Who Needs Homecoming to Revisit College—There are plenty of better opportunities!

Photos by Bob Rucker, one of my former professors at SJSU:
The fellow in blue is Dwight Bentel’s older brother—yes, OLDER. One hundred four, to be exact.
Dr. Dwight Bentel blows out the candles on his birthday cake.

I am neglecting this blog again—when I get work thrown my way, I take it, and I do it as quickly as possible so I can get MORE work as it comes available. In the summertime, we tend to get a lot of completed publications; our writers are academics and of course an academic is most productive during breaks—publications are often completed over summer vacation and winter break. But I have been doing some other things … like attend the reception for Dr. Dwight Bentel.

I’ve not strayed terribly far from San José State University following my graduation in May 2000. I returned as an older adult student in the fall of 1998, and kept myself on track for four semesters and one winter session in order to graduate on time. My coursework was challenging but not as difficult as my nursing classes in community college at the end of the 1970s, into the early 1980s.

I have found myself on campus from time to time when I did some work for the director of the Journalism and Mass Communications department. Up until April 23 I’d resisted attending any departmental fund raising efforts, not because I didn’t care, but more because I didn’t have the money. I couldn’t resist attending an event last night though… how often do you get to see an actual living, breathing person that was important enough to a university to have a building named after him? The “party” was a 100th birthday bash for the JMC’s department founder, Dwight Bentel. Bentel also founded the university’s newspaper, the Spartan Daily. SJSU’s journalism building is named Dwight Bentel Hall (DBH for short). There were events in the department all day, the theme being “Visual Journalism Day.”

Bentel is a journalist and photographer. For a 100-year old guy, he does pretty darn well. He’s ambulatory, and his caretaker says she doesn’t have to do anything around the house, that he does his own laundry, cooks and cleans. I suppose she’s around to drive for him, because some of his former co-workers who spoke last night claimed he was a scary driver—nothing got in his way in his quest to travel from Point A to Point B.

You can learn more about him here: A Pioneering Journalism Educator—and 'E&P' Writer—Hits Age 100

Also in attendance was his older brother, all of 102 years of age.

It was very nice to see some of my former professors that I’ve not seen in the past few years. Most remember me. Most complemented me on my darker hair color. I did go out of my way to thank my magazine journalism editor—because of three semesters with him, I work as an editor. I’d rather be a writer, but a buck is a buck!

Probably one of the funniest things that happened was the singing of the SJSU song. There’s an SJSU song? I had no idea. It sucked and has lyrics like “Hail Spartans! Hail SJSU!” Very inspiring—NOT!

Anyway, people who graduated anywhere from the 1950s into the 1970s (including what would have been my graduating class had I stuck with it, 1978) knew that gone. A couple of them were disgusted I had no idea about the melody or words (they passed out a paper that had the words), and they asked “How can you not know this?” “I came here to learn journalism and public relations, not how to sing some dumb school song.” “It’s not dumb. If you’d gone to football games, you would have learned it.”

BFD. I think I did fine without it. Besides, the song was written in 1933 and it in gross need of updating.

I didn’t attend this soirée alone—I dragged along one of my classmates, Patricia, one of two of my friends who are as conservative as I am. Patricia, Sean and I could be counted on to get into political arguments in most any class we took. Last night it was the same old thing, minus Sean, who is living in Portland, Oregon.

While at SJSU we took plenty of heat for being conservatives during the reign of Bill Clinton. We three were the only ones who laughed during Clinton’s impeachment proceedings, which were widely broadcast throughout the journalism building (the main lecture hall, when not in use, had the trial up on a big screen television, and students came and went as they wished) and who thought he deserved to be impeached. Most of our professors couldn’t understand why we’d ever not be supportive of anything Clinton had ever done. One proudly displayed a photo taken of herself and her husband with Bill Clinton at one of Clinton’s inaugural balls. She was horrified to learn I had not voted for Clinton, would never vote for Clinton, was against most policies put forth by the Democratic party. “You voted for Dole?” she said to me, horrified. “You plan to vote for a Republican in the fall of 2000? I am so shocked and disappointed in you.”

Here is my point: is there such thing as a conservative educator? Other than attending a Baptist university in the deep south, are there any colleges or universities that embrace a conservative slant? The private university I attended for my master’s degree, a Jesuit university, of course toed the Catholic churches’ values, yet its outlook was as liberal as anything. Why is it so wrong to promote a conservative agenda?

Is it possible to be a compassionate conservative in education? We believe in opportunity but we also believe that you need to earn that opportunity, not just have it handed to you based on the fact you are alive and breathing. We believe in personal accountability—that there is honor in paying for our education and in the accomplishments we work for while working for anything, be it a degree or our careers. There is nothing racist in those statements—why am I accused of being racist because I’m conservative?

Can You Go Back Again? Why Would You Want To?

I’ve not strayed terribly far from San José State University following my graduation in May 2000. I returned as an older adult student in the fall of 1998, and kept myself on track for four semesters and one winter session in order to graduate on time. My coursework was challenging but not as difficult as my nursing classes in community college at the end of the 1970s, into the early 1980s.

I have found myself on campus from time to time when I did some work for the director of the Journalism and Mass Communications department. Up until April 23 I’d resisted attending any departmental fund raising efforts, not because I didn’t care, but more because I didn’t have the money. I couldn’t resist attending an event last night though… how often do you get to see an actual living, breathing person that was important enough to a university to have a building named after him? The “party” was a 100^th birthday bash for the JMC’s department founder, Dwight Bentel. Bentel also founded the university’s newspaper, the Spartan Daily. SJSU’s journalism building is named Dwight Bentel Hall (DBH for short). There were events in the department all day, the theme being “Visual Journalism Day.”

Bentel is a journalist and photographer. For a 100-year old guy, he does pretty darn well. He’s ambulatory, and his caretaker says she doesn’t have to do anything around the house, that he does his own laundry, cooks and cleans. I suppose she’s around to drive for him, because some of his former co-workers who spoke last night claimed he was a scary driver—nothing got in his way in his quest to travel from Point A to Point B. 

Also in attendance was his older brother, all of 102 years of age.

It was very nice to see some of my former professors that I’ve not seen in the past few years. Most remember me. Most complemented me on my darker hair color. I did go out of my way to thank my magazine journalism editor—because of three semesters with him, I work as an editor. I’d rather be a writer, but a buck is a buck!

I dragged along one of my former classmates, Patricia, one of two of my dearest university friends who are as conservative as I am. Patricia, Sean and I could be counted on to get into political arguments in most any class we took.  Last night it was the same old thing, minus Sean, who is living in Portland, Oregon. Sean is also a veteran of the U.S. Army, where his job was that of a scout. He has a back injury that is covered by the Veteran's Administration.

While at SJSU we took plenty of heat for being conservatives during the reign of Bill Clinton. We three were the only ones who laughed during Clinton’s impeachment proceedings which was widely broadcast throughout the journalism building (the main lecture hall, when not in use, had the trial up on a big screen television, and students came and went as they wished) and who thought he deserved to be impeached.   Most of our professors couldn’t understand why we’d ever not be supportive of anything Clinton had ever done. One proudly displayed a photo taken of herself and her husband with Bill Clinton at one of Clinton’s inaugural balls. She was horrified to learn I had not voted for Clinton, would never vote for Clinton, was against most policies put forth by the Democratic party. “You voted for Bush? You voted for Dole?” she said to me, horrified. “You plan to vote for a Republican in the fall of 2000? I am so shocked and disappointed in you.”

Here is my point: is there such thing as a conservative educator? Other than attending a Baptist university in the deep south, are there any colleges or universities that embrace a conservative slant? The private university I attended for my master’s degree, a Jesuit university, of course toed the Catholic churches’ values, yet its outlook was as liberal as anything. Why is it so wrong to promote a conservative agenda?

Is it possible to be a compassionate conservative in education? We believe in opportunity but we also believe that you need to earn that opportunity, not just have it handed to you based on the fact you are alive and breathing. We believe in personal accountability—that there is honor in paying for our education and in the accomplishments we work for while working for anything, be it a degree or our careers. There is nothing racist in those statements—why am I accused of being racist because I’m conservative?

Remembering a fallen hero ...

Photo of SJPD Officer Jeffrey Fontana, murdered in the line of duty, October 2001

I’ve been ultra-busy editing master’s theses for SJSU Journalism and Mass Communications students, so by the end of the day I am sick of words!

Last Thursday I attended the trial of DeShawn Campbell at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice to show my meaningless support to the SJPD and to Officer Jeffrey Fontana’s family.

Officer Fontana was gunned down by Campbell in October 2001. The prosecution should be resting with one more witness, and then it’s the defense’s turn.

Though I have no idea how the defense is going to defend anything.

Officer Fontana didn’t even have the chance to draw his weapon; it was in its holster when officers and paramedics arrived on scene in a normally quiet middle to upper-middle class neighborhood cul-de-sac. His car door was open, service lights/emergency lights were on, and in front of the officer’s car was a beat-up tan Hyundai. The car was quickly traced to a resident of East San Jose, to the father of eventual suspect DeShawn Campbell, who was known to have had possession of that car that early Sunday morning.

DeShawn went on the run for about 11 days, packing the murder weapon with him until he found a homeboy to dismantle the thing and dispose of it in pieces from San José to Monterey to the south, telling his friends that he'd screwed up and killed 911. When he was arrested by plainclothes SJPD officers (all of whom were wearing raid vests identifying them as SJPD), Campbell, an experienced felon, had the good sense not to resist but yelled “Call the NAACP!! Call 911!! I don’t know who these guys are!!” Once he’d been cuffed, he complained his cuffs were too tight.

It’s a good thing I had not been called for jury duty for that trial. For me, the fact that Campbell’s car was there, the fact Campbell went poof! for 11 days, that the bullet that was taken out of Officer Fontana matched bullets found at Campbell’s residence (I think in a wall or fence), well, that's plenty for me!

It is a sorry state of affairs that this trial does NOT have any regular media coverage. Officer Fontana’s brother Greg is blogging about it, and I did an entry on Trials and Tribulations last week.

I just don’t have a stomach for stuff like this. The taxpayers (you and me!) have paid for a private attorney for Campbell (NOT a public defender, initially this was a death penalty case [special circumstances] and I believe it was argued that there were no public defenders experienced enough). But the defense attorney persisted in his first action for his client: he got him declared mentally retarded late last year and the death penalty was taken off the table.

If you are interested, please go to Greg’s blog and catch up on what’s happened thus far. He’s doing a wonderful job of being there for his brother, keeping his memory alive and reminding the jury that some one died! And his mom Sandy is so beautiful and smart and motivated that Jeff is given justice. But on Thursday, testimony did not offer Jeff's name once ... not once … easy to forget why you are there. I pray nightly that the jury they’ve ended up with are wise enough people to NOT buy the defense’s whole story: De Shawn didn’t do it, a felon named McNary did it, even though that information comes only from McNary’s ex-girlfriend several years after the fact, with no additional details offered. There is no evidence whatsoever that McNary was in Campbell's car at all, yet Campbell's prints are all over the Hyundai (called "the Bucket" during testimony).

Between this case, the cop killings in Oakland (and now in PA) and the crap that we are listening to coming out of Washington, DC … this is a scary time in history. I’m not going to totally blame anyone proudly wearing the mantle of liberal/Democrat, but you know what? The kumbaya policies liberals have been hoisting on us all of these years have come home to roost. When granting freedoms, it is assumed that people will act reasonably and within the law. Wee, boys and girls, that isn't happening. Are there no Republican politicians left with enough testes to stand up to stuff like this?

I am seriously contemplating writing a book about this case. I’ve never written a book, and the only thing I’ve had published is an academic paper in Quest, which had several co-authors. The whole thing is just so … sad. An American success story—Jeff was learning disabled, as was Campbell. Jeff persisted to graduate from high school and onto SJSU. Campbell dropped out of high school, learned how to assault people, steal credit cards, and then use those credit cards. The two met, Jeff’s dead, and the taxpayers will be paying for DeShawn’s maintenance in prison for God-knows-how-many years. And cop killaz are “admired” in by their fellow inmates in prison, so he’s not going to be doing hard time. He’s going to be a gangsta celeb in the big house. I certainly hope he ends up in Pelican Bay, that’s a pretty nasty place.

Anyway, I likely will not be able to get back to the trial until Thursday; unfortunately work has to come first. But it sure doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about Greg and Sandy and wishing them the best, and for continued strength. Officer Jeff Fontana came from some pretty classy people. The City of San José and SJPD were lucky to have him, if even for such a short time.