Will the BOT Continue its Path to Destroy CCSF?
By Starr A. Wilson
swilson3@mail.ccsf.edu
The Board of Trustees acquired two new members through the recent election where Shanell Williams and Tom Temprano remained on the board.
The 2018-2025 Institutional Goals of the Board of Trustees are to improve the student experience, institutionalize equity, improve communication, strengthen credit and noncredit programs, improve the operation of the college, strengthen community, education, and industry partnerships, maintain, improve, and build facilities; and expand and encourage opportunities for professional development.
In Sept., the Accreditation Commission for Community and Junior Colleges put City College on “enhanced monitoring” due to budget concerns and high turnover in its leadership.
Students, instructors, classified staff, and contractors have had to deal with delays to access campus labs, equipment, and software because of SFDPH safety regulations.
The Older Adults Department (OLAD) and noncredit programs have been cut. Has the Board not looked at their offices? Do they not see the paintings on the walls? The jewelry on their hands, fingers, and necks? The music and videos that they play on their phones? The clothes that they wear? The janitors cleaning the halls? The plants in their offices? Where do you think the people who made these things got trained? These are the precise classes that are being cut.
Many teachers have made it a career to teach at City College and are passionate about our community. City College includes English as as a Second Language (ESL) speakers learning to speak English, the unskilled learning skills to work, the first-time in-the-family college students, the life-long learners, and the elders. They are taking classes to preserve their memories and enhance their abilities.
Yes, Board, we need you to serve City College. If the budget cuts keep happening, City College will be no more. You will no longer have to worry about constructing new buildings because there will be no students in the seats, no teachers, and no classified personnel. Just an empty, silent campus where the pigeons crap on the sidewalks. Is that what you want?
In a statement to the San Francisco Examiner on Oct. 28, Tom Temprano stated, “We are going to continue to have to make tough, unpopular choices at City College the next four years. We need to fight back against the chronic underfunding of education in this state and country.”
So if you are concerned about chronic underfunding, why have you paid Deputy Chancellor of Human Resources Dianna Gonzales $285,000, Former Chancellor Mark Rocha, $354,509 and Rajen Vurdien, Ph.D., the present Interim Chancellor, $340,000 plus $10,000 for moving costs, when the average salary for the campus as of 2018 was $65,000?
The Board needs to honor their institutional goals to speak on behalf of the students, faculty, classified staff, and community. Step up to the plate. Listen to us. Meet our needs. Your credentials and past accomplishments say you cared about us in the past. You need to do what is right. Because if you don’t, we all lose. All the seats will be empty, including yours.