Full Page Ads and Other Stuff

Along with the expected articles in two local newspapers about yesterday's rulings by Judge Yaffe, identical full-page advertisements for Marymount College appeared.

It is true that nothing in the advertisements mentioned The Marymount Plan and Measure P, but one would probably need to be very disconnected from reality to consider that the ads were not, at least in part, paid for and placed to get potential voters thinking more positive thoughts about Marymount College and then by extension, when ads for Yes on Measure P come out, some potential voters will have those positive thoughts remembered as they read the Yes on Measure P ads.

The headline at the top of the page states:

"Marymount College Advancements Attract Record Enrollment"

I am concerned about the word, "Advancements" because really the only major change is the addition of about three bachelor's programs.

The ads state other opportunities and the fact that Marymount's men's soccer team won its season opening game. Might an 'advancement' be the Marymount's men's soccer team winning a game instead of losing it?

The ads also state the College's accreditation now in the Senior Colleges area of an association.

I guess one might find that an advancement because when the College was a member in the Junior Colleges area of that same association, it was placed on academic warning, but got off it earlier than the term prescribed.

So apparently we are all supposed to view the ads and have warm fuzzies about Marymount College so that when new ads start appearing about Yes on P, some remaining warm fuzzies will transfer over to Yes on P considerations.

Well....... Remember that throughout my writing about how Measure P and the Marymount Plan "probably" supersedes "some" municipal codes? Yesterday Judge Yaffe rules that language contained in the Campus Specific Plan part of The Marymount Plan and language contained in parts of the 51 page Measure P documents "supersede municipal codes".

However, even though I now have legal authority to state that The Marymount Plan supersedes municipal codes, we must still consider that some elements of The Marymount Plan do supersede some municipal codes, but not all of them pertaining to Marymount College.

Found to be clear and convincing evidence, some statements made in arguments authored by representatives and/or supporters of Marymount College are false and misleading and as a supporter of The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project, supporting Marymount's chances to offer a 21st Century education, I acknowledge and accept that.

I am sure I am not welcome at the College's "Success By the Sea Scholarship Gala 2010" which it appears the entire full page ads were targeting.

The "first ever scholarship gala" falls within 8 weeks of the November 2 Special Election regarding Measure P.

The first ever scholarship event means that during what Marymount touts as a more than 30 year existence on The Hill, scholarship galas weren't held for the more financially needy students who attended the College.

How much of this is just a coincidence that the first ever gala is weeks before the first ever resident vote on an issue concerning Marymount College.

How much of the gala will have anything to do with Yes on P lobbying? Does the funding for the gala have to be reported in regards to some funding of Yes on P?

Gala or rally?

Helping financially needy students is a good thing. It is such a good thing that I now wonder why Marymount hasn't had a gala before.

Does anybody need a clue about the gala and Measure P? If anybody does, they probably should not vote one way or the other on Measure P because I think many of us could question their intelligence and/or understanding about The Marymount Plan.

What might have been Marymount's enrollment this semester if it hadn't received approval to become a four-year institution?

Personally I think it may have remained the same or gone up very slightly because all local colleges and universities have seen an increase in enrollment.

I still don't know the number of students who entered the four year program as either freshmen or sophomores. The ads did not list any "juniors" or "seniors" but did mention "transfer students".

It will be interesting to find out the academic standing in relation to other colleges for the school year that ended last May.

The last time I found a ranking for Marymount, it was 218th in California for junior or community colleges.

For any educational dollars I may have spent on my kids, I hope it would be for an institution that ranks quite a bit higher than 218th. I thing we all need the biggest bang for our education bucks.

The aerial photo of the Marymount Campus looks good and interesting and I'll leave it at that.