New College Independent Alumni/ae Association

With the closure of the school, alumni are corresponding with WASC as to the disposition of student records. WASC has said it will post this information as soon as possible. Presently, without a secure computer records system, facilities, or personnel, alumni requiring verification of their degrees for employment are in limbo. Student, faculty, and alumni Social Security Numbers are also vulnerable to illegal harvest. Needless to say, this situation requires timely intervention by the California Department of Consumer Affairs (800) 952-5210.

WASC has announced New College Transfer Day is Tuesday March 18, 11am-3pm at the New College Cultural Center, 766 Valencia. Students should bring their transcripts.

I’ve now read Peter Gabel’s pleading to WASC, and frankly, he’s become such a predictable bore, I can’t recommend wasting the time suffering any more of his nonsense. I’ve dealt with deluded trust-funders before, and were it not for their inclination to muck up other people’s lives with their fantasies, I wouldn’t give these delinquents the time of day. But since these prima donnas almost always insist on throwing their tantrums in public, I mostly have no choice but to ridicule them in this arena.

Gabel’s latest adolescent whining, typically undeserving of response by mature adults, nevertheless warrants further mockery. The title of his juvenile argument, Truth and Reconciliation, says it all; Gabel doesn’t know the meaning of the phrase. He hasn’t told the truth in ages, perhaps ever. He and his minions have done nothing but lie for the last thirty years–and they’re still at it.

So while all the injured parties from Gabel’s games now have to make the best of the misfortune he has brought on everyone, poor little Peter has chosen to throw himself on the floor kicking and screaming about conspiracies against him and his brave new world. Pathetic.

But even worse than his childish effrontery, Gabel’s assertion that his criminal enterprise must not be terminated, because they ostensibly served underprivileged populations, turns accountability on its head. In fact, it is precisely because the school once had an infrastructure that could do public good, that the malfeasance of Gabel and the other trustees is so reprehensible.

In maritime disasters, boards of inquiry are convened to determine whether any act of misconduct, inattention to duty, negligence or willful violation of the law contributed to the casualty, so that appropriate proceedings against such persons may be recommended and taken. In academic disasters like New College, accrediting commissions investigate similar responsibilities and take measures to prevent public harm. Given all the evidence against Gabel et al, they should be thankful that they aren’t facing criminal charges or personal liability for destroying the institution they were responsible for. That may still happen.

As I write this post, the buffoons self-identified as the ‘Council of Elders’, ‘Thinkers for the Whole’, aka ‘Historical Leadership’ of New College, are preparing a letter to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges pleading their case for leniency in moral terms. We kid you not.

While attempting to get away with fraud and gross incompetence due to their assumed piety is nothing new for charlatans like Peter Gabel (the leader of this imagined ’spiritual community’), it’s still galling, after all the lives he’s ruined, to hear him claiming a right to the high ground.

One really has to read Nina Siegal’s profile of Gabel to comprehend the extent of his delusions. At some level of consciousness, he probably knows he’s a fraud, but that is likely more than he can psychologically handle. Especially now that his playhouse has been taken away.

New College lost its accreditation yesterday. In the notice, WASC admitted the situation has gone on for thirty years, and that despite the failure to meet standards of higher ed throughout that time frame, they issued accreditation that falsely assured the public and students that their degrees would be worthy of credit. Now WASC is telling us that our degrees are worthless [links to WASC letter terminating accreditation, with reasons for termination--Admin.].

Reports from students who attended the Alice in Wonderland get together with the three remaining trustees Ted Corman, Philip Knowlton, and Jane Swan today, attest to the ethereal ambience created by the trustees’ inability to come to grips with the reality of loss of accreditation and access to federal funding. Allegedly, the accrediting agency WASC informed the trustees this morning that they have ten days to formulate a plan to deal with student, alumni, and employee issues under school closure. But instead of being forthright with those in attendance this afternoon about what will happen as the school disassembles, the trustees dithered in their delusions about what programs they might keep as profitable ventures in their looking glass world, as though the disaster of the last nine months never happened.

To say we find it odd that this remnant board that fails to make records available and likely doesn’t even constitute a legal quorum under federal law, is yet able to prolong the misery of everyone involved simply because they haven’t been hauled before a judge, is an understatement. The fact they haven’t been sued personally for the harms they’ve caused as trustees puzzles us no end.

With a decision on accreditation due any day, the New College trustees have sent a “new” eleventh hour plan to the accrediting agency–the dog ate our homework, so please give us more time. We kid you not.

Of course the whining includes lots of smoke blowing about what the trustees might do if given another chance, but as usual there is no explanation of why they neglected to do anything they promised eight months ago, or five years ago, or twelve years ago. Also in line with their long tradition of not accepting personal responsibility for the mess they’ve created, the trustees blamed the Department of Education in their latest list of excuses. Anything to avoid accountability.

The sooner this nonsense ends the better.