Gov. Schwarzenegger in Santa Monica

Oh boy.

The (rich) People's Governor of California will be giving the commencement speech here in Santa Monica at the local city college.

I'm speculating this was planned long ago, when Piedad Robertson, a true FOS (friend of Schwarzenegger), was still head of Santa Monica City College. Beyond Piedad, who is gone to be the President of the Education Commission of the States (a wee bit more on ECS below)*, the faculty and students aren't too pleased.

The faculty's Academic Senate, never happy with Piedad during her time, has been vocal.

Last month the college's Academic Senate, a faculty group, stopped short of calling for the school to cancel the speech but broadly condemned the governor's education policies in a resolution.

Schwarzenegger "has diminished access to higher education by approving increases in student fees," the resolution said. He "has threatened academic freedom by supporting a voter initiative ... that would alter the manner by which California faculty receive tenure."

And the students sent a chicken to Sacramento as part of the May 25th protests. This is going to be one interesting commencement.

*BTW, the ECS, the Education Commission of the States, appears to be friendly with ALEC, citing ALEC research as the basis for their agenda.

If you want to infer more about their agenda (the ALEC connection alone speaks volumes), consider that the ECS website is sponsored by a few of the major testing companies making a ton of money off NCLB.

More on how ALEC sponsors education legislation here.