We have achieved so much by working together, staying engaged, and raising our voices collectively. We are now in a completely different situation than we were just last year. After years of fighting back against the ACCJC, we have our accreditation affirmed for 7 years. In a protracted contract struggle, we stood together despite the district’s attempts to divide us. As a result we achieved a contract with substantial increases in pay and improvements in working conditions for all faculty. We’ve elected new, progressive Board of Trustees members, and our board is back in charge of the college. We’ve worked with Jane Kim and the City to create the first program of its kind in the country making Community College tuition free again for all City residents qualifying for in-state tuition.
But within our college, we have a raft of administrators who are operating as if we were still under state-imposed sanction. They continue to act as if administration’s priorities are the only priorities. They continue to issue edicts and make decisions without including the voices of students and faculty.
We have to stay vigilant and make sure our administration makes decisions that put our students and their education first.
Please turn out to our Board of Trustees meeting tomorrow at 4:00 pm. Let’s support our new Board members to move the college back onto a path of growth and student-centered, education-centered decision making.
We will be speaking on these issues:
IT’s time to GROW our CCSF: Stop the Cuts!
AFT 2121 is calling for a moratorium on class cuts at our City College for the Fall 2017 Semester. Now that we’ve made City College FREE for San Franciscans it’s time to grow and rebuild our CCSF not shrink it!
Class cuts at CCSF insert immediate and lasting chaos, damage, and doubt into our students’ educational futures and growth—and our college and communities suffer. Premature closures needlessly deny student access to CCSF and cause employment and income loss to faculty. If the District is really committed to rebuilding enrollment, then cutting the college makes no sense.
More info: Chart of cuts to CCSF since 2011.
Facilities:
MUB – one of the newest buildings on the Ocean campus – was built with bond funds meant to provide classrooms for students. Several of those classrooms are designed with specialized space and equipment to meet the needs of the Child Development (CDEV) and Health Education departments. As part of the plan to lease 33 Gough street to a developer, the staff in Payroll, HR and other offices at 33 Gough are being relocated. Admin has chosen to move them into the MUB, taking over the specialized space originally designed for students. Students, faculty and department chairs from affected departments were not involved in this decision. There is no concrete plan for the relocation of students, faculty and class sections that will be displaced. We are working to fight this top-down decision, and to demand that admin work together with faculty, staff and students to make the right plan for this move.
Fort Mason- Last week we went to the public meeting with Chancellor Lamb at the Fort Mason Campus regarding the proposed closure of our art program at that location. Loss of this campus would be detrimental to the arts programs and students. Testimony from Older Adult and Art students was passionate, often praising the high quality of their experience and arts training. Many testified they are unable or unwilling to cross town to attend classes at the Mission or Ocean Campuses. Back and forth claims between Administration and Fort Mason reps revealed communication and expectations are murky at best. Though both sides acknowledged a willingness to keep City College at Fort Mason and that there is room for negotiations. We will stay involved and keep you informed of developments.
Civic Center Campus/750 Eddy St.- AFT 2121 and our community allies in the Tenderloin (the 3CPE Coalition) have been closely monitoring proposed plans for the re-build of the 750 Eddy St. location since its abrupt closure under former Chancellor Art Tyler. This week we learned that CCSF wants to move forward with a plan for a simple seismic retrofit at 750 Eddy St. This includes using Prop 51 monies to build an academic only facility with a projected construction timeline of 34-39 months. On Monday the Facilities Committee passed a motion recommending the Civic Center Campus project at 750 Eddy St. be a re-build of academic facilities only without any housing. This recommendation should be passed on to the Board of Trustees by the Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities tomorrow. Both AFT 2121 and 3CPE support this recommendation and we will continue our work to ensure student, faculty, and Tenderloin community voice are represented in decisions about the Civic Center Campus as the rebuild progresses.
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