Cutting Summer, CCSF’s Mandatory Vacation

The Guardsman

Oz Litvac

Funding for summer session this year will be drastically reduced, leaving few options for those seeking to further their education before fall semester.

In addition to funding being slashed for summer session, classes will start a month late, in July, in order to shift the costs into the next fiscal year, said Peter Goldstein, Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration.

He explained that summer session in 2009 cost the college approximately $3.8 million and this summer will be 40% of that, or $1.5 million.

Some of the classes cut include four English classes, three math classes, several online courses, a photography class, a couple of history classes, foreign languages, and several multimedia classes.

“The decision making on what classes are cut is not simple like in 2009,” said Joanne Low, Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs .

City College student Carol Mamon said emailed her instructor to ask if beginning sculpture class would be offered in this summer. The instructor responded that it would. Mamon then dropped another class hoping to add beginning sculpture, only to learn the sculpture class was cut after all.

“When I found out, I was totally pissed off,”  Mamon said.

Sudent Maggie Coshnear said, “I wanted to get my GE requirements done quick at a community college but can’t because of the cuts.”

Unlike the last round of summer cuts, there is no specific list showing which classes are not being offered.  Having had the budget cut by around 60 percent, each department has been left to decide for themselves what areas to downsize.

Budget cuts do not discriminate and even very respected and essential departments like Culinary Arts are finding themselves short on funds.

According to a San Francisco Chronicle article on April 21, the department of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Studies must cut $250,000 from its budget or the school will be forced to shut the cafeteria down.

The Child Development Department is also being forced to cut costs by an equal amount according to that same article.

Those who have managed to get accepted to their university of choice in time to transfer, are fortunate for not needing summer classes and also for having avoided the horrible “not accepting any transfer students by 2013” situation caused by California’s budget crisis.