Category: Cal Poly

Cal Poly and their foibles

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Cal Poly Students Unite to protest Cal Poly -Saudia Arabia deal

Cal Poly Engineering's new BuddyI always like to hand accolades out when the media help out a socially worthwhile story.

A Protest at Cal Poly over their proposed association with Saudi Arabia is hitting the news. We all know Saudi Arabia’s second leading export is terrorists, so why is Cal Poly’s Warren Baker & Mohammad Noori pushing this deal? Some suspect that it represents ‘big money’ and a sacrifice of a few seldom used American values.

It’s American blood for money.

Here’s what the local paper wrote about the upcoming protest:

Cal Poly College
Republicans to protest pact with Saudi university

“Cal Poly’s College Republicans have organized a protest set for Tuesday afternoon against the school’s plans to help a Saudi Arabian university create an engineering program.

The pact with University College of Jubail has been met with controversy because of Saudi Arabia’s record of discrimination against women, Jews and gays. Saudi women would not be admitted initially to the Jubail engineering programs.

Members of the Republican club plan to demonstrate opposition to the partnership at Cal Poly’s Academic Senate meeting, set for 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in room 220 of the University Union. The Senate is expected to question university President Warren Baker about the Saudi pact.

Club members said they are gathering at the mustang statue near the Union at 4:15 p.m. to make posters and organize the demonstration.

Protest organizers said that members of other student clubs, including the Cal Poly Democrats, also plan to attend.”

— Antonio A. Prado

Roger Freberg

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How do Cal Poly and Saudi Arabia make it a better world?

Few students have ever seen Warren Baker ... he's unknown to most facultyAt Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the student newspaper the Mustang Daily once ran a contest with a significant prize to anyone who could take a picture of the elusive Cal Poly president Warren Baker. As I remember it… no one won!

so, Where’s Warren?

Before he ‘disapparates’ once again, you might get a glimpse of ‘he-who-nobody-has-ever-seen’ at Cal Poly:

the University Union room 220
3:00 – 5:00 pm

Tuesday, March 4th

Subject: the Saudi – Cal Poly deal or “how I learned to love a world without professional women.”

There are many problems with the contract… the one that bothers me is the apparent ‘veto’ capability of the Saudis on any hire… this basically means that the Saudis are not bound by any of our ‘idealistic notions.’ One passage of an analysis provided in a link below states:

“These ideals should be America’s gifts to the world. Seek to include them in any educational contracts that Cal Poly makes with educators in all parts of the world!”

Here is a fuller analysis of the ‘deal’ presented by a long time esteemed member of the university and passed along for your consideration. Also provided is Cal Poly’s own non-discrimination policy! Do we see a conflict here?

Roger Freberg

Cal Poly is not the only one willing — in my opinion — to sell American values for gold… but that doesn’t make it right.

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Cal Poly brings in the Clowns & Warren Baker

just us happy guys!

Ok…. didn’t you just hear where Cal Poly refused to add to the agenda of the Academic Senate a resolution opposing the Cal Poly-Saudi deal even though it included support from 5 prior Faculty Academic Senate Chairs? The reason? They didn’t have enough time to consider it?

Well… it appears as though they really can place on the agenda some things and not others! As a last minute addition… the Grand Mufti himself, the ever popular President of Cal Poly will come down from the mountain to speak to the masses on the virtues of dealing with Saudi Arabia, how women are really not missing anything and that this was one big misunderstanding by the ignorant masses. At least that’s how I think it will go.

Here’s the plan so far from a broadly distributed email:

“As previously noticed, next Tuesday’s Academic Senate meeting (3:00 – 5:00, UU220) will be a open forum discussion with President Baker on Budget and Budget Advocacy. An additional discussion item has been added beginning at 4:30: the proposed collaboration between CENG and Jubail University College in Saudi Arabia.

No printed agenda will be sent. This message is the formal notice for the
meeting.

If you have any questions regarding these discussion items, please feel free to contact the Academic Senate office at 756.1258, or I can be reached directly at bgiberti@calpoly.edu.”

Although Cal Poly may disagree, this meeting is more than likely subject to the ‘Brown Act” (a public Meeting)… so hopefully the press will show up, too!

Life’s never boring at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Roger Freberg

So… I guess what we are hearing is that Cal Poly makes up the rules as they go along… why am I not surprised?

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Cal Poly: doesn’t pass the smell test!

Cal Polys Proud Supporter A great Blog on the Los Angeles Times by Karen Klein said it all:

“If it appears to be so legal, why does it flunk the smell test so badly? ….But Cal Poly is a public institution of higher learning, a place with the highest sort of obligation to uphold noble standards of anti-discrimination.”

For those of us who have been watching the Cal Poly administration over the years, realize that we’ve seen only the ‘tip of the iceberg’ in their recurring lapses of judgement. We can only wonder what else they have been up to? What do they do on a day-to-day level that would raise eyebrows that has yet to make it to the national news?

My guess? Well, no one would be happy…. and ‘changes’ would be in the wind starting at the top!

Roger Freberg

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Cal Poly selling OUR soul to Saudi Arabia

Pres. Warren Baker, Provost William Durgin, Senate Chair Bruno Giberti and their bud
You gotta know there must be big money behind this! I hope it’s not just for a few pieces of silver.
Today, Warren Baker and his buds blocked a full discussion by the academic senate at Cal Poly on the issue of Cal Poly and Saudi Arabia’s joint educational venture. Let’s not gloss over the fact that this issue ignores a bunch of stuff… no women need apply for starters. If this was apartheid South Africa, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

What are they afraid of?

Talk about a PR nightmare!
In my last post, I had predicted this would happen! Fortunately, you can always depend on Cal Poly administrators to behave badly.

Cal Poly is so used to being a law unto themselves that they really don’t know how their inappropriate actions look to others. The Provost “Bill” Durgan appears to have spent a disproportionate amount of time on yours truly. I heard a lot about what he said… including this excerpt from a private email:

“The Provost also gave a fiery speech addressed to the all the critics of the Saudi proposal, including uncalled for attacks on a faculty spouse (without mentioning Roger by name) who is printing material on the web and said this is not how folks with Ph.D.s should be behaving. It shows a complete lack of respect for academic freedom, etc, etc………”

It is amusing to see Cal Poly’s administration quoting ‘academic freedom’ and ‘free speech’… when they have acted like the ‘bad guys’ in the Nation’s eyes! It doesn’t work the way they think it does.

So, what was the resolution? What is Cal Poly’s Administration so afraid of?

Check this out!

The only other interesting statement came from the Academic Senate Chair Bruno Giberti who referred to the resolution by many many former Faculty Academic Senate Chairs by dissing:

“I am not impressed with them! (5 former Faculty Senate Chairs).”

Spoken like a true company man. By the way, I know you are all sooo interested in who the academic senate is…. here’s a fun link!

Stay Tuned, This issue has traction!
Roger Freberg

UPDATE: It appears — according to some attending the meeting — that the Provost was complaining that some Cal Poly Faculty were not using their official Cal Poly email and that this was a BAD thing! I know that the ’employer’ has the right to read employees emails… but Bill wouldn’t do THAT??!!!  Nah!