Dear Faculty,
First, I’m happy to share that the ACCJC has fully reaffirmed CCSF’s accreditation for the remainder of our 2023-2030 cycle and determined that the College has successfully addressed the concerns and deficiencies from their Fall 2023 visit. Thanks to all the faculty, administrators, staff and Board members who worked hard for this result, and congratulations to all of us!
Secondly, at Thursday night’s Board of Trustees meeting I read a joint statement from AFT & SEIU along with SEIU chapter president, Maria Salizar-Colon. I’d like to offer some context on that statement here.
For years, I’ve regularly attended Board of Trustees meetings, and what I can say is that the conflict at our May 29 meeting is a symptom of a larger problematic culture at this college. The following statement is an acknowledgement that as labor leaders we can and should do better, and that our entire community should join us. In the face of rising hate throughout our country, we must work together to keep City College a refuge.
– Bravewoman, AFT 2121 President
Joint Statement from AFT 2121 & SEIU 1012
We stand before you united in purpose and concern for the current state of discourse at CCSF.
Immigrants are under attack across this country, a Latino Senator was handcuffed and thrown to the ground for asking questions, US citizens are being sent by force to dangerous prisons abroad, students have been kidnapped by government agents for exercising their 1st Amendment rights, and a local Jewish establishment was defaced just minutes from our campus–all of this and more is our current reality. We are living in a time of increasing division and hate, and it’s a serious threat to our students, our colleagues, and our entire community.
Today, we come before you to name these conditions and urge all of us to come together to do the work necessary to keep City College a safe space for everyone who’s been othered, everyone who is under attack. City College is a space for equity, but to keep it that way, we all need to step up.
This moment calls for a different approach, one that honors differences and disagreement while remaining rooted in a shared commitment to creating safe spaces for all. Our campus must be safe for ALL who work and study here. We cannot allow the divisive anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, anti-islamic, and anti-semetic sentiments, or the general othering of our fellow humans currently sweeping our City, State, and Nation, to take root here at CCSF.
As leaders, we have made mistakes in our speech, and we own and apologize for our contribution to further sowing seeds of division. We also must acknowledge that last fall we urged Interim Chancellor Bailey to address the escalating conflicts and inappropriate speech at City College. He pledged to work on this issue but never followed through.
We are heartened that our Board of Trustees is now enforcing its Board Policy on respectful speech, but we also know that without ongoing change, this is not enough.
City College, like so much of our country, needs to build respect and understanding, and that will take sustained, intentional work. Labor unions are all about democracy and equity–that is our purpose, to bring greater democracy and equity to our workplaces and country. But, as we all know, democracies and equity take hard work.
In that spirit, we urge our Board and new Chancellor to:
- Provide the executive-level support, leadership, and vision that CCSF’s current equity and anti-racist work has been lacking. Prioritizing anti-racism means a consistent, wholesale campaign to bring equity principles into curriculum, hiring, workplace practices, and campus culture. Democracy means dismantling barriers and creating safe spaces for all.
- Fund and implement civil discourse/restorative justice conversations among all employees of the college in order to facilitate conflict resolution and healing. The goal of these conversations will be to build a healthier working community. We will name the problems and brainstorm together for solutions.
As faculty and classified professionals, we show up every day because we care deeply about our school and our students. The well-being of our students, the integrity of our academic spaces, and the sustainability of our community college depend on our coming together.
We ask that you join us not only in words, but also in actions.
In solidarity,
Mary Bravewoman, President, CCSF Chapter, AFT 2121
Maria Salazar-Colón, President, CCSF Chapter, SEIU 1021
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