Vol. 166, Issue 1 | Aug. 29 – Sept. 11, 2018 | City College of San Francisco | Since 1935 | FREE
‘Free City’ architect joins college’s governing board ByDavidMamaril Horowitz dhorowitz@theguardsman.com
The transgender flag covers the casket of the late Daine Faolan Grey at Oakland's Chapel of the Chimes. Photo courtesy of Lady Katerina.
Student's college family lays him to rest ByDavidMamaril Horowitz dhorowitz@theguardsman.com
Daine Faolan Grey, a transgender City College student, found his family at the college Queer Resource Center. And his family laid him to rest after he took his own life on July 2. For two weeks, Grey’s estranged family did not claim his body, so QRC lab aide Lady Katerina did so with the assistance of her advisers. She also began a GoFundMe fundraiser for Grey’s final dignity rights. Led by the QRC LGBT community, the cause — which had more than one thousand donors — raised more than $26,000 in 15 days. “It shows how strong and willing the LGBT community is to be there for one of their own,” said Michael Phipps, the ex-fiancé of Grey when he was still alive. “It means the world to me because I actually got to say goodbye.”
The funeral was held on July 26 in the Oakland Chapel of the Chimes, which had offered to help cover service costs if Katerina could not. More than one hundred people attended, and dozens from the LGBT community at City College and beyond joined Grey’s mother Stephanie Haught and her side of the family at the service. The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus had volunteered to sing three numbers, and the LGBT activist organization Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence was also present. “Daine was a warrior — he fought to live,” Katerina said at the funeral. “He gave all that he could until he could give no more. He loved until he could love no more. Daine fought for his life, and today, we honor that life.” Resonating with that statement, the chorus followed with the song, “Singing for our Lives.”
“It means the world to me because I actually got to say goodbye.” — Michael Phipps Dressed in a yellow floral shirt, a dark gray-blue suit, a navy-blue tie, colorful puzzle socks and blue suede shoes, Grey was laid to rest surrounded by his close friends and family. At the private burial, Grey’s casket was covered in an enormous transgender flag that was given to Stephanie. The funeral and burial were two of several events held to provide final dignities for Grey. A private service was also held the day before for Grey’s father Lance Haught and his side of the family. Grey continued on page 3
City College administrators, faculty and students as well as city officials gathered in the courtyard of the Diego Rivera Theatre on July 20 to support the appointment of Ivy Lee to the college’s board of trustees. Lee, previously a legislative aide and the chief of staff to District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim, was appointed to the position by Mayor London Breed. The three minority female leaders — Breed, Kim and Lee — respectively took to the podium. “City College needs someone who’s a fighter — someone who’s going to take care of it for the long term,” Breed said. Lee is known by trustees and city officials as a key architect of the Free City program, which grants San Francisco residents free City College tuition. She filled the board position vacated over the summer by Trustee-turnedSupervisor Rafael Mandelman. “Not only has [Lee] led the efforts of Free City with Supervisor Kim, but she has pushed for a number of equity programs and things that matter in bridging the gap in many of our communities,”
Breed said. Prior to working with Kim in 2013, Lee worked as a civil rights attorney directing the Immigrant Rights & Human Trafficking Project at Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach in San Francisco. For more than a decade, Lee defended and advanced the rights of survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault, according to a City College press release. She never lost a case, Kim said. As Kim’s chief of staff, Lee negotiated the Fair Chance Ordinance, which disallows some employers from requesting information about arrests or convictions on job applications. She also led negotiations for and drafted San Francisco’s minimum wage ordinance — the most progressive in the nation — which raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour on July 1. “Ivy has been my chief advisor and shield,” Kim said. “While she will state her loyalty to me, it has always been clear that she answers to no one but the community,” Kim said. Upon appointment to board, Lee expressed her gratitude to family, friends, colleagues and Ivy Lee continued on page 3
Mayor London Breed on July 20,2018 appoints Ivy Lee to the board of trustees in the courtyard of the Diego Rivera Theatre. Photo by David Mamaril Horowitz / The Guardsman
Board extends chancellor's contract By Abraham Davis abrahamdfrankfurter@gmail.com
The City College board of trustees voted unanimously at their closed session on June 28 to extend Chancellor Mark Rocha’s contract until June 30, 2022. Rocha was originally hired by City College under a three-year contract that ran from 2017 to 2020. “Thanks to the support of the Board and a great faculty, staff and administrative team, we have created a healthy campus climate for working together collegially to plan the future of City College,” Rocha stated in a press release. “I love the job, my colleagues and
Chancellor Mark Rocha on May 3, 2018 discusses a presentation about the college's Facilities Master Plan at a board of trustees study session inside the Multi-Use Building. Photo by David Mamaril Horowitz / Courtesy of the Ingleside-Excelsior Light.
the city. I’m deeply grateful to the board for providing me with the opportunity to serve the college for the next four years.” In the last year under Rocha, City College’s student enrollment
has increased, and the college’s facilities department created a Facilities Master Plan draft that would build the long-awaited Performing Arts Education Center and the STEM center on Ocean
Campus. At the same meeting, the board approved a 2018 to 2019 tentative budget, which the press release called a product of a transparent process that included all college
constituent groups. Moreover, the college established a 3-year bargaining agreement with the faculty union, the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121. Extension continued on page 6