New College Independent Alumni/ae Association

San Franciscans generally mean well, but sometimes their illogic can be lethal. Perhaps the ultimate in their economic illiteracy is Proposition K, the ballot measure supported by the city’s politically correct, pimps and other thugs.

For those committed to promoting violence as a way of life, San Francisco’s ballot provides the opportunity to combine two of the most destructive forms of violence on earth–militarism and prostitution. Maybe a revamped JROTC program in San Francisco’s public schools can add a course for adolescent girls interested in making a career of being serially raped and beaten by pimps.

In time, San Francisco might even come to acquire the ambience of a military base, where teenagers trained as killers take out their lethal hostilities on society’s most desperate women. Anyone who thinks prostitutes who organize to eliminate pimps and traffickers from their lives will end up anything but dead, maimed or deported is living in a fantasy world.

Given the documentation by WASC and USDOE of the civil and criminal misconduct by the sinister six (Hamilton, Gabel, Wilkes, Henry, McAvoy & Voutyras), it would seem that SEIU should be filing a class-action lawsuit rather than a petition for mandatory arbitration. Their referenced direct interference in the WASC attempt to prevent closure of the school and the subsequent loss of jobs by SEIU members should make them and the trustees defendants, not claimants.

It appears that Matthew Wilkes and New College might be on the verge of settling. You can read the original exhorbitant complaint by Wilkes as well as the timeline of his case in the link below.  SEIU might want to contest this settlement in order to protect the interests of its members.

http://webaccess.sftc.org/Scripts/Magic94/mgrqispi94.dll?APPNAME=IJS&PRGNAME=ROA22&ARGUMENTS=-ACGC08475167

I write a regular column for Fourth World Eye, an e-zine published by the Center for World Indigenous Studies (the premier indigenous think tank in the world). I also have a dozen personal blogs where I write on a daily basis.

The following links probably provide all you need to see if I would be a good fit as a writer or guest speaker for your organization.

CV: http://archipelagonetwork.blogspot.com/2006/03/cv.html
Profile: http://www.pen.org/MemberProfile.php/prmProfileID/33531

Website: http://www.publicgood.org/
Issues: democracy, human rights, world indigenous movement

Blog: http://skookumgeoduck.blogspot.com/

Column: http://fwe.cwis.org/author/jtaber/

Portfolio: http://www.lulu.com/spartacus
Video clips: http://www.motionbox.com/filings?folder_id=6489033

–Jay Taber

Dear Vin Harrington:

I have received word that The Service Employees International Union petition to compel mandatory arbitration on behalf of New College employees is set to be heard on November 12, 9:30 am, Dept 301. Can you please tell me exactly what this means in terms of the status of our claims?

Our shop steward, Steven Kushner, has been unable to provide me with any specific information as to the progress of our back wages/severance claims. It would seem that wage earners should be first in line as lien holders of any proceeds from sales of the New College properties that have been and are now being sold. The Superior Court is currently hearing dubious claims filed by former top New College administrators totaling about $500,000. Where does this put our valid workers’ claims?

I do not understand why there has not been any move to force the college into bankruptcy and full disclosure. Or why assets from New College property sales have not been frozen, or why the former Board of Trustees and management have been not been named and charged for failing to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilies to their former employees? Perhaps steps are being taken on our behalf, but I’m concerned that time is not on our side and that the longer we delay the less opportunity there will be for any satisfactory wage and severance settlements.

As a dues-paying member of SEIU for over ten years, I hope to receive your effective, expert representation.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely yours,

Genevieve Lim,
Former New College of California Core Faculty

The first person I met when thinking about applying to graduate school at New College of California was Harry Britt, the former San Francisco Supervisor appointed by Mayor Dianne Feinstein in 1979 to the seat vacated by the assassination of the legendary gay activist Harvey Milk. As luck would have it, in 1987, Harry narrowly lost out in a Congressional race to Nancy Pelosi.

I doubt that Harry would ever have risen to become Speaker of the House, but there are measurements of worth that surpass that type of power, and I’d prefer to call Harry Britt a friend over Nancy Pelosi any day.

With the documentary about Harvey Milk coming out soon, I thought about the courage it took to step into his shoes immediately after his murder in San Francisco City Hall, as well as the devotion Harry showed toward his students over his long tenure at New College. I’ll always be grateful he made me feel so valued and welcome there.

Two brief notes:

The Matthew Wilkes v New College case management conference has been postponed due to failure to provide proof of service. It has been rescheduled for November 24, 1:30 pm, Dept 212.

The Service Employees International Union petition to compel mandatory arbitration is set to be heard on November 12, 9:30 am, Dept 301.

While we await news on the pending court battle over New College’s assets, we took a moment to Google Peter Gabel New College to see if he was up to anything new we might want to mention to the judge, the Attorney General or the D.A. We didn’t turn up anything new, but we did stumble across one of our associated posts from earlier in the year that readers might find enlightening. We’ll let you know when we hear anything more on the asset looting scandal, but for now sit back and enjoy Missionizing the Mission.

Two things that strike me as odd are 1. the lack of communication between SEIU and the New College plaintiffs, and 2. the apparent lack of interest by SEIU in protecting these plaintiffs’ interests. This may be simple laziness or incompetence, or it may be political. Who knows?

All the tools for protecting the plaintiffs’ interests are familiar to union attorneys, yet, for the most part, these not only weren’t used, to my knowledge they weren’t even discussed. Since SEIU could conceivably recover their attorneys costs through litigation, I’m wondering why they’ve dragged their feet for so long.

Have they even taken depositions from the whistle-blowers or affidavits from the oversight agencies? Are they intervening in any way to stop asset conversions now a year in progress? Do they plan to submit any kind of amicus memoranda to the Superior Court regarding Matthew Wilkes’ bogus claim?

I can’t imagine Agar Jaicks has so much power in the Democratic hierarchy that he can intimidate SEIU in order to protect Peter Gabel, but maybe there is something else we don’t know. In fact, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some kind of political aspect to all this, but that would require a private investigation.

Puzzling nonetheless.

On September 25, Service Employees International Union filed a petition with San Francisco Superior Court to compel arbitration of labor management disputes. We’re not sure if SEIU has addressed the issue of asset conversions by trustees, or the issue of dubious claims by trustee insiders like Matthew Wilkes, who has a conference scheduled with the court on October 10.