Fall 2012’s State Funding Threatens CCSF’s Asian American Studies Department

In the recent edition of The Guardsman, Peter Goldstein, CCSF’s Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration, warned the school could lose 25 million dollars in State Funding, if the California Tax Proposal is not passed in this November’s election.

This lack of state funding could force the school’s departments to cut more of their classes, an amount that could surpass the 64 classes that were lost this semester.

One of those cut courses was a course in the Philippines Studies Department, a course teaching Filipinos, and Filipino Americans, students about their ethnic history.

“I felt really sad,” said Eugene De Loyola, a second-year Filipino student at City College of San Francisco. “[This Philippine Studies] class has so much more to offer but now that it’s gone, I couldn’t think of any other class that could substitute it.”

Other CCSF students may share the same sentiment as Eugene, but this loss does not simply threaten a particular branch of CCSF’s Ethnic Studies. It threatens Ethnic Studies as a whole on campus, such as the Asian American Studies department.

If CCSF is forced to cut classes because the state cannot provide the funding that fuel these courses, the Asian American Studies department will lose not just Asian American courses but also Asian American faculties.

These Asian American instructors, be it full time or part time, play vital roles in teaching CCSF’s Asian American students about their ethnic history, their ethnic identity and their ethnic issues. Without these faculties’ academic guidance, this academic void could discourage Asian American students from learning about their ethnic community.

As a CCSF student, I chose to major in Asian American Studies because of the outstanding faculties in this school’s Asian American Studies department. I am worried this fall’s State Funding will not only negatively affect the Asian American Studies department, but also the students possibly interested in this field.

Are you?