Off The Beaten Path

Yesterday I took a little road trip. No, I didn’t have another enzyme bath. (The next one is currently being planned, but it’s not on the calendar yet.) This time I visited the western part of Marin County. I needed to travel to Bolinas for a short meeting at the College of Marin Marine Biology Lab…a rather ancient facility owned by my current employer.

Yes, this time Saturday was a workday. At least I got to see the ocean for the first time in a long time, though.

I had been told that Bolinas is quite the little community. One of the elements of the town’s culture is its isolationist tendencies. Residents mostly just want to be left alone, and they like being off the beaten path. Everyone I talked to, when I mentioned that I was going to Bolinas, informed me that people from the town regularly tear down the road sign on Highway 1 that points would-be visitors to their little burg. Indeed, yesterday when I took the turn-off, I noticed there was a post but no sign. (Luckily, I had a co-pilot, as well as a navigation system, that knew the way there.)

I also learned that the San Andreas Fault runs the length of the Bolinas Lagoon, just a thousand feet from where I stood on Wharf Road. It’s prime earthquake territory, as is just about everywhere I am these days. (I just try to not think about that too much!)

The photo at the top of this entry shows an informal, mid-Saturday-morning gathering of Bolinas residents on the dock owned by the College.

COM Welcomes New Dean

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Cathy Summa-Wolfe, College of Marin, 415-485-9528, cathy.summawolfe@marin.edu

COM Welcomes Jim Arnold, New Dean of Math & Sciences

KENTFIELD, CA-July 31, 2007-College of Marin announced today the appointment of James “Jim” Arnold, Ph.D., to the position of Dean of Math & Sciences, a post that includes the responsibility of five academic departments and Physical Education and Athletics.

“We are delighted to have Dr. Arnold join our team,” said Frances L. White, Ph.D., COM Superintendent/President. “He brings with him the necessary talent, enthusiasm, and experience to take our Math & Sciences Program, which is already excellent, to the next level.”

“From the minute I read the position description and saw the wide range of academic disciplines involved, I felt College of Marin would be a wonderful fit,” Arnold said. “I have a long history of being able to bring groups of individuals together and to communicate effectively with many different interests.”

As head of Math and Sciences, Arnold is responsible for the Departments of Mathematics, Life and Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, Behavioral Sciences and Physical Education and Athletics. Erik Dunmire, a chemistry professor who served as the interim dean, will return to his teaching post after a sabbatical.

Arnold comes to the campus with 12 years of administrative experience in the community college environment, primarily at the Oregon University System Chancellor’s Office where he worked in the Academic Affairs Division as the primary liaison between universities and community colleges in that state. Most recently, he held appointments at Mt. Hood Community College as Dean of Science & Technology and at Umpqua Community College as Dean of Math, Science & Liberal Arts.

Prior to his life in the community college world, however, he enjoyed several other careers including chemist, photographer, counselor, teacher and consultant. Arnold earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a Master of Science degree in chemistry from Oregon State University. He worked as a chemist before switching to a career in photography and then returning to school to earn a second master’s degree in counseling from Oregon State University. He was a counselor and trainer in a job-training/social-service agency and directed a student support services program in the student affairs division at a small regional university campus in Oregon. After a couple of years back in higher education, he pursued a doctorate in higher education administration at Indiana University.

In addition to overseeing academics, Arnold will be involved with the construction of the new science/math/central plant complex at the Kentfield campus.

Remembering Virginia Tech

Freedom of Speech

During Thursday and Friday this week, I attended a retreat of UCC faculty as part of our beginning-of-the-school-year inservice activities. The event was held at the Big K Guest Ranch in Elkton, Oregon (about 30 miles from here). The place is truly in the middle of nowhere. After driving about 18 miles north of (I-5 Exit 136) Sutherlin on Highway 138W, you take a right-hand turn onto a gravel road and proceed onward for another four miles…an experience bound to rattle your bones and car frame, even at 15 mph. However, the setting is quite idyllic, and a great spot for a group our size to get away and do some retreat-type work. The organizers constructed a very worthwhile agenda, and I was amazed at the effort and energy expended to make this a wonderfully-successful experience for everybody.

A lot of the time together was spent in small groups, examining topics relevant to both new and returning instructors. Even though I am not an instructor anymore [I was one of two administrators present (the other being the college president)], I found I was able to participate fully. And, the greatest benefit to me was getting to know faculty from my new, large division (as well as the entire campus).

On the final day, yesterday, we held discussions (during both the morning and afternoon sessions) on a variety of hypothetical ethical-dilemma situations. The final scenario involved a student who wore a t-shirt to class that had a (unidentified) racially-offensive message on it. The questions: what to do? How to handle this?

A variety of perspectives were offered. One person offered thoughts about a dress-code. Others provided suggestions aimed at trying to control student behavior and, hence, suppression of the t-shirt’s message.

I could not hold my tongue. At the end of the discussion (and our time together), I raised my hand. I offered the thought that a t-shirt was not offensive in and of itself, and that this was neither a dress code nor a student-conduct issue, but rather a free-speech one. Freedom of expression is one of our most cherished and important constitutional rights, I said, and that, especially in a college environment (where we are presumably devoted to a free exchange of ideas), we cannot stomp on such a fundamental American freedom. I observed that quite a number of campuses over the last couple of decades have attempted to restrict student behavior with speech codes, virtually all of which had been struck down by the courts on constitutional grounds. I tried to convey the message, and personal (legal?) opinion, that we cannot attempt to silence a student merely because his or her message might be offensive to some.

Of course, I likely sounded like an over-the-top civil libertarian. And, I know, I delivered this message with some degree of passion, but hopefully not so extreme as to offend my new colleagues. The ACLU has an excellent summary of this issue on their website, as well as descriptions of many specific cases involving freedom of expression (including t-shirts).

Talk, Jim

At my last workplace, I was only a couple of months or so into my new job when I participated in a “leadership workshop” with a group of fellow administrators. Things went extremely well, I thought, for just about the entire time. As the group-work unfolded, folks were increasingly talkative and open and, for the most part, genuinely engaged in examining our personal communication and leadership/management styles.

That experience ended very poorly for me and everyone involved, however. As the two-day session was wrapping up, our “big leader” stopped by to check in. He had arranged for the workshop to happen, but had not attended. When it came time for the group to offer up a report on our training experience, there was apparent reluctance to do so. As the new guy, it didn’t really seem my place to be the spokesperson, but one of my colleagues mouthed to me from across the room: “talk Jim.” Of course, that was all I needed to raise my hand and proceed to gush forth with my version of reality.

As it turned out, that action turned out to be one of the biggest faux pas of my professional life. I was interrupted mid-report and soundly lambasted for my opinions and “negativity.” I actually didn’t think I was being negative (rather, merely attempting to be an accurate communicator regarding the sense of the group), but it was certainly perceived that way, and the big guy’s defensiveness turned instantly into attack mode. I was the target. And, boy, did it hurt.

Things were never the same for me after that; I spent two years in place where I knew I was not a fit. In retrospect, it would have been a really good idea for me to leave the organization at the end of that workshop, but you know how it is: I needed a job. I can’t help thinking, though: even if it meant unemployment, I might be a physically healthier person today had I immediately resigned.

So, here I am now in a new organization. And I spent all day today at a retreat with my fellow academic administrators here. I participated fully. I said what was on my mind. I spoke my truth. I felt listened to.

Very good!

Soundtrack Suggestion

What if there was no light
Nothing wrong, nothing right.
What if there was no time?
And no reason or rhyme?...

Every step that you take
Could be your biggest mistake
It could bend or it could break
But that’s the risk that you take…

Oooooh, that’s right
Let’s take a breath, jump over the side.
Oooooh, that’s right
How can you know it when you don’t even try?
Oooooh, that’s right

(“What If” – Coldplay)