Trick and Treat: More Admin Wheeling and Dealing with Construction

A recent article in the San Diego Union-Tribune by watchdog reporter Tanya Sierra reveals another layer of madness in the college's mismanagement: posh vacations for administrators and construction companies paid out of SWC Foundation funds.


Echo Pacific Construction "won" a silent auction prize, which included spending the weekend with Nick Alioto, SWC Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs. Alioto plays a key role in determining who gets construction contracts.

And guess what? Three weeks later, Echo Pacific did get a contract--for 4 million dollars.

There's more, much more, so please read the full article.

As November 2 approaches, it's as important as ever to get the word out and make sure voters are informed of the truth!

How can you help?

• Contact everyone you know in the SWC district--an email, a quick phone call, a Facebook post, a tweet--and ask them to contact three other people they know, etc.

• Participate in one or both literature drops organized by candidate Tim Nader:

Late-night Literature Drop to Get Out the Vote
Tomorrow (Monday) at 7:30 p.m.
Meet at 7 Kingswood Dr., Chula Vista, CA 91911

Early Morning Election Day Literature Drop
Tuesday at 4:00 a.m.
Meet at 7 Kingswood Dr., Chula Vista, CA 91911

• Help out with sign-waving Monday morning or evening and/or Tuesday morning . Contact Veronica Burton at vburton6@cox.net or just show up at one of the following intersections (7:00-8:30 am; 4:30-6:00 p.m.):

Bonita Road and Otay Lakes Road

East H Street and Otay Lakes Road

Terra Nova Plaza

E Street and 805

L Street and 805

The Governing Board incumbents and upper administration seem to think the C in SWC stands for "Construction." Let's set 'em straight.

Let's Save Our Southwestern College.

The Plot Thickens

While the SWC administration puts school newspaper The Sun on hold, SWC Vice President of Business Nicholas Alioto spams faculty at their private email addresses. Meanwhile, students rally to raise funds for independent publication of The Sun.



It's official: SWC admins have issued a "cease and desist" order, halting publication of the school newspaper, which is ready to go to press.

Senior staff writer Lyndsay Winkley will be speaking tonight at 7:00 pm at the Eastlake Bonita Democratic Club Meeting at the Bonita library (4375 Bonita Rd, Bonita). She "will be requesting the support, both financial and ethical, of the citizens in our community to help us, as student journalists, fully employ our constitutional rights." You can read more on this issue, including Lyndsay's full email, at Southwestern College Board Must Go!

As the news of this latest act of free speech suppression broke, many faculty were also shocked to find an email from Vice President of Business Nick Alioto in their private home email inboxes. At this point, no one knows how Alioto obtained these private addresses, but suffice it to say that faculty feel concerned and violated.

The email, which makes spurious, unsubstantiated claims about a candidate running against an incumbent in the upcoming Governing Board election, was sent from Nick Alioto's private account at http://www.pbcg.biz, site of the Public Business Consulting Group, Inc., headquartered in Wisconsin. (According to the site, Nick Alioto is or was--it's not clear when the site was last updated--the president/CEO of that company.)

Is this the same company that caused so much trouble for Wisconsin school districts, bilking the public of hundreds of thousands of dollars, with the result that Alioto was effectively run out of town? Why, yes it is! And, unlike Alioto's own specious claims about a candidate, this story is fully documented over at The Writer's Washroom.

Of further interest is Alioto misrepresenting himself as a licensed CPA. Typically signing emails, Nicholas C. A. Alioto, CPA, he implies that he is licensed in the state of California. However, a check at the California Board of Accountancy shows no Nick Alioto, Nicholas Alioto, Nicholas C. A. Alioto, or any other combination we could think of as licensed in the state. According to the California Board, "Only persons who are licensed by the CBA may call themselves a Certified Public Accountant or Public Accountant." (Incidentally, Alioto is not licensed in Wisconsin either; his license expired in 2009.)

The election is just weeks away. Please help Save Our Southwestern College!

Community group responds to revelations of fishy dealings between SWC and PR firm

In a previous post, we referenced Susan Luzzaro's piece in the San Diego Reader, "Isolate, Expose, Avoid." That article described SWC's $100,000 agreement with San Diego marketing firm Focuscom, Inc. for public relations services related to Prop R construction. Many of these "services" are designed to keep the public in line and quell debate.

Now, you can read the full agreement and plan, signed by SWC Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs Nicholas Alioto.

Community group Crossroads II did, and they are understandably shocked. President Peter Watry sent the email below to group supporters:

From: Crossroads II crossroadsii@cox.net>
Subject: Feel Dizzy? If Not, You Soon Will...
To:
Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 11:02 PM

...because you are about to be spun. We learned from an article recently published in the San Diego Reader (http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/aug/17/isolate-expose-avoid/ ) that in March Southwestern College approved a $100,000 contract with Focuscom Inc., for a "Proposition R Public Affairs Plan." The actual Plan approved by the College administration is now available on the Reader website, and we have attached it to this message. The key objectives of the Public Affairs Plan are to: Maintain momentum that led to approval of Prop R; Isolate and expose extremists; Identify, cultivate and engage supporters; and Manage the media. After reading this Plan, we are stunned. We are stunned to read that "All public affairs tactics will be geared toward driving target audiences to information sources controlled by the College." We are stunned to read that "Names culled from supporters lists will be used to draft and submit letters to the Editors and blog entries that support the land use efforts of the College." We are stunned to read that Crossroads II is a key target of this initiative. And we were most stunned to learn that Southwestern College is using our own money to spin us.

So exactly who is Focuscom Inc? According to the Focuscom website, " Our highly experienced team implements customized decisive planning in order to influence the media and impact the right audiences." Turns out that the President of Focuscom is Dan Hom. A former Chula Vista City Planning Commissioner, Dan Hom was a consultant for the Yes on Prop R campaign as well as the former Vice President of the Southwestern College Foundation. Talk about insider dealing....

SWC is expected to more than double in enrollment by 2020, up to 50,000 students, according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office. In 2008 the voters in the district served by Southwestern College voted to increase their own property taxes to the tune of $389 million to help the college accommodate this new growth. And now Southwestern College is using $100,000 of our property tax money to spin us about the projects our money is financing. A few questions: Was this expenditure approved by the Prop R Citizens Bond Oversight Committee? According to the Bylaws of the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee, one of its duties is to inform the public and the Board concerning the District's expenditure of bond proceeds. The Committee met last month, after the contract with Focuscom was approved. Was the Oversight Committee informed about the contract? Was the Board of Governors informed? How was Focuscom chosen for this contract? Were other firms considered? Was there a competitive bidding process? Exactly who are the "extremists" that the Public Affairs Plan will cause to be isolated and exposed? Shouldn't the Southwestern College Board demand that this contract be rescinded?

If you wish to express your views on this issue you can reach members of the Southwestern College Board as follows:

Yolanda Salcido, Board President ysalcido@swccd.edu

Terri Valladolid tvalladolid@swccd.edu

Jean Roesch jroesch@swccd.edu

Jorge Dominguez jdominguez@swccd.edu

Nick Aguilar picknickaguilar@cox.net

Thanks for caring about our community,
Peter Watry, Acting President, Crossroads II, and
Professor Emeritus, Southwestern College

By the way, the next regularly scheduled meeting of the SWC Governing Board is Wednesday, Sept. 8, at 7:00 pm on the main campus, Board Room 214. See you there--it should be a good one!

Mo' Money!

You've hopefully already seen the recent San Diego Union-Tribune article, "College VP Raised Money from Contractors He Oversees."

In the article, Tanya Sierra reports that Southwestern College's Vice President for Business and Financial Affairs, Nicholas Alioto, hosted a May 20th fundraiser for incumbent Governing Board candidates Yolanda Salcido and Terri Valladolid. Donors at the event included Seville Construction Services and Echo Pacific Construction, both of which subsequently received generous contracts from Prop R funds ($2.7 million and $4 million, respectively).

According to Sierra, "The officials said there is no link between the contracts and the contributions, but critics are skeptical."

That's putting it mildly. If the 104 comments (including some excuse-making by Alioto himself) so far are any indication, the community is outraged.

One commenter summarized the situation thusly: "You have a board that is ignoring the accreditation issues that the college faces for the first time in 50 years in the college's history in favor of kingdom building and collecting favors from contractors. Hundreds of teachers and staff have been let go with the cut of 40% of classes in the past 2 years and the budget reserves continue to swell. Teachers and staff are trying to save the school for the folks they are there for - STUDENTS."

If you haven't yet had an opportunity to read the article, please use the link above to find it on SignOn San Diego. If you saw it before, please go back and catch up on the comments that have been posted in the meantime. And either way, please add your voice to the discussion.

"Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away." --Elvis Presley

And the Muzzle Goes to . . . .

The Administration of Southwestern College!

That's right folks, Dr. Chopra & Co. are again making headlines with their receipt of a not-so-coveted 2010 Jefferson Muzzle. The award was granted by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, in part "for promulgating and enforcing a policy limiting even peaceful and non-disruptive protests to a designated 'free speech' patio."

One of ten winners, the SWC Admin has the distinction of being the only community college thus recognized. Way to go, guys!

A sampling of coverage:

Greg Lukianoff for the Huffington Post: Muzzle Tov, Southwestern College and Your "Free Speech Patio"!

William Creeley for FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education): Southwestern College Receives Jefferson "Muzzle" Award for Egregious Censorship

Dissent the Blog: Southwestern College administrative rat bastards get major "muzzle" prize

CBS News: Free Speech Group Gives "Muzzle" Awards

The story has also appeared in USA Today, Fox News, and countless other news outlets, both mainstream and specialized. (Try a Google search of "muzzle award" "Southwestern College" and you'll get over 5,000 results.)

Budget Stew

Recently, the SCEA (faculty union) and Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs Nicholas Alioto have challenged each others' budget interpretations. The history of this debate is covered in the most recent issue of the Sun, and we have also published the union's view.


At the March 10 Governing Board meeting, VP Alioto presented his side of the story, at points directly challenging union claims in an exhausting, um, we mean exhaustive PowerPoint presentation of almost 60 slides.

Mr. Alioto felt this was inadequate, however, and in a campus-wide email sent on March 12, he promised a written transcript:

The link below will take you to the PDF of the presentation made at the GB meeting this week. Of course, without having been there, you cannot truly gain a full understanding so we are also working on some type of written update as well.

http://www.swccd.edu/Pdfs/BudgetPPT3-10-10.pdf

Although the "written update" is thus far not available, you can be treated to the entire show, complete with voiceover. (Our apologies to the hearing impaired on VP Alioto's behalf. Apparently neither accessibility considerations nor federal law were an issue here).



SCEA responded to Alioto's report in the form of an Informational Alert, which will make perfect sense once you endure the PowerPoint and review our earlier post.

Denied!

VP Alioto Denies Blurting, While Student Denied Artistic Expression

During last week's SWC Street Painting Festival, a student was prevented from rendering her drawing of the three professors suspended this past October.

As the student points out, the drawing (at left) is a positive representation that criticizes no one. College authorities, however, found it controversial and said that it didn't relate to the festival's theme of Women's History Month.

The student remarks: "The events that happened last October until today were and are still a part of women's history. Professor [Dinorah Guadiana-]Costa, I, and a lot of female students were there! That's a slap to a lot of people's faces."


Meanwhile, Vice President for Business and Financial Affairs Nick Alioto had no trouble exercising his right to free expression at a recent Governing Board meeting. As reported in the Southwestern College Sun, "while Trustee Nick Aguilar was speaking to reassigned time and discussing the adviser's [to the newspaper] job, Alioto blurted out, 'The guy's a fucking idiot.'"

In an email message to all faculty and staff, Alioto later offered a correction, where he denies blurting, states that Nick Aguilar is not a "fucking idiot," and apologizes to a "hypothesized" fucking idiot:

There is an inappropriate statement that I made at the board meeting to another staff member. It was certainly not blurted out. Someone, however, did overhear it and report it to others. The comment was not directed at the individuals hypothesized in the paper. I have met personally with the person it was directed at and apologized and did it the day after the meeting. I apologize for making the comment to begin with.

Thank goodness that's all cleared up!

SWC Drops Case Against Suspended Profs Shortly Before Free Speech Protest

At 9:44 am this morning, Acting Superintendent/President Nicholas Alioto issued a message addressed to "the college community," informing us that the District has decided not to pursue criminal charges against Dinorah Guadiana-Costa, Philip Lopez, and Andrew Rempt. In the message, sent to college employees globally via email, Alioto wrote,

"in consultation with the College Police Department, . . . administration has demonstrated its desire to move forward together and the College Police have agreed to discontinue the investigation."

The email came out roughly an hour and fifteen minutes before the start of a Free Speech Rally scheduled to begin at 11:00 am.

Rempt, Lopez, and Guadiana-Costa

The protest continued as planned, and featured speakers included Rep. Bob Filner, CCA (California Community College Association) President Ron N. Reel, ACLU lawyer Sean Riordan, and Governing Board member Nick Aguilar. (Aguilar cast the lone dissenting vote when the Board declined to address Chopra's class cuts at last month's board meeting.)


Rep. Bob Filner

CCA President Ron Reel (on left)

ACLU's Sean Riordan

SWC Trustree Nick Aguilar

The well-attended rally was marred only by the district's refusal to allow those speaking to use a microphone because the rally fell outside the college's sanctioned "free speech" hours of 11 am-noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Nevertheless, the crowd's chant of "Chop from the Top!" was no doubt loud enough to be heard by Chopra, wherever he is. The vacationing president is expected to return to campus this coming Monday, two days before the next Board meeting.

Meanwhile, no word yet on how the recent turn of events will affect the letters of reprimand placed in the three professors' files.

More photos:

Additional coverage:

• Southwestern College Sun: Congressman Filner, ACLU blast college restraint of free speech - News

• 10 News Coverage of today's rally: SWC Professors Won't Face Charges Over Campus Rally

• Telemundo 33 en facebook: Protesta en Southwestern College
  
  
• San Diego Union-Tribune: Southwestern College protest backs instructors
  
  
• KPBS: Independent Report of Teacher Suspensions Released By College: ACLU Says Suspensions Were Not Merited

SWC Faculty and Staff Respond to Alioto's "Update"

Responses to Acting Superintendent/President Alioto (original message linked below)

---

RE: Call for an explanation
From: Mark Van Stone
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 8:57 PM
To: Nicholas Alioto
Cc: All Staff; picknickaguilar@cox.net; Jorge Dominguez; Jean Roesch; Yolanda Salcido; Terri Valladolid

Dear Vice President Alioto, et al.,

You claim that "No disciplinary action has been taken."

Sure looks "disciplinary" to the rest of us.

Your hair-splitting pettifogging spin on this series of events is spitting into the wind. Nobody is convinced that you did this for the protection of anyone, except yourselves. And for you administrators to hide behind the fine SWC police department, who were surely just following your orders, is sheer cowardice.

Why not admit you haven't a case and immediately reinstate the "not-suspended-just-prohibited-from-doing-their-job" professors? And then open some REAL action towards solving our problems together?

By the way, are you paying for the substitute instructors and the lawyers in this situation out of the Reserve fund, or are you just going to cut more classes to pay for this divisive waste of resources?

Just trying to help,
Mark Van Stone

---

RE: Update from Acting S/P Alioto
From: Larry Lambert
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 12:46 PM
To: Nicholas Alioto
Cc: All Staff

Tom Holst is a very brave classified professional because he took the time and opportunities to weigh in on these important issues in spite of the vulnerability classified professionals have at this time. I am supporting his effort and adding my voice to his. I sincerely believe that if most Classified Professionals were not so burdened with the culture of fear, retaliation and intimidation that engulfs this college they would be overwhelmingly supportive of our faculty brethren more openly.

The latest rounds of tactics are unforgivable and should be challenged at every step. Trying to make us believe the semantic phlegm that an administrative leave, paid or otherwise, is not punishment is like telling us that it is not dark at night, we're just out of light. We are simply not that stupid and it is consummately insulting that anyone thinks we will actually believe that.

These retaliations by the district only serve to galvanize all of the employees of this college towards one common foe, and now we have four symbols of that unity and solidarity.

The time has come to sit down and speak openly and without hidden agendas. We continue to slip down the dark side of the moon with less and less hope of finding the light if egos and megalomaniacal control issues do not take a back seat long enough to find common ground. At some point we will have a watershed moment and realize that the paralyzing fear we currently feel about losing our career at SWC comes in second place to standing up and openly supporting what is right an honorable. Then we will all stand up and make all our voices heard. When that happens the Governing Board will pay attention, there will not be any other choice.

Regards,

Larry B. Lambert
Online Instructional Support Specialist

---

RE: Update from Acting S/P Alioto
From: Eliana Santana
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 10:54 AM
To: Nicholas Alioto
Cc: All Staff

Mr. Alioto,

I'd be interested in seeing the evidence you have collected that these three faculty members were engaged in a violent act with the police. Where is the evidence? Besides, if they were involved in violence with the police, there would be an arrest and charges filed. Where are the charges and where is the police report?

The community would like transparency in this matter.

Eliana Santana-Williamson, Ed.D
Professor of ESL and ESL Coordinator at San Ysidro

----

RE: Update from Acting S/P Alioto
From: Tom Holst
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 11:05 AM
To: Nicholas Alioto
Cc: All Staff


To all who would give a hoot, I took my lunch break and went down in my CSEA t-shirt to show support for our students. I arrived as the last speakers finished. There were a couple of students who urged the group to "take it to the streets." I followed the procession down to the 100 area where they were redirected around the 100 building where the procession stopped at the breezeway between 102 and 100 building. The police blocked all breezeways. At the 102 breezeway I watched the group question the police as to why they could not enter area. The Sergeant and 1 other cop explained they could not allow disruption of campus business. I saw absolutely no angry confrontation in any shape or form. A couple of male students were a bit loud but the crowd quickly lost interest and dispersed. A petition was passed around for a minute or two. I went back to work. I was within 10 feet of the whole thing. This whole thing is just ridiculous. My belated break is over now. Back to work. PS: I support what is good and right for SWC based on truth, honesty and facts. Tom

---

Re: Update from Acting S/P Alioto
From: Dan Moody
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 10:39 AM
To: Nicholas Alioto
Cc: All Staff

Dear Mr. Alioto,

Congratulations on your promotion to acting Superintendent-President.

I was interested to read your statement that the College Police are saying that this situation "compromised the safety" of others, and very surprised that these three teachers are being accused of "physical confrontation with police officers." As someone who knows these three teachers as I do, I find this allegation absolutely impossible to believe.

--Dan Moody

---

Alioto's original message.

We will post more responses from SWC faculty and staff as permission is received.

Revelations and Equivocations

Revelations

At today's faculty union (SCEA) meeting, it was revealed that in addition to questioning faculty, the administration has been calling in not only students who attended the 22 October rally but those who spoke at the earlier 14 October Governing Board Meeting.

Unlike faculty, students are not protected by a union or other organized group. One faculty member suggested that affected students contact the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)

At the same time, the teacher suspensions are drawing the interest of several groups. CCA (the Community College Association) is already involved. CCA is the higher education affiliate of the California Teacher's Association (CTA). Nationally, CCA is affiliated with the National Education Association (NEA), the largest public employee association in the country. Both CTA and NEA are also taking an interest in the case.

In addition, the local chapters of the ACLU and NAACP have expressed a desire to assist in the case, as have organizations like FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) and the Center for Campus Free Speech.

Equivocations

At 5:02 p.m. Acting Superintendent/President Nicholas Alioto (currently in charge with Chopra on vacation) issued a statement addressed to the "College Community." In the statement, Alioto claims that "no faculty have been suspended, as that is a disciplinary action. No disciplinary action has been taken."

This claim will no doubt come as a surprise to the faculty who have been left in limbo while indefinitely barred from campus and unable to teach their classes. It will probably also come as a surprise to everyone in the "College Community" who recognizes the administration's actions as an attempt to intimidate and to silence dissent.

Alioto's statement also cites "three areas" of "concern":

"a) Incitement of students to move outside the free speech area and to violate College policies"
"b) Disregard for warnings and directives of police officers"
"c) Physical confrontation with police officers"

For anyone who was present, these accusations are laughable. For those affected, they surely constitute "disciplinary action."