GCCCD Grapevine
Volume 6, Number 3 November, 1996
The bridge above Fanita east of Grossmont College is for earth movers to go back and
forth with dirt to be used in 125 freeway. G.C. is in background. The freeway is to
join Highway 52 and Mission Gorge Road. It's expected to be in use in 1997 and
completed in 1998.
War-GCCCD Chancellor vs. Faculty
A war between the Grossmont College faculty and the GCCCD-principally
Chancellor Jeanne Atherton-has produced a No-Confidence vote by the Faculty Senate against
Atherton and unfair labor charges by the United Faculty Union against the District.
At Grapevine publication time, there was no sign of peace returning.
The principal reason for the war is apparently the District's effort to bring
down the cost of its human resources-personnel and personnel-related costs, such as
insurance and medical benefits-and its methods of achieving that end.
Senate and United Faculty leaders believe the District, with the Chancellor
leading the way, wants the reduction to be borne by teachers through reduction of
the number of teachers, and increased class loads for those remaining. As evidence,
faculty members point to the fact that the current semester's schedule has been
reduced by more than 100 sections, resulting in larger enrollments in remaining
sections, or in students looking elsewhere for classes.
The teachers also contend that top District and College administrators have
been given incentive plans which will reward them for any reduction in faculty costs
they can bring about.
The No-Confidence resolution, approved by the Senate unanimously except for two
abstentions, hits the Chancellor for what it says are policies and actions which
threaten to dismantle Grossmont College as an effective quality educational
institution. The Chancellor also is charged with a destructive and threatening
management style which constitutes an attack on the integrity and dedication of the
faculty and administration.
A principal particular of the No-Confidence allegations is what's called the
Chancellor's no-growth plan for Grossmont until the year 2000. It's likened to
corporate "downsizing," in this case larger classes taught by fewer instructors.
The alleged unfair labor practices, submitted to the state Public Employees
Relations Board, involve perceived conflicts of interest in administrators'
contracts and tardiness by the District in allowing the United Faculty to see those
contracts.
Responding to the No-Confidence vote, Chancellor Atherton told the Grapevine,
"There's been a lot of misinformation spread by a small group of people. I'm not
surprised that some people believe it."
On the incentive plans for administrators, she said, "The Board wants to get to
the average of comparable districts whose pay is higher, but overall cost of human
resources is lower. This is one way of getting there. There are many ways to get to
that average."
The reduction in numbers of class sections wasn't her idea, she said. Grossmont
President Richard Sanchez expected a four percent increase in enrollment, with
anticipated funds for that number. But instead, enrollment increased only one-point-
six percent with consequent lower funds. The Chancellor said the College could have
used other funds to retain the class sections if their retention had been considered
essential, but college officials made the decision to drop them.
In the view of some faculty members, the current war really began when Atherton
arrived four years ago. As evidence, they point to one of her introductory remarks
which warned District employees that they should contemplate the possibility of a 10
percent pay cut.
"I take responsibility for that, though it wasn't my idea," Atherton said.
"We
were way over budget and didn't have enough resources. We were looking for
alternatives. I think of that remark as the usual stuff that goes back and forth
between unions and management."
The Chancellor says she doesn't know what position the Governing Board will
take, because she can't legally talk to Board members until the Board's next
meeting. She did say she expects the Board to want information on specifics in the
matter, and that probably can't be accomplished in a single meeting.
She said she has received suggestions from a number of people recently about
how to break the logjam.
Editor's Comments
by Pat Higgins
Some things in life you can depend on. One is friction between a newspaper and
its readers. A college newspaper may generate proportionally more friction than its
metropolitan daily counterpart, though whether it does is hard to say.
Sometimes the college paper's friction is with the school's administration, as
was the case of the Grossmont Summit and Grossmont President Richard Sanchez not
long ago. The paper's editors decided to contract for a comic strip syndicated to
student newspapers around the country. The comic was called "Life in Hell." The
comic ran in the Summit one week, and it didn't take Sanchez long to decide that the
strip wasn't suitable for Grossmont College. He ordered it eliminated from the
subsequent issues of the newspaper. Considering its highly-forgettable content, I
can't say I felt any loss in the strip's quick demise on the Grossmont campus. I'm
not sure, though, that I applaud the President's quick action, particularly since
the students said they had asked and got the newspaper's advisor's O.K. before
ordering the comic strip.
Sometimes, though, quick reader reaction leaves lasting memory. I was advisor
for the Grossmont paper, then the G, for all my 22 years at the college. Once, I
remember, our sports editor/columnist became disenchanted with the Grossmont
cheerleaders as they did their stuff before an apathetic crowd at a football game.
So he wrote his column, concentrating on the futility of the cheerleaders and
suggesting that they give up their sideline activity.
I don't remember how the cheerleaders found out about the column in advance of
publication, but they did. So, shortly after the paper was distributed on Wednesday
morning, several of the cheerleaders managed to commandeer a maintenance cart. They
rolled around the campus removing the paper from all distribution boxes. I don't
remember how or where we found the pilfered papers, but we did. The papers were put
into the boxes again, and this time they got no unauthorized removal.
Perhaps that should have been the end of the cheerleaders' reaction, but it
wasn't. Two days later, as the G staff was having its weekly meeting, the door to
the office opened suddenly and a cheerleader-in uniform, as I remember-walked in,
looked around, then marched directly to the columnist. She said nothing; she just
wound up and WHAP she slapped him across the face, turned around and walked out. I'm
sure the columnist has never forgotten the direct action reaction, and probably
nobody else in that room has either.
To be honest, I was glad I was at the other end of the room. If the slapper had
noticed me, she might have concluded I was the teacher who'd let the stupid column
be run, and that I also ought to get a blow for her honor and that of her maligned
cohorts. I'd have looked mighty foolish running away from the wrath of a 100-pound
cheerleader.
Navel Engagements
by Don Scouller
As a young man I wasn't a very good dancer. Frankly, I viewed dancing as a way
to meet girls. I enjoyed holding girls, and feeling them rub against me. Demure
young girls, who could blush on demand, had wordless ways of letting men know when
they were attracted to them. It was a way to gauge how well we were getting along.
You could tell if you were going to have a good time with a girl. Oh, no, I don't
mean a sexual encounter, necessarily. But there might be necking if I was lucky. I
remember the joke that went, "Dancing is a navel engagement without semen." That
summed it up.
Now I live in a retirement community. Most of us don't like to call it that. We
prefer the term "adult resort." I guess that is because we all remember the
jokes
about retirees in Saint Petersburg, Florida, or San Diego, California. The theme was
about old men playing checkers in a public park, or blue-haired women with
rhinestone glasses playing mahjong. Well, thank goodness it isn't at all like that.
We have many wonderful people who live very active lives in a supportive, culturally
creative way. Our social lives are as active as we choose to make them. For
instance, there are several dance groups, ranging from ballroom to Latin to
country/western. My wife and I have joined the ballroom group and in the last three
years have enjoyed more dances than in the previous 45 years. Oh, we danced when we
first met; in fact that was how we met. But that's another story.
Seven decades of a losing fight against gravity has slowed us all down to a
certain degree. It is especially noticeable in faces. People who are really quite
cheerful often look as though they are unhappy because they relax into a dour look.
Despite the fact that I'm a little paunchy and mildly arthritic, my bride of 45
years is my favorite partner. She has slowly coached me into becoming a better
dancer than ever. Our dance group usually hires small combos, anything from trios to
sextets, and on special occasions a full 10- or 12-piece band. Three out of four
times there will be a Swing Band, playing the arrangements we remember from our
youth in the late 30's and the WW2 era. That music has special memories for many of
us. It takes us back into a sanitized past where everything is dreamy and idyllic,
and often bittersweet with the memory of war, separation and loss. When you add
physical activity to the rhythms, a kind of magic occurs. Bald-headed men with white
mustaches and sagging jowls slowly work their way behind their rotund wives who are
walking heavily toward the dance floor. The lines in their faces reflect age, and
they don't laugh as much or as readily as they did when 20.
And that's when the magic happens. Can you recall Glen Miller's arrangement of
"A String of Pearls," or "Frenesi" by Arty Shaw, or any arrangement by
Tommy or
Jimmy Dorsey, the trumpet of Harry James, the clarinet of Benny Goodman? These are
sounds that dissolve time and bring back long forgotten muscle memories. Music goes
right to the heart, bypassing the brain and logic. The years fall away, and
arthritis is forgotten. Feet find their own patterns of complex moves and
septuagenarians jitterbug as they once did 50 years ago. If you watch closely,
you'll see a sparkle in our eyes, and smiles brighten our faces, and for a few
minutes we all are 20-something again.
That is a kind of magic, and if I didn't live here, I wouldn't experience it.
So, again I say, I live in an active adult resort community, and I love it.
Editors's Note: Don Scouller, long a Telecommunication instructor at Grossmont, now
lives in Sun City, Tucson, Arizona. His dancing has been somewhat curtailed; if he's
dancing now, it's to slow waltzes. He had a quadruple heart bypass surgery in
August. He's recuperating rapidly, to the joy of his wife, son and friends. His
address is 14401 North Glen Hollow Place, Tucson, Arizona, 85737.
Biblio-Files
by Tom Scanlan
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves how universal, in time and place, are the
lives and loves of people and the problems which all of us occasionally face. Two
novels which do just that are Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks,
published in Germany in
1901 (awarded Nobel Prize in 1929) and Marcel Proust's Swann's
Way, published in
France in 1913. Proust's novel is the first part of his larger work, Remembrance of
Things Past, now widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements in world
literature.
Neither of these books, given their vintage, read as easily as a modern novel,
but once you become comfortable with the earlier writing style, these novels pull
you into another time and place that is obviously remote and yet strangely familiar.
You'll find in these masterfully written works a pleasing blend of history and
geography, sociology and psychology, story and dialogue...a kind of reader's feast
for those willing to put aside briefly those more modern novels which lie about on
our tables and bookshelves.
Buddenbrooks follows several generations of a middle-class merchant's family in
Germany, focusing on the merchant Buddenbrooks' daughter, Tony, whom we meet when
she is only eight years old, at a time when Napoleon ruled France. We follow her
through two failed marriages into old age, meeting also her two brothers, Tom and
Christian. Tom, the older brother, follows the straight and narrow path, eventually
taking over his father's business and becoming the 'man of the family' when his
father dies. Christian, the youngest child, is more interested in theater and life
on the town, is often in debt, and becomes the 'black sheep' of the family. There's
local politics and gossip and other family members and friends to make your visit to
19th Century Germany both realistic and comfortable, as well as entertaining.
But it is Tony who holds your interest throughout. Her first love, a student
she meets while staying at a beach resort, is ruled out as marriageable by her
family. Instead she is encouraged by her parents to yield to the courting of a
fawning, and it turns out, dishonest businessman whom she despised when she first
met him. She resists marriage for some time but eventually succumbs to family
pressures (marry a businessman) and her own desire for independence and finer
things. After that marriage fails, social stigma attached to divorcees leads her
into a second marriage with a colorful but (to her mind) rather vulgar Bavarian who
has retired early and spends much time enjoying his friends and beer. So Tony
returns to her family home and eventually takes on the role of an elderly matriarch,
living vicariously through the lives of the younger generation.
Proust's novel takes place mostly within the mind of a man whose memories of
childhood have been most vividly evoked by his tasting madeleine cookies dipped in
tea. As a child, he was shy and precocious, spending most of his time in the company
of adults. The events he recalls are set amid the fashionable society of turn-of-
the-century France. His family's travels and acquaintances provide the situations
which he details and ponders, searching always for the meaning of things. He is
especially enchanted by the theater and actors of that time and place, and also by
certain philosophers and composers of music (which would now be called classical).
M. Swann is a long time friend of his father and a highly regarded bachelor in
this circle of acquaintances. Much of the novel describes Swann's troubling
courtship with a woman who, it turns out, is bestowing her favors on other gentlemen
(and has quite a history of doing so) and has no deep feelings for Swann. He
eventually discovers her deceit and rationalizes away his earlier love for her,
although he later visits with some prostitutes in an attempt to understand her
better
The real joy in this novel, however, is not Swann's story or the stories of
other characters remembered from childhood. You'll enjoy most Proust's descriptive
use of language and the way he details the inner thought processes involved as he
and his characters struggle to find meaning in their existence. Thanks to Proust's
meticulous descriptions, you'll discover that the thought processes in the minds of
these people from this very different time and place are not so different from your
own.
I found that it took me a while to 'come back' to the present time and place
after putting down each of these books. It's reminiscent of the way I often feel
when leaving the Old Globe Theater at the close of a Shakespearean play. My mind
continues to think in an Elizabethan dialect for some hours following, and I have to
take care not to speak as such. I believe that is the magic of all good writing...to
transport the reader to wherever and whenever with such realism that it is almost a
shock when one 'returns'.
Collins Remembered
Charles
Collins
Charles C. (Charlie) Collins, Grossmont's first Dean of Instruction died of a
heart attack July 28 while visiting San Luis Obispo from his home in Berkeley. He
was 77.
Hired by Jack Hansen, G.C.'s first president, Collins did much to shape
Grossmont's educational picture his six years here. He earned high praise for his
devotion to innovative teaching, along with some criticism for his passion in
responding to his beliefs. Active in pushing civil rights, he participated in a sit-
in at a downtown San Diego building and was arrested and jailed as a result. The
incident drew praise from some at Grossmont, castigation from others.
While here, Collins did some teaching along with handling his administrative
duties. One class in psychology was mandatory for all first-year students. Collins
lectured to large classes in filled Room 220. Students then participated in small-
group discussion sessions, with counselors assigned to lead the sessions.
Ray Reynolds, who, like Collins, came to Grossmont for its start, and taught
English, journalism and mass communication, remembers Collins for his dedication.
"He was one of the few who really wanted to raise the intellectual level of
students, to take them beyond community college in their thinking," Reynolds
recalled.
Larry Coons, Dean of Admissions and Guidance when G.C. opened, remembers
Collins' arrival at Grossmont, particularly because it was late, and the chore of
writing the school's first catalog fell to Hansen, Collins' newly-hired
secretary-now Dr. Mildred McAuley-and Coons. Collins arrived in time to help finish
the project, having been detained by the Army for which he'd been guidance counselor
at schools in Germany. After working with Hansen on the writing project, Collins
remarked to Coons that Hansen was a compulsive worker. (Larry Coons suffered a
slight stroke in July, However, he's recovered rapidly and is back to riding a
bicycle and pursuing his avocation of San Diego area tour guide.)
Collins left Grossmont in the summer of 1967 on a leave of absence to go to
Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, as a Fulbright professor. His mission was to help establish a
form of community college, to be called a junior university college. After Ceylon,
he accepted a teaching/administrative job at UC Berkeley and did not return to
Grossmont. At Berkeley he was Associate Director of the Junior College Leadership
Program.
From 1968 until 1972, he helped plan Los Medanos College at Pittsburg,
California, and when it opened, he went there as Dean of Humanistic Studies until he
retired in 1980.
Born in Bramen, Oklahoma, Collins grew up in Coalinga, attending elementary
school, high school and community college there. He subsequently got bachelor's and
master's degrees from Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from Stanford. During World War II he
served in the Army Air Corps from 1942 until 1945.
Holiday Reminder
Alba Orr wants to remind all retirees that they are always welcome to attend the
Christmas season "goodie table" in the Griffin Gate at Grossmont College on
December
13. Continental Breakfast at 9 a.m., lunch at 11 a.m. Call her at the College, ext.623, if
you plan to bring something.
Retirement Breakfast--Food, Information-Both Good
Program
Time
From
left: Frieda Ralston, Rita Mallow,
George
Dillon, Bob Haywood
From left: George Hernandez, Paul
From left: Brennan
Kohmescher of Secure
Rodrigues, Glen Meyer
Horizons,
Brian Kilpatrick of Barney & Barney,
GCCCD
Pres. Victor Calderon, Chancellor
Jeanne
Atherton, GC President Richard Sanchez,
and
Sam Ciccati, retired Cuyamaca President.
Nearly 40 GCCCD retirees heard about developments at Grossmont and Cuyamaca
Colleges and got information about HMO practices during their annual breakfast
August 23 in the Griffin Gate on the Grossmont campus.
Grossmont President Richard Sanchez noted the new bookstore arrangement with
Barnes & Noble and said the college would get a better return than during the
college management of the past.
Sanchez also hailed the GC forensic team which captured a national
championship, and said the school's Reach One-Teach One program has 350 students
enrolled this semester. He noted that the Learning Resource Center-Library has new
carpeting, and that $800,000 worth of interior lighting will be installed on the GC
campus next year.
Cuyamaca President Sherrill Amador reported that CC's enrollment for fall is up
nearly 25 percent from last year.
Six new faculty members have been added for the fall session at Cuyamaca and
three more will begin in spring semester, bringing full-time staff to 35 percent of
the total teaching staff. President Amador also noted that 1,000 are enrolled and
using the college's new physical education plant.
Brian Kilpatrick, of Barney and Barney Insurance, which sponsored the
breakfast, greeted the retirees, while Brennan Kohmescher, of Secure Horizons,
explained some of the workings of Health Maintenance Organizations-HMOs.
Probably most newsworthy was Ms. Brennan's denial of the often-heard accusation
that HMOs are responsible for care curtailments of patients to save money-for
example, by sending patients out of hospitals before doctors think they should be.
Ms. Brennan said HMOs, such as Secure Horizons, contract with groups of
doctors, and that doctors make medical decisions without pressure from their HMOs.
It is the patient's primary care doctor who decides the nature and duration of a
patient's care, she contended.
Also, attending were Victor Calderon, president of the GCCCD Board, and
District Chancellor Jeanne Atherton. Lisa Scott and Charles Seymour arranged the
breakfast.
Calderon Loses
The GCCCD Governing Board apparently will have a new member next month, when
Timothy Caruthers steps into the seat he has apparently won by defeating Board
President Victor Calderon in the November 5 election. Caruthers will be installed at
the Board's December 6 meeting. At Grapevine publication time, votes were still
being counted. Also starting a new term will be Ronald Kraft who won reelection by a
wide margin.
Board members Rick Alexander, Rebecca Clark and Carolyn Griffin will be Board
carry-overs; none of them were up for election November 5.
Cardiac Arrest Takes Ferris
Don
Ferris
The roll of GCCCD retirees lost a member October 12, when a cardiac arrest
rought death to Donald Ferris, who taught industrial technology at both Grossmont
and Cuyamaca Colleges.
Ferris began teaching at Grossmont in 1970. When his program, along with many
others, was shifted to Cuyamaca, he taught there until he retired in 1986. About 18
months after he retired, he began to have heart problems, which eventually forced
him to somewhat curtail his activities such as travel in a motor home.
Ferris was a native of Glen Lakes, Minnesota. He graduated from the University
of Minnesota and got his graduate degree at U.S. International. He worked for
Convair-General Dynamics from 1970 until he began teaching at Grossmont.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Jane, two daughters and two sons.