City College Board of Trustees Faces Overwhelming Testimonies to Restore Classes and Laid-off Faculty

 

By John R. Adkins
jradproduction@gmail.com

 

More than 100 City College students and faculty members converged on the Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 24 to demand a halt to class cuts and restore the college’s enrollment.

This was the last Board of Trustees meeting ahead of election day, and a key moment before class scheduling for the spring semester was finalized.

The crowded room overflowed with impassioned community members and signs that read “Students Need More Classes!” and “Meet Student Demand!”

Since 2019, City College has faced teacher layoffs and class cuts, leading to hundreds of students being turned away each semester due to limited class availability. According to a press release sent out by the teachers union AFT 2121, for this fall semester alone, 270 students were turned down from English 1A, 200 from Chemistry 32 and approximately 1,700 from English as a Second Language.

AFT 2121, who was responsible for organizing the rally, stated that the Board has not yet reinstated laid-off faculty, despite unanimously passing a resolution to do so last year.

Given the long list of speakers and the contentious issue of access to classes, Vice President Anita Martinez motioned to extend the time for public comment to 60 minutes.

 

Outside the Multi-Use Building, members of CCSF HEAT (Higher Education Action Team) protested with signs taped to windows, while faculty from the music department played songs over a PA system. The rally platformed mayoral candidates and other community members to speak to the preservation of City College.
CCSF Heat’s list of demands included scheduling more classes for the spring 2025 term.

“You should be able to go out to the airport to learn to work on planes or head over to Fort Mason to work with watercolors; this is the reach that City College used to have,” said Ed Stering, who taught Spanish at the college for over 30 years and had turned out to show his support for the movement. “It helps the health of the city because these classes expand people’s social circles and puts them into a community,” Stering said.

Inside, the board worked through the list of over 100 names that had signed up for public comment. Each one was given two minutes to speak, but many continued to voice their concerns beyond the allotted time. Staff organizers from the teacher’s union AFT2121 looked over their own lists of submitted names to ensure everyone would have a chance to speak.

“As recently as 2020, we offered 11 ceramic classes, now we’re down to four,” said Janet Lohr, who has taught ceramics at City College since 1975. “Fewer classes equals fewer students, which equals less money from the state; it’s just math.” 

Torrie Lyn, a chemistry instructor of 17 years, addressed the shortage of Chemistry 32 courses. “We are still understaffed from the 2020 layoffs … adding to the urgency, the department will have a retirement at the end of the school year. We need to replace this retirement to maintain even the inadequate number of classes that we currently offer. Students are being driven away from the college and away from our programs due to difficulty getting their prerequisite chemistry classes … We need two full-time chemistry faculty positions approved as soon as possible.”

As time wore on, the participants still gripped their signs and held their ground before the Board. A motion was passed to extend the time for public comment for a second hour. The police officers assigned to monitor the protest sat on a bench outside and waited for the room to thin out. Some attendees had to leave before their turn, passing prepared speeches onto others to ensure their concerns were heard.

“We have so many faculty going above and beyond for students, but we won’t be able to do it forever,” said Tracy Burt, a Child Development and Family Studies instructor for 20 years. “The people suffering most are our students, and that’s why we’re here.”

Student Jess Wynn, who has been struggling to finish her degree since 2018 due to class shortages, was moved to tears while she addressed the Board. “If you guys think this is a hard decision to make, then get out of your seat,” Wynn said. “Give it up and give it to someone who actually believes in education. This school is supposed to educate students, not prevent us from finishing degrees.” 

 

After more than two hours of public comment, Interim Chancellor Mitchell Bailey acknowledged the impressive turnout during his report. “That level of engagement by students, our student leaders, our faculty and staff and members of our community, is what makes City College, City College. It is indicative of the community we have created and the level of activism and engagement that we expect.”

The meeting finally adjourned at 11:30 p.m., nearly seven hours after it began.
“We wanted to follow up with the Board because, yes, they did add those five last-minute English classes in the fall, but we still had 270 students turned away from English 1A. We need 10 to 12 more classes added to the schedule,” said English instructor and AFT 2121 member Lizzie Brock.

Individual board candidates expressed their support for the college’s “slow growth” before the elections. Alan Wong, Vick Van Chung, Susan Solomon, and Anita Martinez all argued for reinstating the laid-off faculty months prior.

“We understand their dilemma because we’re funded right now by what’s called Hold Harmless, and we will not get any more money for students for the next couple of years until we grow, so we’re working with a limited short-term budget, but we need to leverage so that we can start to grow to get off of Hold Harmless,” Brock said.
Hold Harmless is a provision of the Student Centered Funding Formula (SCFF), which temporarily protects funding levels despite enrollment declines like the ones seen during Covid. This provision, extended through 2024-25, gives colleges time to adjust to new funding formulas.
“The idea is that if we start to grow and get up to a certain level, we’ll get much more money from the state sooner. So we need smart growth soon — not crazy out-of-control growth, but smart growth in particular places so that we have an on-ramp to this new funding formula,” Brock explained.

Interim Vice Chancellor David Yee, responsible for spearheading the Enrollment Management Plan, met with AFT 2121 representatives on Nov. 8 to discuss a plan to add more course sections. While the administration expressed a willingness to add more classes, AFT 2121 emphasized the need for tenured faculty rather than part-time temp hires.
“We’re pleased the administration is engaging with us, but we need to see actual results,” Brock said.