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| Rollin
Richmond's Supreme Hubris |
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Since when does HSU play a
role in who serves as Mayor of Arcata?
Vagabond Journalist
By Charles Douglas
|  I
never would have thought I missed Alistair McCrone in
the President’s chair at Humboldt State. Though
I denounced him a hundred times back in my student days
as aloof, ineffectual and permissive of a culture of
corruption in his staff, the consequences of a different
kind of university administration had not yet occurred
to me.
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Yet when I look at the bold, pronounced actions of Rollin
Richmond, they appear to be in the light of a dynamic negativism.
It seems as if Richmond wants to negate the fact that his
campus is surrounded by an environment and community clearly
exhibiting the artifacts of a culture he’d rather not
take part in. From the students he handpicks to ‘represent’
the campus society in a familiar mode of conflict management,
to the sacrifice of basic upkeep and maintenance functions
of Plant Operations in favor of curiously targeted recruitment
efforts, and now with the bastardization of colonial-era missions
in the architecture of an overwrought and expensive ‘gateway,’
Richmond clearly demonstrates his intent. He wants HSU to
be more like the rest of the country and less like Northern
California.
Consequently, the students and faculty begin to see Richmond
as something less than the savior they were promised after
more than a quarter-century under McCrone. Richmond’s
seeming conclusion is that he isn’t getting the right
students up here, and like every other right-winger in town,
his problem must somehow be tied to the presence of drifters
on the Arcata Plaza.
Sorry to burst the anecdotal bubble here, but I don’t
buy the horror stories of how hordes of parents are sent screeching
out of town, college-bound kid in tow, at the first sight
of a homeless person. Only someone living a very insular life
devoid of much travel could still pretend not to live in a
nation teeming with millions of homeless people. There are
unwashed and desperate people in Chico, S.F., S.L.O. and nearly
any other California State University town one can think of.
My parents were panhandled right in front of me on the Plaza
on our first night in town in 1995, and neither of them thought
of getting me to withdraw my enrollment. It still doesn’t
occur to them or to me how can people be gripped by such irrational
fear.
Yet playing on fear and power seems to be Rollin’s
forte these days as he bullied the Council into withdrawing
a measure to strengthen protections for patients who utilize
marijuana for medical purposes, threatening to withdraw his
pledge of support for University Police Department officers
patrolling the Plaza. His ridiculous claims only heightened
the sense of unreality in my perception of him.
This last Tuesday’s incident in Council Chambers reinforces
an image of Richmond out of touch. Since he couldn’t
find the time to make an appearance himself, Rollin sent a
staffer to inform the Council of his choice for the next Mayor
of Arcata. Whatever what one may think or have thought of
old McCrone, I’m confident he would have considered
it beneath himself to meddle in the internal government affairs
of the city. After all, wouldn’t that kind of moral
equivalency give the town a role in who gets to be President
of HSU? Such a hint of popular rule at an institution dedicated
to hierarchy is unimaginable, and so is Rollin’s supreme
hubris in his attempt at a double standard in HSUs relationship
to the City of Arcata.
Then again, didn’t the Council give Richmond the Mayor
he wanted?
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Vol.
I No. 7
Friday,
December 16, 2005
From all corners of the
county:
NewStory
Election Officials Defend
Security Measures
Clerk/Recorder will run for re-election to redefined post
Activists Confront Gallegos
Over Police Brutality Complaints
Bike-riding protestor charged with felony assault on police officer
Pulp Mill Pollution Resolution
Put Off
Activists decry use of private negotiations
in public process
County Gives Symbolic Backing
to Marriage Equality
Supervisor John Woolley to take over as Chair in 2006
Mayor Machi Retains Post
Councilmembers Meserve and Groves blasted
by public
Eureka Delays Waterfront
Choice Eco-hostel fans outnumbered Hampton supporters
four to one
Arcata Considers Homeless
Court Participation
Council looks to disentangle City from Mainstreet's failed B.I.D.
Board Approves Slate
of Headwaters Fund Grants
Local lobbying targets for reps in Sacramento and D.C. set
Court Land:
Quarter Mike
Flipped Over Bike Charges
Political theorists' attempt to transfer to Homeless Court denied
In the Know
What's the Buzz?:
On this Road, All that Glitters
Is Not Gold
The Prophecy of Has Beans and accidental joy at Kelly O’Brien’s
Film in Focus:
A Haunting Capote
Philip Seymor Hoffman finds triumph in stillness
Artistic License:
Understanding the Element
of a Band
Brilliant drudgery gives way to uber-dynamism
DV Indeed:
Have a Merry, Swashbuckling Christmas
South Pacific, Caribbean or a World
Tour with Peter Gabriel?
Film in Focus:
The Brooding Man in Black
Phoenix gives eerily accurate portrayal of Cash
Opinion
Editorials:
Democracy Unhinged
Fatally flawed ballot measure indicative of group out of touch with
their own values
Also...
Gotterdammerung for Bush
Thompson's Pro-Occupation
Shuffle
Getting Graphic:
Cheney Seen and Unseen
Comics skewer Veep
Guest Opinion:
Choking the Internet
How much longer will your favorite sites be online?
Letters to the Editor:
How Mainstream Can You Be?
Vagabond Journalist:
Rollin Richmond's Supreme
Hubris
Since when does HSU play a role in who serves as Mayor of Arcata?
Guest Opinion:
An Empire Without Virtue
The defenders of torture
Media Review:
The Low Power FM Fiasco
National Public Radio's scare campaign against community controlled
radio
Perspective on Globalization:
Uncharted Territory
Want to get out of Iraq?
Stop suburban sprawl!
Brick Burner:
Federal Food
Politics
Organic inconsistencies
Calendar: 12/16-12/22
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