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Shanell Williams, Chair of Board Of SF City College Violate Brown Act
The chair and San Fancisco Community College Board of Trustees Shanell Williams improperly violating the Brown Act and transparency for the students, faculty, staff and public.
The current Board of Trustees of City College San Francisco
Will Restricting Public Scrutiny Fix City College?
https://westsideobserver.com/news/citycollege.html#nov20
Harry Bernstein, CCSF Faculty Member
City College failed to support its claims. It failed to use best practices for public meetings during the pandemic, and the Trustees admitted they were violating the law in handling public comments at their meetings, agreed to fix the problem in January but then, after only three months, went back to their old ways.
At a press conference, Higher Education Action Team (HEAT) and the CCSF Collective unveiled a Report Card on the role of the San Francisco City College Board of Trustees, giving the Trustees a failing grade for destroying classes, eliminating campuses and privatizing the Community College for "developers, consultants and lawyers who are making millions."
The Report Card cited the following areas of failure:
• Music and Arts
• Older Adults Program and Fort Mason
• Registration System
• Class Cuts & Downsizing
• Ethnic Studies and Destruction of Ethnic and Community Studies
• Privatization and the Balboa Reservoir [Project]
• Student Success Task Force Formula, Lumina and ALEC
• Transparency, Brown Act and payoff to Rocha
• 1400 Evans and Airport campus closure—to be combined?
• Using the board as stepping stone to higher office.
Anyone who wants to attend a meeting of the City College Board of Trustees during the pandemic and make public comments will see this notice:
“Institutions across the country have been working to ensure public meetings can be conducted effectively and respectfully in virtual formats. To that end, state and national best practices have been developed regarding public comment. In line with these best practices, CCSF is requiring all requests for public comment be submitted [in writing] to publiccomment [at] ccsf.edu [or by phone to 669.444.1266] 30 minutes prior to the meeting start time.”
Shanell Williams
Board President
Shanell Williams
On September 11, I submitted a public records request to learn what the College based "best practices" on. I had already written to the chancellor’s chief-of-staff to find out about their research. They told me that “Board President Williams worked with staff and surveyed other districts and public agencies to establish the protocols, noted above.”
State—national—public agencies—other districts. That sounded rather impressive and resourceful.
Dianna Gonzalez
Interem Chancellor
Dianna Gonzalez
So who was responsible for formulating the above statement (“Institutions across the country…”) and having it inserted in the agenda? That question actually was answered — one of the few. When the selection of Dianna Gonzales as the new interim chancellor was revealed on April l, ’20, she soon announced a town hall for April 7. The afternoon of the event, Rachel Howard of BergDavis Public Affairs, a CCSF consultant, was tasked with creating a statement on how to access that evening’s virtual session; it was 98% identical to the version still in use today. As for the numerous questions I raised about the best practices—when the survey was done, by whom and with which districts and public agencies, etc., they were either protected by lawyer-client privilege, disregarded, or exempt from disclosure for a plethora of reasons. In other words, it took a month to discover that the district wouldn’t or couldn’t back up its claims. More important, the “best practices” only referred to the way of reserving a place in line to deliver public comment. It turns out that other local districts have more generous policies, some not requiring advance notice to make a comment (West Valley-Mission) or giving more time to speak (five minutes at Foothill-De Anza), or being able to make one or more comments during the meeting.
quote marks
...in April, the new regime under Interim Chancellor Gonzalez abruptly, with a blatant lack of transparency and no justification, returned to the previous agenda structure, with very limited public comment and only near the beginning of the meeting — reservation is now required in advance as well.”
This leads to the more serious complaint about the District limiting the public’s opportunity to participate in Board meetings. The Board of Trustees held a retreat on January 9, before classes began this year. Guy Bryant, a lawyer from AALRR, gave a presentation on the Brown Act and open meeting procedures, as well as other legal issues.
That morning, Trustee Davila spoke of a time when “we had it all the way through”—meaning that public comment had been allowed at a number of places throughout their meetings. You can see this from Board agendas and minutes going back to the early months of 2017. She explained some reasons the Board decided to put all the public comment at the beginning of the meeting — greater convenience, minimizing late-night sessions, allowing greater diversity of speakers. Then she wanted to know if that had been a violation of Education Code? The lawyer was not shy in setting her straight.
Violation of Ed. Code, § 72121.5
“I would say that the best practice would be to change it to have it [public comment] as the items come up.” (He said it about three times in the next five minutes.)
Bryant: “I would say the best practice is, would be to, if you can—obviously, again it’s your meeting and you’re trying to make sure that you’re getting your business done and if there’s a whole lot of things—but the Ed. Code is pretty clear that it wants you to, if you can, allow for the public to speak when the item is taken up.”
He was even more emphatic when pointing out that this is a provision of the Education Code, which applies particularly to Community Colleges:
“[There’s a similar provision that was] general for other public entities, but Community Colleges section 72121.5* is specific to you guys. And so that’s why [it’s a] best practice that ‘Community College Districts and their subsidiary bodies must allow speakers to be heard as agenda items are taken up.’ ” (*Ed. Code, § 72121.5)
Towards the end of the retreat, Trustee Rizzo commented, “We heard today that we have a problem with the Brown Act by having all of the public comment for items on the agenda at once at the beginning. We heard today that the Brown Act says they need to come up as the items come up. So that’s a problem that we need to fix….”
And fix it they did. During the first three months of 2020, Board agendas showed that public comments were allowed on action items, reports, consent items and closed session agendas, as well as for items not on the agenda. Yes, there were time limits, but suddenly fuller participation was possible. And even after shelter-in-place regulations were in effect, the same agenda structure persisted in March. But in April, the new regime under Interim Chancellor Gonzalez abruptly, with a blatant lack of transparency and no justification, returned to the previous agenda structure, with very limited public comment and only near the beginning of the meeting — reservation is now required in advance as well. (For months, one could not even read one’s own comment.) The Zoom technology makes for a different experience, too. The Trustees, their thoughts inscrutable, are hidden from view during comments, replaced by a digital clock counting down. The Trustees also seem less accountable than when faculty and students were there in person to observe, and respond. Yet old battles and controversies are not forgotten.
The Trustees in January made it clear that they valued most participants other than those who regularly showed up and were the best informed — City College employees. It’s time to open up the meetings and let those who still observe these lengthy gatherings participate more fully. Follow the Ed. Code and the Brown Act. Be transparent; return to best practices at Board meetings.
According to the REPORT CARD: The Trustees restricted public comments at meetings and violated transparency regulations for public agencies.
Harry Bernstein CCSF Faculty Member and AFT 2121 Member
More Information: Press Conference SFCityCollegeHEAT [at] gmail.com
Will Restricting Public Scrutiny Fix City College?
https://westsideobserver.com/news/citycollege.html#nov20
Harry Bernstein, CCSF Faculty Member
City College failed to support its claims. It failed to use best practices for public meetings during the pandemic, and the Trustees admitted they were violating the law in handling public comments at their meetings, agreed to fix the problem in January but then, after only three months, went back to their old ways.
At a press conference, Higher Education Action Team (HEAT) and the CCSF Collective unveiled a Report Card on the role of the San Francisco City College Board of Trustees, giving the Trustees a failing grade for destroying classes, eliminating campuses and privatizing the Community College for "developers, consultants and lawyers who are making millions."
The Report Card cited the following areas of failure:
• Music and Arts
• Older Adults Program and Fort Mason
• Registration System
• Class Cuts & Downsizing
• Ethnic Studies and Destruction of Ethnic and Community Studies
• Privatization and the Balboa Reservoir [Project]
• Student Success Task Force Formula, Lumina and ALEC
• Transparency, Brown Act and payoff to Rocha
• 1400 Evans and Airport campus closure—to be combined?
• Using the board as stepping stone to higher office.
Anyone who wants to attend a meeting of the City College Board of Trustees during the pandemic and make public comments will see this notice:
“Institutions across the country have been working to ensure public meetings can be conducted effectively and respectfully in virtual formats. To that end, state and national best practices have been developed regarding public comment. In line with these best practices, CCSF is requiring all requests for public comment be submitted [in writing] to publiccomment [at] ccsf.edu [or by phone to 669.444.1266] 30 minutes prior to the meeting start time.”
Shanell Williams
Board President
Shanell Williams
On September 11, I submitted a public records request to learn what the College based "best practices" on. I had already written to the chancellor’s chief-of-staff to find out about their research. They told me that “Board President Williams worked with staff and surveyed other districts and public agencies to establish the protocols, noted above.”
State—national—public agencies—other districts. That sounded rather impressive and resourceful.
Dianna Gonzalez
Interem Chancellor
Dianna Gonzalez
So who was responsible for formulating the above statement (“Institutions across the country…”) and having it inserted in the agenda? That question actually was answered — one of the few. When the selection of Dianna Gonzales as the new interim chancellor was revealed on April l, ’20, she soon announced a town hall for April 7. The afternoon of the event, Rachel Howard of BergDavis Public Affairs, a CCSF consultant, was tasked with creating a statement on how to access that evening’s virtual session; it was 98% identical to the version still in use today. As for the numerous questions I raised about the best practices—when the survey was done, by whom and with which districts and public agencies, etc., they were either protected by lawyer-client privilege, disregarded, or exempt from disclosure for a plethora of reasons. In other words, it took a month to discover that the district wouldn’t or couldn’t back up its claims. More important, the “best practices” only referred to the way of reserving a place in line to deliver public comment. It turns out that other local districts have more generous policies, some not requiring advance notice to make a comment (West Valley-Mission) or giving more time to speak (five minutes at Foothill-De Anza), or being able to make one or more comments during the meeting.
quote marks
...in April, the new regime under Interim Chancellor Gonzalez abruptly, with a blatant lack of transparency and no justification, returned to the previous agenda structure, with very limited public comment and only near the beginning of the meeting — reservation is now required in advance as well.”
This leads to the more serious complaint about the District limiting the public’s opportunity to participate in Board meetings. The Board of Trustees held a retreat on January 9, before classes began this year. Guy Bryant, a lawyer from AALRR, gave a presentation on the Brown Act and open meeting procedures, as well as other legal issues.
That morning, Trustee Davila spoke of a time when “we had it all the way through”—meaning that public comment had been allowed at a number of places throughout their meetings. You can see this from Board agendas and minutes going back to the early months of 2017. She explained some reasons the Board decided to put all the public comment at the beginning of the meeting — greater convenience, minimizing late-night sessions, allowing greater diversity of speakers. Then she wanted to know if that had been a violation of Education Code? The lawyer was not shy in setting her straight.
Violation of Ed. Code, § 72121.5
“I would say that the best practice would be to change it to have it [public comment] as the items come up.” (He said it about three times in the next five minutes.)
Bryant: “I would say the best practice is, would be to, if you can—obviously, again it’s your meeting and you’re trying to make sure that you’re getting your business done and if there’s a whole lot of things—but the Ed. Code is pretty clear that it wants you to, if you can, allow for the public to speak when the item is taken up.”
He was even more emphatic when pointing out that this is a provision of the Education Code, which applies particularly to Community Colleges:
“[There’s a similar provision that was] general for other public entities, but Community Colleges section 72121.5* is specific to you guys. And so that’s why [it’s a] best practice that ‘Community College Districts and their subsidiary bodies must allow speakers to be heard as agenda items are taken up.’ ” (*Ed. Code, § 72121.5)
Towards the end of the retreat, Trustee Rizzo commented, “We heard today that we have a problem with the Brown Act by having all of the public comment for items on the agenda at once at the beginning. We heard today that the Brown Act says they need to come up as the items come up. So that’s a problem that we need to fix….”
And fix it they did. During the first three months of 2020, Board agendas showed that public comments were allowed on action items, reports, consent items and closed session agendas, as well as for items not on the agenda. Yes, there were time limits, but suddenly fuller participation was possible. And even after shelter-in-place regulations were in effect, the same agenda structure persisted in March. But in April, the new regime under Interim Chancellor Gonzalez abruptly, with a blatant lack of transparency and no justification, returned to the previous agenda structure, with very limited public comment and only near the beginning of the meeting — reservation is now required in advance as well. (For months, one could not even read one’s own comment.) The Zoom technology makes for a different experience, too. The Trustees, their thoughts inscrutable, are hidden from view during comments, replaced by a digital clock counting down. The Trustees also seem less accountable than when faculty and students were there in person to observe, and respond. Yet old battles and controversies are not forgotten.
The Trustees in January made it clear that they valued most participants other than those who regularly showed up and were the best informed — City College employees. It’s time to open up the meetings and let those who still observe these lengthy gatherings participate more fully. Follow the Ed. Code and the Brown Act. Be transparent; return to best practices at Board meetings.
According to the REPORT CARD: The Trustees restricted public comments at meetings and violated transparency regulations for public agencies.
Harry Bernstein CCSF Faculty Member and AFT 2121 Member
More Information: Press Conference SFCityCollegeHEAT [at] gmail.com
For more information:
https://westsideobserver.com/news/citycoll...
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Our culture of resistance: Dismantle institutional racism at SF City College now
https://sfbayview.com/2020/10/our-culture-of-resistance-dismantle-institutional-racism-at-city-college-now/
October 27, 2020
Members of the Bay View staff, the CCSF Collective, City College Black Student Union and candidate for City College Board of Trustees Anita Martinez gathered at Third and Palou in the Bayview to celebrate cross-cultural collaboration in fighting against the privatization and shrinkage of City College and for resources for CCSF’s Black students. Shown in the photo are CCSF community involved in organizing, international solidarity efforts, and art activism, including Michael Adams (CCSF Collective), Teresa Aliesya (CCSF PUSO), Harry Bernstein (CCSF HEAT), Laura Cohen (multi-disciplinary artist), Marcos Cruz (CCSF PUSO), Win-Mon Kyi (CCSF PUSO), Mica Jarmel-Schneider (CCSF PUSO), Anita Martinez (CCSF trustee candidate), Jess Nguyen (CCSF Collective), Shawn Purcell-Davenport (former CCSF student), Xianna Rodriguez (CCSF Collective), Leslie Simon (CCSF faculty), Stephanie Woodford (jazz musician), Jennifer Yin (CCSF The Guardsman) and David Horowitz (former CCSF Guardsman journalist). – Photo: David Horowitz
Y’all come! We’re ‘Celebrating Bayview Hunters Point’ – a virtual fundraiser for the Bay View – on Friday, Nov. 20, 6-8 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 21, 1-3 p.m., co-sponsored by SF Bay View and El Tecolote
by Eira Kien, Consistent Resistance Coordinator, CCSF Collective Founder
On Friday, Oct. 23, City College of San Francisco (CCSF) student artists from CCSF Black Student Union (BSU) and CCSF Collective organized Consistent Resistance, an art protest and show at Fillmore Street Cafe. Our theme focused on Black liberation through intercultural solidarity, with collaborators who have long been addressing various systems of oppression through their grassroots organizing and art.
Our program was replete with resistance fighters, all of whom represent the pillars of education, health, housing, justice, abolition, liberation journalism and the arts. In our sphere of education, we are holding the CCSF Board of Trustees accountable for perpetuating institutional racism through their blatant neglect of providing resources for Black students and shrinking the African American Studies Department – all this is just barely hitting the surface when it comes to their mismanagement.
We are a group of art activists who are done with a board and administration that ignore the voices of marginalized students. We want immediate action, just like our speakers do, including: Black and Latinx midwife Asmara Gebre, striking to rid the San Francisco General Hospital of sheriffs, Save Midtown’s relentless battle for equity ownership and housing rights and the Party for Socialism and Liberation spearheading the #CancelTheRent campaign.
We want immediate action, just like the family members who lost their loved ones due to police brutality and the prison industrial complex: Addie Kitchen, from Justice 4 Steven Taylor, who is fighting to bring justice for her grandson, and Ashley and Michelle Monterrosa, from Justice 4 Sean, demanding justice for their brother.
Just like musicians the Curtis Family C-Notes nourishing families with food and song, Barnzilla and Canal Kn!ght decrying the violence happening to Black communities while cultivating hope for dismantling systems through consistent resistance.
Just like Comrade Malik putting the power of words into action through the liberation journalism of the San Francisco Bay View newspaper and revealing what is behind the curtains in San Francisco and in prisons across the country.
Public education is getting privatized, with the California Community College System’s “Student Centered Funding Formula” contributing to the shrinkage and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) students losing support.
We want new trustees on the College Board who will create change when elected. We do not want Tom Temprano or Shanell Williams to be rewarded for their performative campaigns and indifferent track record.
In our team, those making change include Black Student Union Co-Coordinator Analeigh Fulgham, CCSF Collective members Michael Adams and Jess Nguyen, and CCSF students Stephanie Woodford and Natalia Sucher. We want the Black Student Union and Affirmative Action Task Force demands fulfilled and Dr. Ramona Coates to be reinstated as the African American Studies Department chair now!
On Oct. 22, the Board of Trustees placed a hold on plans for the Student Success Center design, which is meant to house all student resources in one place. So, what does it imply when neither an African American Resource Center nor a Women’s Resource Center is included in a space dedicated towards student success?
What does it mean when Dr. Ramona Coates – who designed a statistics course with a Latinx lens that demonstrated intercultural solidarity in education between the AFAM Department and Latin American and Latino/a Studies – is forced to choose between that course existing and keeping her position as department chair?
What does it mean when the African American Resource Center only has enough funding for one student worker, no windows, no computers, expired food, is listed as a food pantry site and is not even on the campus map? Or, as AFAM Department Student Ambassador Keli Lord shared, when the African American Studies courses are offered once per week in large time slots that are not doable for working students or students with families?
What power dynamics are at play in the administration if Ethnic Studies Department Chair Jill Yee is not protecting these positions, going so far as to ridicule Dr. Coate’s loss, as stated in the Affirmative Action Task Force’s open letter?
If these patterns keep happening, where academics and resources are limited and administration is power-tripping – it happens with the board’s approval.
The board has not listened to the stakeholders. The Black Student Union was not reached out to by any of the trustees before trustee elections. Only after the BSU came up with their demands and the CCSF community voiced their concerns, only then did the trustees finally reach out to them.
As dismaying as it is to understand that the trustees will only listen through public pressure, I am writing to further incite the community to not just pay attention to what the CCSF trustees are doing and push for actions, but to also recognize how this is tied into the school-to-prison pipeline.
One of the factors contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline occurs when there are fewer resources available for vulnerable communities. So far, CCSF’s Southeast Campus in Bayview had no classes last semester; the CCSF Evans Campus, also in Bayview, is known for its trades courses but will shrink if the CCSF Aircraft Technicians Maintenance program is relocated there.
I believe, as do many, that with collective power, we can stop letting the people at the top get away with pushing people down to the bottom.
An entire campus dedicated to the arts, CCSF Fort Mason, was shut down. CCSF Civic Center, serving the Tenderloin and surrounding areas, faces the same threat. The Older Adults program was cut by 90 percent; non-credit ESL by 20 percent.
In 2019, the Ethnic Studies and Social Justice course was targeted for class cuts, but due to student organizing it managed to stay safe – for now. And, as already shared, resources are limited, if not totally disregarded. In other words: CCSF is getting downsized, with its real estate being sold to line the pockets of corporations.
There is something at play here. Public education is getting privatized, with the California Community College System’s “Student Centered Funding Formula” contributing to the shrinkage and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) students losing support. In the current climate, rife with transformative justice and “F12” sentiments, where we are through with the nefarious prison-industrial complex and are taking steps towards abolition, we must protect an irrefutable resource: Education, our most powerful tool.
Community colleges can be a microcosm of pure potential. They can be a mirror for how society can be, as we push for living wages for Black students as a form of reparations, resources, free education, housing and more. Everyone involved in the Consistent Resistance art protest highlighted issues visible at CCSF.
There are BIPOC mothers and students facing housing insecurity – students like Alex Nieto, whose life was lost due to police violence. There are student journalists from the Guardsman or accounts like CCSF Student Says sharing information to educate the public.
Anita Martinez, on the left, is the only trustee candidate endorsed by CCSF Collective, a group of students fighting to keep City College anti-racist, unburdened by corporate interests and culturally inclusive. Bay View editors Malik Washington and Nube Brown are at center and CCSF Collective organizer, student advocate and article author Eira Kein is on the right. – Photo: David Horowitz
And, as I write, I have to emphasize that we are not only fighting the issues – we are fighting for our beliefs. I believe, as do many, that with collective power, we can stop letting the people at the top get away with pushing people down to the bottom.
Intercultural solidarity actions centering those most impacted are integral. We can keep building off of one another in the face of class cuts, campus closures and capitalist systems motivated off profit while we, especially the BIPOC community, reclaim the narrative. We can set the stage for ongoing collaborative efforts at an organizing level.
As we build our culture of resistance, learning from our predecessors and peers, we also invite openness: Anyone can be a part of this, at any time. On Friday, Nov. 20, 6-8 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 21, 1-3 p.m., San Francisco Bay View and El Tecolote will produce a virtual fundraiser called Celebrating Bayview Hunters Point, where the diversity of the neighborhood is showcased through speakers and art. You’re all invited; the Zoom link is: https://zoom.us/j/98145398447?pwd=eDllS1FISnpXOTkyUXRjTU1pWXRpdz09. Come join us as we launch into a series of creating change!
Note: Please vote for Anita Martinez for CCSF Trustee! She is the only candidate who we fully endorse, who has been on the ground with student organizers and who has community college experience. She is not interested in using the trustee position as a political stepping stone.
Eira Kien is a Vietnamese-Chinese American art activist. She is passionate about ending domestic violence, supporting her Asian American community, abolition and liberation efforts. She describes herself as a beginner driven by earnesty. Contact her at kien.eira(at)gmail.com.
https://sfbayview.com/2020/10/our-culture-of-resistance-dismantle-institutional-racism-at-city-college-now/
October 27, 2020
Members of the Bay View staff, the CCSF Collective, City College Black Student Union and candidate for City College Board of Trustees Anita Martinez gathered at Third and Palou in the Bayview to celebrate cross-cultural collaboration in fighting against the privatization and shrinkage of City College and for resources for CCSF’s Black students. Shown in the photo are CCSF community involved in organizing, international solidarity efforts, and art activism, including Michael Adams (CCSF Collective), Teresa Aliesya (CCSF PUSO), Harry Bernstein (CCSF HEAT), Laura Cohen (multi-disciplinary artist), Marcos Cruz (CCSF PUSO), Win-Mon Kyi (CCSF PUSO), Mica Jarmel-Schneider (CCSF PUSO), Anita Martinez (CCSF trustee candidate), Jess Nguyen (CCSF Collective), Shawn Purcell-Davenport (former CCSF student), Xianna Rodriguez (CCSF Collective), Leslie Simon (CCSF faculty), Stephanie Woodford (jazz musician), Jennifer Yin (CCSF The Guardsman) and David Horowitz (former CCSF Guardsman journalist). – Photo: David Horowitz
Y’all come! We’re ‘Celebrating Bayview Hunters Point’ – a virtual fundraiser for the Bay View – on Friday, Nov. 20, 6-8 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 21, 1-3 p.m., co-sponsored by SF Bay View and El Tecolote
by Eira Kien, Consistent Resistance Coordinator, CCSF Collective Founder
On Friday, Oct. 23, City College of San Francisco (CCSF) student artists from CCSF Black Student Union (BSU) and CCSF Collective organized Consistent Resistance, an art protest and show at Fillmore Street Cafe. Our theme focused on Black liberation through intercultural solidarity, with collaborators who have long been addressing various systems of oppression through their grassroots organizing and art.
Our program was replete with resistance fighters, all of whom represent the pillars of education, health, housing, justice, abolition, liberation journalism and the arts. In our sphere of education, we are holding the CCSF Board of Trustees accountable for perpetuating institutional racism through their blatant neglect of providing resources for Black students and shrinking the African American Studies Department – all this is just barely hitting the surface when it comes to their mismanagement.
We are a group of art activists who are done with a board and administration that ignore the voices of marginalized students. We want immediate action, just like our speakers do, including: Black and Latinx midwife Asmara Gebre, striking to rid the San Francisco General Hospital of sheriffs, Save Midtown’s relentless battle for equity ownership and housing rights and the Party for Socialism and Liberation spearheading the #CancelTheRent campaign.
We want immediate action, just like the family members who lost their loved ones due to police brutality and the prison industrial complex: Addie Kitchen, from Justice 4 Steven Taylor, who is fighting to bring justice for her grandson, and Ashley and Michelle Monterrosa, from Justice 4 Sean, demanding justice for their brother.
Just like musicians the Curtis Family C-Notes nourishing families with food and song, Barnzilla and Canal Kn!ght decrying the violence happening to Black communities while cultivating hope for dismantling systems through consistent resistance.
Just like Comrade Malik putting the power of words into action through the liberation journalism of the San Francisco Bay View newspaper and revealing what is behind the curtains in San Francisco and in prisons across the country.
Public education is getting privatized, with the California Community College System’s “Student Centered Funding Formula” contributing to the shrinkage and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) students losing support.
We want new trustees on the College Board who will create change when elected. We do not want Tom Temprano or Shanell Williams to be rewarded for their performative campaigns and indifferent track record.
In our team, those making change include Black Student Union Co-Coordinator Analeigh Fulgham, CCSF Collective members Michael Adams and Jess Nguyen, and CCSF students Stephanie Woodford and Natalia Sucher. We want the Black Student Union and Affirmative Action Task Force demands fulfilled and Dr. Ramona Coates to be reinstated as the African American Studies Department chair now!
On Oct. 22, the Board of Trustees placed a hold on plans for the Student Success Center design, which is meant to house all student resources in one place. So, what does it imply when neither an African American Resource Center nor a Women’s Resource Center is included in a space dedicated towards student success?
What does it mean when Dr. Ramona Coates – who designed a statistics course with a Latinx lens that demonstrated intercultural solidarity in education between the AFAM Department and Latin American and Latino/a Studies – is forced to choose between that course existing and keeping her position as department chair?
What does it mean when the African American Resource Center only has enough funding for one student worker, no windows, no computers, expired food, is listed as a food pantry site and is not even on the campus map? Or, as AFAM Department Student Ambassador Keli Lord shared, when the African American Studies courses are offered once per week in large time slots that are not doable for working students or students with families?
What power dynamics are at play in the administration if Ethnic Studies Department Chair Jill Yee is not protecting these positions, going so far as to ridicule Dr. Coate’s loss, as stated in the Affirmative Action Task Force’s open letter?
If these patterns keep happening, where academics and resources are limited and administration is power-tripping – it happens with the board’s approval.
The board has not listened to the stakeholders. The Black Student Union was not reached out to by any of the trustees before trustee elections. Only after the BSU came up with their demands and the CCSF community voiced their concerns, only then did the trustees finally reach out to them.
As dismaying as it is to understand that the trustees will only listen through public pressure, I am writing to further incite the community to not just pay attention to what the CCSF trustees are doing and push for actions, but to also recognize how this is tied into the school-to-prison pipeline.
One of the factors contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline occurs when there are fewer resources available for vulnerable communities. So far, CCSF’s Southeast Campus in Bayview had no classes last semester; the CCSF Evans Campus, also in Bayview, is known for its trades courses but will shrink if the CCSF Aircraft Technicians Maintenance program is relocated there.
I believe, as do many, that with collective power, we can stop letting the people at the top get away with pushing people down to the bottom.
An entire campus dedicated to the arts, CCSF Fort Mason, was shut down. CCSF Civic Center, serving the Tenderloin and surrounding areas, faces the same threat. The Older Adults program was cut by 90 percent; non-credit ESL by 20 percent.
In 2019, the Ethnic Studies and Social Justice course was targeted for class cuts, but due to student organizing it managed to stay safe – for now. And, as already shared, resources are limited, if not totally disregarded. In other words: CCSF is getting downsized, with its real estate being sold to line the pockets of corporations.
There is something at play here. Public education is getting privatized, with the California Community College System’s “Student Centered Funding Formula” contributing to the shrinkage and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) students losing support. In the current climate, rife with transformative justice and “F12” sentiments, where we are through with the nefarious prison-industrial complex and are taking steps towards abolition, we must protect an irrefutable resource: Education, our most powerful tool.
Community colleges can be a microcosm of pure potential. They can be a mirror for how society can be, as we push for living wages for Black students as a form of reparations, resources, free education, housing and more. Everyone involved in the Consistent Resistance art protest highlighted issues visible at CCSF.
There are BIPOC mothers and students facing housing insecurity – students like Alex Nieto, whose life was lost due to police violence. There are student journalists from the Guardsman or accounts like CCSF Student Says sharing information to educate the public.
Anita Martinez, on the left, is the only trustee candidate endorsed by CCSF Collective, a group of students fighting to keep City College anti-racist, unburdened by corporate interests and culturally inclusive. Bay View editors Malik Washington and Nube Brown are at center and CCSF Collective organizer, student advocate and article author Eira Kein is on the right. – Photo: David Horowitz
And, as I write, I have to emphasize that we are not only fighting the issues – we are fighting for our beliefs. I believe, as do many, that with collective power, we can stop letting the people at the top get away with pushing people down to the bottom.
Intercultural solidarity actions centering those most impacted are integral. We can keep building off of one another in the face of class cuts, campus closures and capitalist systems motivated off profit while we, especially the BIPOC community, reclaim the narrative. We can set the stage for ongoing collaborative efforts at an organizing level.
As we build our culture of resistance, learning from our predecessors and peers, we also invite openness: Anyone can be a part of this, at any time. On Friday, Nov. 20, 6-8 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 21, 1-3 p.m., San Francisco Bay View and El Tecolote will produce a virtual fundraiser called Celebrating Bayview Hunters Point, where the diversity of the neighborhood is showcased through speakers and art. You’re all invited; the Zoom link is: https://zoom.us/j/98145398447?pwd=eDllS1FISnpXOTkyUXRjTU1pWXRpdz09. Come join us as we launch into a series of creating change!
Note: Please vote for Anita Martinez for CCSF Trustee! She is the only candidate who we fully endorse, who has been on the ground with student organizers and who has community college experience. She is not interested in using the trustee position as a political stepping stone.
Eira Kien is a Vietnamese-Chinese American art activist. She is passionate about ending domestic violence, supporting her Asian American community, abolition and liberation efforts. She describes herself as a beginner driven by earnesty. Contact her at kien.eira(at)gmail.com.
For more information:
https://sfbayview.com/2020/10/our-culture-...
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