain focused on the college.

I have to admit it does give me a bit of a thrill to see myself name-checked in the award presentation; I'd be lying to say it didn't**. But that doesn't mean I agree with the way it was written. If anyone should have been mentioned, it should have been the four professors who were originally and illegally suspended - Andrew Rempt, Dinorah Guadiana-Costa, Janet Mazzarella, and Phil Lopez. These are the ones who were initially attacked by the administration, and they are the ones who should have been named.

As a final thought, let me suggest that every time you see one of our fair-and-balanced board members in public, or have an opportunity to say "hi" to a member of the administration, you take a moment to congratulate them on this huge honor. After all, it takes someone special to stand with previous winners like FEMA, the FCC, the Bush Administration, the MPAA, CBS, and the Texas Democratic Party.

Who knows? You might get even more out of them than "nuh-uh."

-----------------------------------------------

*Remember their statement, "The Worst Fiscal Crisis Evar!" being smacked aside by Phil Lopez's, "Thirteen million in the bank and we're making money!" argument? Yeah, we do, too.

**And does that photo over there look familiar? Does to me, too. But I like it over there just fine.

Looks Like Them Folks in Kansas Also Know Our Friend Raj

Just a very quick note to all and sundry: I am getting several hits a day from folks from one particular bit of Kansas - the Shawnee Mission School District. Encompassing a huge swath of suburban Kansas City (including Overland Park and Lenexa), it was the place where, some time ago, our friend Raj K. Chopra ruled supreme.

As you know, Raj is currently the President of Southwestern College, here in Chula Vista. He's as qualified for the job as a rat terrier is to be a 911 dispatcher. One can only guess what a damn fine job he did out there on the plains.

I have to admit that I was a student in the SMSD years ago. My family moved before my first year at Northwest; and when my dear, sweet mother heard the name "Raj Chopra," it took her all of about fifteen seconds to remember him.

She didn't remember anything good.

So, this is addressed to all those recent visitors from Kansas... Say hi. Tell us why you're searching for Raj Chopra here, and let us know what he meant to you. Believe it or not, if you've got something good to say, we'd like to hear it.

We don't expect you to, mind you. So bring your horror stories to the table and tell us what he means to you. We'll take notes.

Southwestern College Students Open Up on "Voice of San Diego"

I rarely do this. But rarely am I as impressed by a piece as I am by this.

Sean Campbell and Lyndsay Winkley are two Southwestern College students who write for the magnificent (and nationally-recognized) Southwestern College Sun. In a blistering article for Voice of San Diego.org, they summarize the constant, ongoing problems with President Raj Chopra from the time he was hired until today. They also very neatly summarize the timeline of the catastrophic events since the administration's bogus "riot" last October.

Please visit the article at Voice of San Diego.org and read it. It's necessary. No, more that - it's crucial to those who haven't been able to follow every cut, thrust, and riposte of this administration-fueled nonsense.

I will also say this (I do not say "In My Humble Opinion," because my opinion ain't): I have written two or three really good pieces on this whole mess, and some others have written several more. This is probably the best piece I've read yet on SWC's troubles. It is magnificent.

...And they got their journalism education at Southwestern College. Go figure.

It's Time for a Meet and Greet! (Board Candidates, and a Possible New Direction for Southwestern College)

For those of you just tuning in, many members of the community (yours truly included) are gathering signatures for petitions to recall SWC Governing Board members Yolanda Salcido, Terri Valladolid, and Jean Roesch. We believe that their blanket support of SWC's President Raj Chopra and his blatant anti-student, anti-faculty, anti-learning policies are destructive not only to the school, but to the entirety of the South Bay region.

In the past year or so, several respected members of the community have considered running for one of the Governing Board seats which are up for election in November of this year. And now with the recall petitions out, a few more have expressed interest in running against them for any recall election.

To shine a brighter light on these issues and to introduce some of the candidates, the Southwestern College Association PAC is holding a Meet-and-Greet on Thursday, February 11, at the Romesca Baja Med Bistro in Bonita. The Meet-and-Greet starts at 4:30 p.m., with candidate presentations following at 5:30.

Suggested minimum donations (since we are fundraising for the elections, don't forget) are $25 advance, and $30 at the door.

I strongly suggest that anyone with an interest in the future of Southwestern College, Chula Vista, or the South Bay region come out and meet some of these candidates. Southwestern College is one of the biggest employers in the region. With its accreditation now in jeopardy and its continued unstable administration, it has the potential to harm both Chula Vista and the South Bay.

Come out and meet the candidates. Chances are that by fall, three of them will be on the school's Governing Board. Meet 'em early, and avoid the rush.

Please visit our good friends at the Save Our SWC blog for more information about the Meet-and-Greet, and for a PDF copy of the event flier.

Cowardice Defined - Southwestern College Governing Board and Raj Chopra's Evaluation

On Thursday evening, January 28, the more and more ill-named Governing Board reached quite possibly its newest low. It held an emergency meeting to let the public know that they were about to begin evaluating Dr. Raj Chopra's job as Chancellor-President of Southwestern College.

The evaluations, of course, would be done behind closed doors - as is right. What's wrong is how the board is doing it. They are shoving through this evaluation to get it done as quickly as possible; it is being treated as an emergency - hence the reason for this sudden meeting.

You see, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), are expected to release their accreditation report on SWC tomorrow - Monday, February 1. It is believed by all that the school will be blasted for several failures (most of them rooted in the administration and its inability to work with any non-administration types, i.e. faculty, contract staff, students...)

Go here for more on WASC and the reasons accreditation may be at risk. (From the November 14 Washroom post.)

By ramming Chopra's evaluation through before the accreditation report comes out, the members of the Governing Board who continue to prop him up - Pres. Yolanda Salcido, Vice-Pres Terri Valladolid, and recent President Jean Roesch - are attempting to clear him from having to shoulder any responsibility for WASC's findings. With the evaluation done and complete, they don't have to address any failings that WASC shines a spotlight on, and they, in their warped minds, are in the clear.

As far as I'm concerned these actions have redefined cowardice at the upper echelons of higher education. I'm calling that the Example of Cowardice Number One.

Example of Cowardice Number Two: Raj Chopra's evaluation was actually due in October 09. But whenever board member Nick Aguilar tried to get his evaluation put on the monthly board meetings, it never made it.

Who is the gatekeeper for the agenda? Who decides what goes on it? Raj Chopra does.

Yes, you're reading this right. Raj Chopra was able to prevent the board from evaluating him, simply by not putting Nick Aguilar's request to do so on the agenda. And of course Trustees Salcido, Valladolid, and Roesch stood behind that every time, because he's their boy, yo.

With his evaluation clearly not important enough to have been done for months (I've been told that Trustee Aguilar attempted to put it on the agenda for seven months, but I don't know that for certain), it is an act of gross cowardice to try to sneak one through the goal moments before a report appears that must affect that evaluation.

What was unimportant enough to be blown off for months suddenly becomes an emergency only if Raj Chopra might look bad. That's your Governing Board at work, folks.

Cowardice Example Three: Had the members of the Board who decided to host this charade chosen to, they could have given written notice to the members of the staff, faculty, students, and the public; and given plenty of time for people to respond.

You may now laugh.

Of course they don't want the public, the faculty, and the students to respond. They know how disgusted the lot is with them, and with Dr. Chopra. So instead of doing anything close to "the right thing," they announced the meeting at around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, only about 25 hours before the actual "emergency" meeting was held.

You saw the photo at the top. People simply couldn't come. It was a near-empty room. Many people didn't know, and many others simply couldn't make arrangements. One instructor who did come brought his children. Besides Phil Lopez, the Union President, and Valerie Goodwin-Colbert, the Academic Senate President, there was a mere handful of instructors, two children, and yours truly.

Why, even one member of the Governing Board failed to show up...

Cowardice Example Four: Trustee Terri Valladolid chose not to show up at the public meeting, but according to a witness standing outside the closed-door session, she "slipped in the back door just as it started."

She could do this. She helped set events in motion before the public meeting. When Trustees Aguilar and Jorge Dominguez attempted to slow the process, they were unable to. To do so required a majority of five, and a tie vote of 2-2 does nothing. Valladolid knew this, and she is fully aware of the petition drive to recall her, so she played the coward card.

By not arriving at the public meeting, she has set herself up to deny fast-tracking Raj Chopra's evaluation. She can say, "I didn't vote against Nick and Jorge! I wasn't even there!" Of course she wasn't. She didn't have to be. But she did have to be there to actually discuss the evaluation. So it's no surprise that she had to skulk in the back to take part in this sham she helped create.

Cowardice Example Five: For the first time in known history, the Governing Board has decided to evaluate its Chancellor-President with no input from the faculty. This is quite simply unheard of. Again, this is as egregious as it is because the board members doing this know that the faculty has voted Raj Chopra no-confidence in the past, and because his grasp of leadership continues to slide.

I could go into this much deeper, but someone else has already done so. Please visit our chums at Save Our SWC for much more on this issue - then hurry back!

It also has to be added that the Board has created an evaluation that is impossible to grade. In the words of Trustee Dominguez: "It's all 'I think,' 'I feel,' 'I wish' statements. You should see it."

But we can't. The Board has decided that not only is the evaluation process a closed-door issue, but that the evaluation form is, also.

I asked Trustee Dominguez this: "Is there any way to quantify it?" He answered, "There's no way."

In other words, no matter what they say about Raj Chopra, there is nothing to measure it against; there is no quantifiable data being gathered. It's a series of "I think he's doing okay" statements. This is another egregious decision - and another transparent attempt to prop up his position.

Cowardice Example Six: With the expected sanctions that WASC will likely levy against SWC, it should be expected that the Governing Board and its administration would try to find some way to spin this so it's not entirely negative.

You're going to love this.

After the sham public information meeting, I was told that Our Good Friend Nick Alioto was heard saying - earlier that day - that the members of the faculty wanted those coming sanctions.

Yes. He's claiming that the professors want WASC to levy sanctions against their school and their programs.

I believe this (and I'm on the record before WASC's report is due), that Chopra's administration is going to try to spin his failures, and his administration's failures, as the fault of the faculty. I believe he is so disgustingly desperate to hold onto his job that he would go so far as to do this. He will likely say it was the professors who wanted those sanctions as a way of making him look bad.

He doesn't need the professors to look bad. He's got himself, and Alioto, and his pocket Board members to do that.

Don't be fooled. This will fall on him, but much of the damage will miss him. Board members Salcido, Valladolid, and Roesch will have seen to that. They have twisted and warped the system to shine up a man who will only ever be known for destroying the reputation of a good school. This man, who is so incapable of admitting his errors and faults, that he will attempt to blame his own victimized professors for errors and faults that the accreditation committee will lay at his doorstep.

The public wants Chopra gone. The staff, the faculty, and the students want him gone. Two members of the board want him gone. Only three want him to stay.

This is just another reason why we're going to have to work to force Salcido, Valladolid, and Roesch out of office. This concerned majority can't touch Chopra, but we can touch them.

Recall them. Give them a reason to be cowards. It's no better than they deserve.

On Grants: Why Does Southwestern College's Board and Administration Hate Free Money?

I call this: Even More Entertainment From Your Governing Board Meeting. (I think this deserves its own post.) One of the absolute highlights of the December (show) meeting was when first-year adjunct professor Ramin Moshiri spoke up during “oral communication” to ask the Board and the administration why they didn’t want the school to have any money.

Professor Moshiri then produced a short stack of papers that outlined a list of grants that Southwestern College is available to apply for. Two of those four grants award a total average of $23.5 million to eligible applicants; the other two are still new, but were offering a piece of an $80 million dollar pie for 70 different community colleges.

He then pointed out it didn’t take him long to research these grants; what the hold-up was, was the administration. He told the Board that he had visited office after office, building after building, and no one would take the slightest bit of responsibility for this information. This information, gathered by one of the school’s professors, offered a chance at free money to the school, but no one in power would take it – or even tell him where he should go.

(Where is the school’s grant writer, you ask? Where is that person who should have snatched away that paper and run, cheering, to their office to get that free money?

Why, SWC doesn’t have one. That was apparently one of those positions that Raj Chopra thought was unnecessary. Yes, in the middle of what he claims is the fiscal equivalent of the Apocalypse – and has fooled trustees Salcido, Valladolid, and Roesch into believing – he’s elected to go without a grant writer.)

Professor Moshiri then told them that the administration’s attitude reminded him of the big-spending days of the ‘70s – “when people would just ignore a quarter lying on the ground,” he said. He then dropped his stack of grant research to the carpet and informed them that they were doing the same thing.

Folks need to face the facts: Salcido, Valladolid, Roesch, and Chopra have no interest in saving the college, in seeking out moneys and opportunities, in considering other options. No, what they want are the classes cut. That they’ve got. It’s clear that certain members of the administration want to punish certain members of the faculty, too, and they’re willing to destroy SWC to do it.

They’ve got to go.

Two last completely unimportant points: the first is that, at the end of the Board meeting, when the trustees could request more information or further research, none of those three Board members thought that Professor Moshiri’s work was important enough to request. It took Jorge Dominguez to compliment the professor on his work, and request that someone get started on pursuing these grants.*

The last point is one of those little moments of irony I love so much. New veep Nick Alioto, who apparently has been unable to find a single thin dime to help keep the school from cutting classes, and apparently also thought that a grant writer was unnecessary used to find money for schools for a living at at least two public school districts in Wisconsin. His last gig was so successful that he apparently resigned his admin job, got himself hired back as a “consultant,” and made well over a million dollars “finding” money for the school – and earning himself a fat 25% fee doing so.

According to Professor Moshiri, it’s not that hard to find money available for the school. It’s just that this Board and the current administration can’t do it. Is anyone really going to be surprised if Alioto tries to work himself a cushy little deal sometime down the road, and suddenly is able to find money and grants that he’d never thought of before?

At a fat 25% commission, of course.

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*It’s probably because of that radical, free-thinking, rank-breaking, on-the-bench activism that caused Salcido, Valladolid, and Roesch to alienate him and begin to construct their Empire without him.


Grant Options Presented by Professor Ramin Moshiri

Health Information Technology Extension Program (cycle 2) - $1-$30 Million ($8.5 Million average)

Objective: this program provides grants for the establishment of Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers that will offer technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate health care providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of Electronic Health Records (EHRs).

Application Deadline: Cycle 2: Preliminary Applications – Dec. 22, 2009; Full Applications – Jan. 29, 2010

Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program - $10-$20 Million ($15 Million average)

Objective: this program will provide funding to communities to build and strengthen their health information technology (health IT) infrastructure and exchange capabilities to demonstrate the vision of meaningful health IT.

Application Deadline: Feb. 1, 2010 (Letter of Intent due Jan. 8, 2010)

Community College Consortia to Educate Health IT Professionals - $70 Million (for 70 Community Colleges)

Objective: this program seeks to rapidly create health IT education and training programs at Community Colleges, or expand existing programs. Community colleges funded under this initiative will establish intensive, non-degree training programs that can be completed in six months or less.

Application Deadline: Jan. 22, 2010

Curriculum Development Centers - $10 Million (for 70 Community Colleges)

Objective: this funding opportunity, one component of the workforce program, will provide $10 million in grants to institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof) to support health IT curriculum development.

Application Deadline: Jan. 14, 2010 (Letter of Intent due Jan. 4, 2010)

A New Blog to Visit: Southwestern College Board Must Go - The Recall Petition Blog

There’s a new blog up that should be of interest to folks in the Southwestern College district: http://swcboardmustgo.blogspot.com/. This is the Recall blog, the online headquarters for the recall petition drive. Please stop by and bookmark this site. It has just very recently gone up, and has only one post so far, a short explanation about why the recall of board members Yolanda Salcido, Terry Valladolid, and Jean Roesch is necessary to the continued future of Southwestern College.

I have been assured that more will be up very soon, and they are planning on using the blog as a way of keeping the public involved in the petition drive.

They’re still getting everything together, adding all the bells-and-whistles, so I suggest if you have a question, leave it as a comment on the first post. I will be shamelessly flogging that site for the duration of the signature-gathering period, so get used to seeing the links. The Recall is necessary!

Edit: Do you want to sign a petition, and haven't had the chance to voice your displeasure at Salcido, Valladolid, and/or Roesch? I'll be at the Trader Joe's in Eastlake tomorrow from 11 a.m. until sometime in the afternoon. Come by, say "hi!," sign a petition or three. You have to live in the district to do so - and I'm told that is basically the entire South Bay region plus Coronado. I'll have the exact borders in mind before tomorrow.

(And, yes, if you're thinking I'll be taking notes about this - and about the people that show up - for an upcoming blog post, you'd be right.)

Drama, Comedy, Tragedy! A Night at Southwestern College's Board Meeting: Now That's Entertainment!

Since I’ve started attending the Southwestern College Governing Board meetings, I’ve discovered that these things are the best entertainment value to be had in the South Bay. Besides watching the campus police watching for a riot to break out, you can listen as members of the faculty, student body, and the public line up to fire broadside after broadside at the mostly-clueless Board. Or sometimes, like Wednesday’s mellow meeting, you can sit and listen as the Board runs itself into the ground.

Any psychology or sociology professor worth his or her salt would have a heyday using the Board meeting as a paragon of group dynamics gone horribly awry.

The December meeting was Election Night! for the Board, when the five trustees elect – among themselves – their Board President and Vice-President. They also appoint the current school superintendent, Raj K. Chopra, as the standing secretary. Since Southwestern College’s inception, there has been a customary ‘chain of succession,’ which would have elevated trustee Jorge Dominguez to the position of Board President.

That didn’t happen.

In a 3-2 push, Yolanda Salcido was elected president over Trustee Dominguez, and Terri Valladolid was elected vice-president – also over Dominguez (who was nominated both times by Nick Aguilar). Exiting president, Jean Roesch, supported both Salcido and Valladolid.

Why is this such a big deal? Since SWC’s beginning, this custom has been followed, up until this year. Salcido, in defending her right to be Board President, remarked that they needed strong leadership in times of such a fiscal crisis.*

The Governing Board has ascended all manners of buffoons and scoundrels to the board presidency, but when given a chance to elect one who is both qualified and a long-time educator, they chose not to – and instead went with someone without any sort of education background.

It’s an insult, and Dominguez admitted as much. He also let it be known that he would not run for a Board position, which leaves one seat open. It bears repeating – loudly – that these three members of the Board – Salcido, Valladolid, and Roesch – have succeeded in alienating a member of the board who usually votes with them, and that includes on issues regarding Raj Chopra and the school’s budget. Are they so short-sighted that they no longer think they need as much support as they can get?

Or is it something worse? Personally, I ascribe it to empire-building. I believe that these three board members are trying to carve themselves a little fiefdom at the top of Southwestern College. With three votes in lockstep, there is no way for any other member of the Board to challenge them.**

These three support Raj Chopra at every opportunity; support the class cuts, laid-off professors, and tossed-aside students; and, up until Valladolid’s ill-considered “open forums,” have basically ignored every criticism leveled at them. Valladolid also is the one who, during the October GB meeting, dismissed the layoffs of the adjunct faculty as not really layoffs – a fact that has personally offended many folks who heard it (and heard about it).

At this last meeting, she angrily made a comment about certain members of the Board being “unfairly targeted” by certain members of the community (the Recall Petition) – “the women.” The mind reels at her inability to see that the Recall Petition has everything to do with breaking up this up-and-coming empire and nothing to do with their gender.

Furthermore, Raj Chopra revealed himself to be an obstructionist non-pareil this month. When challenged by Trustee Aguilar on why Chopra hadn’t added one of Aguilar’s requested items to the agenda, Chopra dismissed him by saying he was the only one interested in it, and he didn’t find it necessary. Consider the fact that the items Nick Aguilar is trying to get on the agenda include putting GB meetings on streaming video; trying to make sure contractors, consultants, and the like aren’t given nepotistic positions at the college; and asking that the Board finally begin the process of evaluating Raj Chopra. The gatekeeper for actually getting something on the agenda is Chopra himself, who has simply decided not to add any of these to the agenda – in effect, he controls what is discussed, and if he doesn’t want it there, tough.***

In addition to all the above comedy, tragedy raised its ugly head as well. Union leader Phil Lopez had to steal away a few minutes again during the open “oral communication” part to give his report, and it should have been shocking.

Not to anyone who pays attention to all this, but to the Board, it should have been.

Using figures provided by the administration itself and a smattering of math that most of us learned in fifth grade, he was able to demonstrate that, not only was the school not in the worst financial position it had ever been in, but it had made a profit last year (when it was projected to lose millions of dollars), and was on track to make a profit this year, too.

That was before the class cuts and laid-off professors. He provided them with visual aids, and used very small words so the Board could understand, and when his time was up, he took his seat. At the very end of the meeting, after most of the drama had come and gone, and the Board had an opportunity to “request further information,” they failed to do so. Apparently the fact that the school isn’t in as bad a fiscal state as they were afraid isn’t good news to some of them.

To Salcido, Valladolid, and Roesch, it’s very bad news. Salcido claimed her Right of Presidency based on the financial crisis. Their entire empire is built on the idea that the school needs them – and only them – to guide it through these tough times. If the times aren’t so tough, then these three are attempting to build their castle on a foundation of shifty sand.

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*Yeah, we’ll get to that line of horse poo soon.

**Unless, of course, somehow some folks manage to vote them out of office. That would be the Recall Petition people. We’ll get to that in a coming post.

***Yes, you read it right. If he doesn’t want it discussed, he just leaves it off the agenda. By my count, he admitted to doing that exactly as many times as Nick Aguilar asked why his requested items weren’t on the agenda.

Student Leader Films Part of Southwestern College Governing Board Meeting - World Does Not End

Southwestern College student Veronica Golenia - one of those who have taken an active role in standing up to the administration and its constant appalling decisions - took a big step forward this week, doing something that the Governing Board has been too terrified to do: she filmed their meeting.

Please, please, please visit the Save Our SWC blog to watch quite a bit of the "oral communication" portion - that bit where the public speaks out. This one is much more mellow than last month's, but those that did speak really shined.

For those who haven't yet gone to the other blog, let me add that trustee Nick Aguilar has asked repeatedly - and been ignored, bulldozed, and buffaloed - to simply discuss putting the GB meetings on streaming video. They ignore the suggestion with a vehemence normally given towards discussions about the Apocalypse, the Mayan Calendar, and Armageddon itself. Clearly the Board doesn't want its work out there.

I suspect that the Board is used to operating in its quiet, obfuscatory manner, and knows that if the public can easily see how they spin and ignore the truth, and justify the administration's incompetence, then people might just think that someone else could do their jobs better than they can.

Let's hear it for this student leader, taking the first step toward proving them right.

Southwestern College Administration Now Attacks Freedom of the Press

Apparently unsatisfied with their attacks on America’s Freedoms of Speech and Assembly, the Southwestern College administration has taken aim at undermining the Freedom of the Press.

Just before last night’s Governing Board meeting, several different people informed me that less than half an hour earlier, the college administration had decided to handicap one of its prestige programs by refusing to fund the requested printing budget for its nationally-recognized newspaper, the Southwestern College Sun.

In some cases this could be an understandable decision, particularly in times of financial distress. That simply isn’t the case here.

For nine consecutive years, the Sun has been awarded the Pacesetter and General Excellence awards, the top awards given by the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) – the top community college journalism organization in the country. In addition, this year all five of the top college and university media organizations – which also include the Associated College Press, Columbia Scholastic Press, American Scholastic Press Association, and the National Newspaper Association – awarded the Sun their highest awards. Also this year, individual journalists won awards on a national level from the Society of Professional Journalists, and on a local level from the San Diego SPJ, San Diego Press Club, and the San Diego County Fair Media Competition.

This is about an average year for the Sun. This is no scrubby little rag we’re talking about.

Starting publication in 1963 – at the dawn of SWC itself – the Sun is truly one of the best-respected and recognized college newspapers in the country, and is one of the school’s flagship programs; one of those programs that drives students to the school.*

Why would the administration want to attack and cripple such a prestigious program, you ask? Because the Sun has come down, again and again, in opposition to President Raj K. Chopra. This fall, they covered the student rally that Chopra has attempted to spin as a “riot” and refused to fall into the administration’s line. They refused to turn over photos of the event when the campus police came out and demanded they do so. They have done proper journalistic due diligence and have watchdogged this shameful administration.

So, though I’m not terribly surprised that the administration has decided to attack the Sun, I am surprised that they have done so in such an obvious, buffoonish fashion. The fact that clearly none of them realized that they have hit a unique trifecta – stomping on the freedoms of Speech, Assembly, and now the Press – only further proves how absolutely out of touch with reality this administration is.

Check out the Southwestern College Sun online edition here.

*And in mentioning the Sun, I’m not attempting to detract from its talented musical performers and teams, or its debate team, which is another one of SWC’s proud flagship programs.

Note to the Parents of Southwestern College Students (Something to Think About Over the Thanksgiving Weekend)

This is addressed solely to those people who have children attending Southwestern College. I know some of you read this regularly. I also know some of your kids will make you read it (at least this one post).

...Sorry about that.

In the past few weeks, I've had a couple of conversations with parents who have children going to school there. In each case, the parents say they know their students have told them about the troubles at the school. But they've also heard - usually by reading the San Diego Union-Tribune, it must be noted - that President Raj K. Chopra denies these charges levied against him by the students and faculty members.

Just this week, I spoke with a man who is a respected member of the community. He told me that his child had told him about President Chopra's continued attempts to quell free speech, and about the student protest that Chopra dishonestly referred to as a "riot" that was inspired by several members of the teaching staff.

This man (who is, yes, remaining nameless) reported that it is hard to justify what his child told him with what Dr. Chopra continues to say, again and again and again.

He didn't say why, but I suppose I can understand. It is in a child's nature to lie to his or her parents. "No, I didn't break the window. No, I didn't take the car out. Yes, I did my homework."

As such, it's in a parent's nature to take what a child tells them with a grain of salt.

On the other hand, one expects people in authority to be honest. We expect that the president of the college the child attends to be honest. We need him to be honest.

Your son or daughter has likely told you that the students held a rally to protest budget cuts, and then decided to march on the president's office to be heard. They will tell you they (the students) met the police, spoke with them, and after half an hour or so, went their own way. No one was arrested, no one was harmed, and no one assaulted anyone in uniform.

Raj Chopra has said that members of the teaching staff incited a riot, by going on the microphone and urging the students to march. He has said that his students followed the professors, attacked the police, and threatened the safety of all and sundry on the campus. In fact, here he states (and I quote): "Then there was a faculty member who went on the microphone and said they should march with the students and incited them."

Parents, understand, that is not true.

Again, as I have said here and here, and in other places, I was present at the students' protest, and at the administration building when the police stopped the march. At no point did the professors incite the students to do anything, and at no point was there a riot.

I am no young student. I am a middle-aged man likely older than many of you parents reading this. I know some of you have wondered if what your children have told you is true, and I know that many of you assume that if the college president says it, it must be true.

Please stop. Raj Chopra has been dishonest about this situation from the beginning, and now he has no choice but to continue to do so. He has to continue to call this a riot, and to blame the professors, because if he admits to any of it being a lie, then his entire house of cards tumbles. He has more to lose than anyone - his position, his power, his pension, and his local prestige. Of course he'll do anything to keep that.

As SWC president, he has a voice in the media that no one else has. He is able to simply make a statement and to some members of the press (the Union-Tribune, for instance), it is true. For some readers, because it's in print, it's automatically true.

It's not. Listen to your children. They may likely tell you something different than the newspaper has. Listen. Because they're right.