The Guardsman, Vol 168, Issue 8, City College of San Francisco

Vol. 168, Issue 8 | December 4 – December 20, 2019 | City College of San Francisco | Since 1935 | FREE

Students Struggle to Be Included in Campus Democracy

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AFT 2121

ASC

SEIU 1021

(Associated Students Council)

DCC

Classified Senate

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PGC (Participatory Governance Commitees)

AAEC

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City College Decision-Making Process

Academic Senate

By Claudia Drdul claudiadrdul@gmail.com

City College provides a number of ways for students to get involved and shape the direction of their school, but for many students, the labyrinth of committees and organizations remains difficult to understand or participate in.

Marcos Cruz, a founding member of City College’s Student Assembly, formed the assembly to build a student-centered space for democratic participation, instead of using already established spaces like the Associated Student Council (ASC).

Cruz has collaborated with ASC in the past, but has also criticised certain structural issues which prevent student participation through already formed systems.

Both Cruz and Student Assembly member Win-Mon Kyi agree that if the Student Trustee position was paid and received a counted vote on the Board of Trustees (BOT), students would feel a greater sense that their choices affect decision making on campus. “I think we should have more student trustees...more student votes in there, not just one,” Cruz said.

Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) states that “the governing board shall not take action on a matter having a significant effect on students until it has provided students with an opportunity to participate in the formulation of the policy

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or procedure or the joint development of recommendations regarding the action.”

Although the CCR says that “one or more nonvoting students” should sit on the BOT, Student Trustees do “not have the right to vote and shall not be afforded the right to vote by a district.” This means that City College’s Student Trustee Bryan Daly plays an advisory role while all other members of the board have their votes included in the official count.

The advisory vote itself is not actually considered to be a “right” but in fact a “privilege” that the local board of a college can choose to enact.

According to Student Chancellor Drew Min, PGC seats are “not the only committees” where student seats need to be filled. There may be upward of 80 unfilled student seats including those on the Academic Senate and several city oversight committees.

PGC meetings are typically two hours in length and occur once a month between 1 and 5 p.m. during weekdays. Students, unlike administrators whose attendance is part of their job description and most faculty who receive reassignment time, are not monetarily incentivized to fill these positions.

Cruz, who has attended several committee meetings said, “you shouldn’t expect a student to just waltz in and know Lack of Student Participation what’s going on or what to say, when it’s a voluntary position.” He added, “I’m not Commonly referred to as the “Nine saying we have to pay people like we pay Plus One” rule, the education code lists 10 administrators to be in the PGC, but it could different areas of which districts must receive be a college credit, it could be a scholarship… student input on, including “curriculum just that students are compensated one way development,” “courses or programs or another for the time they put in governing which should be initiated or discontinued,” for other students.” and “student services planning and development.” Student seats on Participatory Student-led Initiatives Governance Committees (PGC) fulfill this requirement.

Project Survive and CCSF Collective However, student participation in member Vick Chung feels the system of these committees is considerably low. governance of City College is top down — Five PGC committees have one student suggestions are made by students, but the serving on them and three committees BOT decides, regardless of student input. have zero students serving, as listed on In order to combat this, Chung has City College’s website. been organizing Participatory Governance

Orientations in conjunction with student/ faculty organizations CCSF Collective and the Higher Education Action Team (HEAT) in order to fill spaces on various campus committees. During the month of November, Chung held several successful orientations and has a list of 21 students waiting to be appointed to committees.

However, the process of doing so is not simple.

Students must be appointed by the Associated Students Executive Council, which contains reprentatives of every campus center, so that a recommendation can be made on their behalf. However, for students to be appointed, the meeting convened must reach quorum, meaning that the minimum number of council members (currently nine) must be present in order to approve appointments.

Chung believes that “because so many decisions [are] constrained to meeting quorum and being on the agenda” measures are not always passed in a timely member.

Part of the incentive for students to join committees is priority registration, which for the Spring semester, has now passed.

ASC President Angelica Campos believes the key to student participation in these areas is “to empower students to feel comfortable speaking in these spaces.”

Campus Democracy continued on page 2

2 | NEWS

Campus Democracy continued from page 1 Alongside Chung, Campos is working on a plan to connect students with faculty members who already sit on these committees using a mentor-mentee program.

Obstacles to Change ASC itself also has historically low turnout rates for their own elections. On Sep. 24 and 25 special elections were held to elect student government representatives to three unstaffed City College locations.

Chinatown President Ziqing Yu received 8 votes, Evans President Paul Nguyen received 9 votes and John Adams President Orlando Galvez received 18 votes.

In Spring of 2019 the election for Student Trustee, a position which represents students across all City College campuses and center received between 200 and 300 votes, according to Min. Low voter turnout rates can be attributed in part to a culture of nihilism across campus. “I think it's easy to see City College as a place that you just pass through and never look back on your way to a UC or on your way to a job. But the truth is that a lot of people at City College do spend a lot of time here and a lot of things they do are more community oriented,” Cruz said.

However, both Chung and Campos relate low participation to the overworking and underpaying of ASC representatives. Chung asked, “how can a student go to school full time and be asked to be a part of ASC?.”

Ocean Campus ASC members are required to work 15 hours per week, but only the President and Vice President receive scholarships at the end of their semester.

“A lot of this is free labor,” Campos said, and is working on a resolution so that senators also receive a scholarship for their time and effort.

Although ASC is typically the structural forum for student participation, student organizer Jess Nguyen believes that “you cannot break the master's house with the master’s tools.”

Although she believes students are using avenues like public comment at BOT meetings meetings and working within ASC to pass resolutions, she says a change to the student constitution is necessary to “reflect student ideals and voices”.

BRIEF

City College Hosts First Annual Block Party

By Anshi Aucar

among many more services.

Student and faculty organization, Re-imagine the Student City College held its first block Experience (RiSE), which party on Nov. 21 for students and according to City College’s prospective students to advertise website, serves as a team to “close college offerings. student equity and achievement The event, organized by the gaps”, offered free gift cards to Associated Student Council, ran those who registered for an interest from 9:30 a.m to 3 p.m. and drew area community forum to give in hundreds of student’s attention feedback on the student experience by offering free tacos, nachos, and at City College. salad to students and staff who Resource centers like the brought their student ID card.

Queer Resource Center, Family Along Cloud Circle, tables Resource Center, and Women’s and tents were set up to expose Resource Center had tables students to the various programs, complete with pamphlets services and clubs the college and various other forms of has to offer. More than 25 tables information. were set up for this event and 12 The Speech and Debate computers that were set up for team, Alpha Gamma Sigma and students to register for classes Alpha Beta Gamma were also at next semester. the party sharing their work as There were several services student groups that attended including Overall the event had a Matriculation Services , Financial fairly large turnout and provided Aid ,and Scholarship Departments, students with resources and CityDREAM, CalWORKs, guidance on what opportunities Homeless at Risk Transitional are available for students at Studies, and Guardian scholars City College. anshiaucar@gmail.com

Staff Editor-in-Chief Lisa Martin

News Editor Claudia Drdul

Culture Editor Matheus Maynard

Vol. 168, Issue 8 | December 4 – December 20, 2019

College Leaders Seek More Funding Because of $13 Million Deficit

By Tyler Breisacher tbreisac@mail.ccsf.edu

City College is facing an estimated $13 million budget deficit according to administrators, leading to several cost-cutting measures including the removal of over 200 classes for the upcoming Spring semester.

Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Tom Boegel raised the alarm at the Board of Trustees meeting on Nov. 14, telling the trustees that the college had already made some cuts and that further cuts would be needed to balance the budget for the 2019-2020 school year.

Trustee Ivy Lee asked Boegel and Senior Vice Chancellor Dianna Gonzales to present information at the next budget committee meeting about controls that could be put in place so that future overspending would be prevented before the deficit grew large enough to require urgent class cuts.

In an email, Trustee John Rizzo agreed that better controls are needed. “We need a Budget Analyst in order to do a better job at predicting budgets, and a Controller to make sure that the College stays on budget,” he wrote.

The full list showing which classes were cut was not sent to students, but students can identify some cancelled classes because they show up as “FULL: 0 of 0 seats remain” on the Web4 schedule. Other canceled classes have simply been removed from the schedule entirely.

The college’s faculty union, AFT 2121, released a statement saying the shortfall should not come as a huge surprise, given that the administration under-budgeted for part-time faculty by about $12 million. “[P]resenting the shortfall as unexpected is a classic ‘shock doctrine’ tactic designed to create panic and complicity with a specific agenda,” the statement reads. The statement went on to describe that agenda of cutting classes, “sidestepping the department chairs and the shared governance process.”

When asked about the AFT 2121 statement, City College spokesperson Rachel Howard said, “The decision to reduce the number of sections was made quickly to avoid needless confusion by allowing students to register for Spring classes that would only be eliminated later.”

Regarding the budget deficit, Howard said cuts were necessary because “projected savings for the 2019/2020 budget were not realized,” and referred to one of the slides presented at the Board of Trustees meeting, which detailed reasons the college overspent.

The largest amount of overspending was due to schedule reductions which were not implemented, and the reduction in part-time faculty being mostly on the low end of the pay scale, according to the slide.

City College is currently funded under “hold harmless” status, meaning that the new formula is not being applied yet. However, that status is temporary. Worley said the shift reflects a change in the way California thinks about its community colleges.

“The people of this city want us to have a very broad curriculum, and to have a true communitycollege-based curriculum. But our state is really pushing us toward funding only what’s called a junior college,” she said.

She noted that many students take classes without intending to graduate or transfer.

“Perhaps they’re taking it in order to brush up their job skills,” Worley said, “perhaps they’re taking a non-credit class, like English as a second language... All of those types of situations are not as well funded under the new formula.”

However, AFT 2121 is working on a few projects to boost funding to City College. One is a statewide measure called “Schools and Communities First,” which supporters say will raise $12 billion per year in commercial property taxes, for schools and other local services. AFT 2121 has joined with the San Francisco Unified School District and many other organizations to gather signatures in hopes of getting it on the ballot in November 2020.

While the faculty union and the administration disagree about how the current budget deficit came to be, they are united on one of the potential tools for solving it. They both support asking San Francisco to establish a new fund called the Community Higher Education Fund (CHEF), which will provide more financial support to City College.

Alan Wong, a Legislative Aide for District 4 Supervisor Gordon Mar, said that CHEF should be established to reflect the fact that the city values the rich variety of classes and programs that City College offers, particularly those that are undervalued by the state’s new Student Centered Funding Formula.

New State Funding Formula Prior to 2018, the state of California based community college funding on the number of students enrolled at a college. Under the new formula, called the Student-Centered Funding Formula, colleges are awarded more funding based on the number of students who receive a degree or certificate or transfer to a four-year university. The formula also gives colleges more funding if they enroll a greater number of students who receive certain grants, such as Pell Grants. This shift is intended to encourage community colleges to serve low-income students.

Opinion Editor Andy Damián-Correa Photo Editor Amal Ben Ghanem

Sport Editor Alec White Copy Editors Tyler Breisacher Meyer Gorelick

Designer Director Chiara Di Martino Online Editor Fran Smith

City College Sunset Mar has also worked to show his support by offering some new classes in a part of the city where the college doesn’t have a presence today.

He established a pilot City College Sunset program to make six college classes available within District 4.

Mar’s office collected feedback from 400 Sunset residents and held a town hall in February which drew about 150 community members.

Wong said this demonstrates that there is strong interest in having City College classes available in the Sunset community.

The new classes, based on the feedback from Sunset residents, include two child development classes, an English as a Second Language class, a Mind-Body Health class for older adults, and two classes high school dual enrollment classes: American Sign Language and College Success.

If the classes are popular, Mar’s office will work to “make this into a sustainable and long-term program that benefits the community,” Wong said.

Sunset residents interested in the new classes are invited to attend enrollment fairs to learn more, on Dec. 10 and 11, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Wah Mei School, 1400 Judah St.

Staff Writers Anshi Aucar Tyler Breisacher Rachel Berning Meyer Gorelick

Caoilinn Goss Milo Kahney Diana Guzman Jennifer Yin Isaiah Willis

NEWS | 3

Vol. 168, Issue 8 | December 4 – December 20, 2019

Students React to Class Cuts

By Diana Guzman

appear to correlate to class productivity, instructor seniority, class location, history or other relevant dianaanaid.gf@gmail.com considerations. The majority of our most popular City College administrators eliminated many classes with highest student attendance record are campus programs. In order to balance the college’s canceled by the Administration.” budget, the City College administration eliminated Countless people are taking this situation into some of the courses in departments like Culinary their own hands, wanting and needing the help Arts, Engineering, Physical Education, Journalism, that City College needs. On the Art Department Lifelong Learning courses for older Adults, Facebook page it states, “PSA: if you’re trying to and many more. enroll in art classes for S20, you may notice some Approximately 225 credit and 63 non-credit of them are no longer available. That’s because courses have been removed from the Spring the administration announced last night — without 2020 schedule. input from department chair or faculty — to cut Not only will this be affecting students who won’t an astonishing 15 classes from the art department! be able to take these courses but it will also affect the (massive cuts also made to music, PE/Dance, and faculty members who were teaching them. programs to older adults OLAD.) Cuts include the Criminal Administration and Fire Science major ENTIRE jewelry/metal arts program, [one third] Victor Nava intended to takesome of the courses that of the ceramics classes, drawing, watercolor, figure were affected and said, “It’s very important that they drawing, illustration, and painting. Many part-time reevaluate what is being done. Many students like faculty have lost their entire livelihood and others myself need to take certain classes that are necessary have lost income and benefits.” in order to graduate.”

Not to mention, the majority of students that Marilee Hearn, of the OLAD (Older Adults need to take these courses in order to take an Program) said, “The irony is that one of the tenets academic degree might be on hold for a while until of City College is to encourage lifelong learning. It's these programs return in fulfillment. disingenuous. To think that City College espouses There can be a stop to these possible actions. certain goals and ideas and then turns around and HEAT, Higher Education Action Team, is a group do something like this.” of City College students, alumni, faculty, staff, and The Older Adults Department was heavily members of the community who are dedicated to affected. A total of 50 classes have been cut from restoring City College to its prime and who in the their program, leaving them with only 8 classes for past held protests to help the school. A meeting will the Spring 2020 semester. be held for everyone in the Mission Campus Room OLAD Department Chair Kelvin Young said 154 on Friday, December 6 at 1 pm. in a letter sent to OLAD faculty, “The classes For more information, you can contact the team selected for cancellation appear to be random at ccsfheat@gmail.com. without basis on any logical criteria, as they don’t

Visual Media Design Students Say NO to Class Cuts

By Anshi Aucar anshiaucar@gmail.com

Professor Tim Harrington and 20 of his Visual Media Design (VMD) students protested in the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Office after finding out that several classes in their program were eliminated at 11:30 pm on Nov. 19, exactly 30 minutes before priority registration opened.

The VMD program was subject to four class eliminations from their Spring 2020 calendar. Among those cut were several courses which are required for program completion.

Many students expressed their frustration by holding signs which read “When you only get $$$ if we graduate, but you cut the classes that we need to graduate” and “Hands off my Graduation.” Other students created visuals that compared the increased budget for administrators to the decreased budget for class offerings.

International students who attended the protest expressed their concerns: to be able to maintain residence in the country they have to be enrolled in 12 units to maintain their status and to them that means having to add classes they don’t need, pay for them and wait until the class they need is available for them to take and hope it doesn’t get canceled.

Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Tom Boegel spoke to students saying that they had to cut the classes that weren’t part of a specific program. Like aircraft, classes were one of the classes among many others that had to be cut. He explained that administrators performed a cost analysis to see what courses benefit the school more and if students are actually succeeding in said courses.

Representatives of AFT 2121, the faculty union, attended the protest as well as showing support for the professors of the VMD. Boegel said, “We have been talking to department chairs about this continuously, on their input on this.”

Panelists Breakdown Problems Around Big Tech and Journalism

By Meyer Gorelick msggorelick@gmail.com

Facebook, Google, and Apple have grown into insurmountable competitors and obstacles for many local news outlets according to a panel of journalists at the Diego Rivera Theatre at City College on Wednesday, Nov. 20, discussing the impact of Silicon Valley giants on how the public gets its daily news.

They collectively said these corporations have become gatekeepers who soak up all of the advertising revenue that local publishers rely on to stay in business, and although social media has provided a voice for people who hadn’t previously had access to a platform, there needs to be more regulation and reform around the spread of misinformation by companies like Facebook.

Panelists included Danish journalists Peter Keldorff, a foreign correspondent at government-owned subscription television station TV2, and Johanne Hesseldahl Larsen, the digital editor at Denmark’s national public service broadcaster, as well as stateside journalists Josh Wilson, lead editor and publisher at “The Daylighter” and former editor at SFGate, and Ryan Singel, who wrote for 10 years at the popular tech news organization Wired and co-founded “Threat Level” blog.

The event was co-sponsored by City College’s department of journalism and the San Francisco Press Club.

A short video clip before the discussion detailed how in 2018 Google made $4.7

Illustrator Tiffany Zhu

Photographers Abraham Davis Amal Ben Ghanem Diana Guzman

Faculty Adviser Juan Gonzales

billion in revenue by utilizing content from news publishers in its search and news features, according to a study by the News Media Alliance. News publishers received no compensation from the technology behemoth, despite its massive profits.

Findings like these prompted congressional hearings in the summer of 2018 where U.S. lawmakers investigated, among other things, whether companies such as Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon have created unfair monopolies, and if they should be held liable for the harmful content that gets shared on their platforms.

The panelists agreed that these hearings may be a matter of “too little, too late,” and the growth of these corporations within the U.S. should have been slowed long ago.

Keldorff and Hesseldahl Larsen brought valuable insights on the damage large technology companies have dealt to local media outlets in Denmark versus the U.S. “The impact is less exaggerated in Denmark. There are still cuts and closures at the regional and national level, but there are not the news deserts that you have in America, where there is no local coverage,” Keldorff said.

He attributes Denmark’s resilience to “the BBC model” where there is a powerful government-funded media organization that provides some security in terms of protecting journalism jobs.

Larsen discussed the landmark lawsuits that the European Union won against Google in 2018 for a total of almost $8

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billion. The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, ruled that Google was in violation of antitrust laws when they unfairly promoted Google shopping services over European alternatives, as well as when they forced Android phone manufacturers to install Google applications.

When asked whether or not social media platforms should be responsible for regulating the content that users post, there were mixed responses from the panelists.

Wilson said that Facebook’s refusal to regulate content in the name of freedom of speech has led to the spread of misinformation.

“I don’t expect them to (regulate themselves),” said Keldorff. “But we should make them, it has to be done.”

Singel, who wrote for City College’s student magazine Etc, before going on to cover Silicon Valley, said that although Facebook needs to take more responsibility in terms of regulating its content, he doesn’t think that they should be held accountable for everything that is posted on their platform.

“Regulating content is a traumatic job for the regulators,” Singel said, referring to workers whose job includes flagging and removing beheading videos among other graphic and harmful content.

“If platforms are responsible for everything that gets posted, how could something like Craigslist exist?” Singel said.

Singel does believe that real harm has risen out of Facebook’s “cult culture” and its belief that whatever they do is a gift to society without stepping back to evaluate the

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harmful impact of their platform.

According to the New York Times, in 2018 Myanmar military officials utilized facebook to spread misinformation that incited a genocide of their Muslim Rohingya population. The Times also reported that the Internet Research Company, linked to the executive branch of the Russian government, reached 29 million people in the U.S. with divisive content to sow discord among voters during the 2016 presidential election.

Wilson discussed Twitter’s recent ban on political advertising. “That makes sense to me,” he said and contrasted this practice to Facebook, a more powerful influencer of voters than Twitter, who refuse to censor political advertisements even when they are clearly spreading misinformation.

Beyond regulation, Singel talked about the mass exodus of advertising money from print journalism to online where targeted advertisements brought in more revenue. He said news publishers contributed to the rise of Facebook when they took advantage of the platform to spread their work, but are suffering for it now.

Wilson said that today, Facebook has become a major obstacle for smaller publications, making them pay money in order to reach wider audiences.

In an effort to help local news outlets survive, Wilson recently founded the Northern California Media Co-op. By sharing costs and resources, Wilson hopes to allow local media to achieve scale and focus on important local coverage rather than having to create “outrage media.”

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4 | CULTURE

Vol. 168, Issue 8 | December 4 – December 20, 2019

City College Leaders Plan For a Sustainable Future

By Tyler Breisacher tbreisac@mail.ccsf.edu

Two City College leaders addressed a small but attentive crowd at the Commonwealth Club on the evening of Nov. 18 to discuss environmental issues facing the college and plans for major renovations in the coming years.

Trustee John Rizzo gave a presentation about several planned improvements to the college’s campuses throughout the city. Renovations will focus on making buildings safer as well as more environmentally friendly. The projects will bring buildings up to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver standard, at a minimum, with a goal of new buildings being rated even higher. (City College’s Chinatown campus is LEED Gold.)

The planned renovations include upgrades to existing buildings, construction of new buildings, and improvements to make Ocean Campus more transit-friendly. The new buildings will include a performing arts center and a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) Trustee John Rizzo (left) and the Department Chair of Engineering at City College Keith Mueller (right) speaks about building, which will both be heated by geothermal wells. technology, engineering and sustainability at the Commonwealth Club on Nov. 18, 2019. Photo by Matheus Maynard / The upgrades will be paid for by an $845 million The Guardsman dollar bond measure if approved by San Francisco voters.

Rizzo was confident that voters would favor the measure, city could be cut off from its water supply, leaving it with However, even with those extra delays, Rizzo was confias they did for similar, albeit smaller, City College bond only enough water to survive for about four days. dent that all the upgrade projects would be completed in measures in 2001 and 2005.

For this reason, he is concerned about the often-discussed about 15 years, starting with the new performing arts buildA poll conducted earlier this year showed strong support proposal to add more housing at the Balboa Reservoir site. ing, opening by about 2023. for the bond, with 73% of voters saying they would “prob- As San Francisco’s population grows, he thinks it might be College Trustee Thea Selby was among those in attenably” or “definitely” vote yes on it. The bond will need a necessary to use the Balboa Reservoir as an actual reser- dance. After the presentations, she told The Guardsman 55% majority in order to pass. voir, to augment the amount of water the city can store. If about a few of her ideas to make the college more transitAfter Rizzo’s presentation, Engineering Department the land were used for housing then it would no longer be friendly. One would be to make discounted or free transit chair Keith Mueller offered some of his thoughts about possible to do that. passes available to City College students, as they are to sustainability. He mentioned the college’s sustainability In response to an audience question about the cost of students at several other institutions. certificate, in which students take a wide range of classes the college upgrades, Rizzo said the bonds would be paid off Additionally, she pointed out that the 29-Sunset Muni in many subjects, including engineering, biology, and geology. gradually via property taxes, as the various projects involved bus line goes past several schools, in addition to City Mueller gave the crowd details about a vital piece of are accomplished. School upgrades can take longer than College. If Muni were to add a rapid version of the 29 line, infrastructure they probably don’t think about often: San other construction projects because of strict California it would be beneficial not just for City College students, Francisco’s water system. In terms of the water system, the earthquake safety requirements. but also students at San Francisco State and a number of city is an “island,” he said. After a serious earthquake, the nearby high schools.

“Frozen 2” Adventures into the Unknown and It Is Beautiful

By Matheus Maynard

historical aspects of the people of Scandinavia. The people of Arendelle mmaynar7@mail.ccsf.edu stand in for the white northern European The newly crowned Disney princesses people of Scandinavia, and the Northuldran Elsa and Anna are back on movie screens might refer to the Sami people, an indigin the animated sequel “Frozen 2” after a enous people that live in the northern parts long, seven year wait. This time, they go on of Norway, Sweden, and Finland. a quest to find a mysterious voice calling This detail was particularly interesting Elsa, which leads the characters to a new for trying to establish real social conflicts adventure brings them a new understanding between indigenous people and westerners of their origins. throughout the centuries.

Though the Oscar-winning song, “Let it Elsa in this movie is also much more go”, and the famous duet, “Do you wanna confident and not running away from family build a snowman” are not in the movie (at anymore. Elsa’s parents are also reintroleast not entirely), “Frozen 2” features brand duced, and you are in for a treat if you don’t new songs by the same composers, Robert think that they are not important in the plot.

Lopez and Kristen-Anderson Lopez.

The Frozen franchise is remarkable for To follow-up with the success of Elsa’s highlighting family love and female empowsolo, “Let it go”, composers came up with erment, and “Frozen 2” makes that point “Into the unknown” which is somewhat even stronger. Of course the sequel will have the theme of this whole sequel. “Into the a fabulous outfit transformation during one unknown” sung by Broadway star Idina of Elsa’s songs. This time, it brings an Elsa Menzel displays impressive high notes and that embraces her power. lyrics of magic and mystery, something that In general, this movie has all the hallDisney is always good at. marks of a good Disney animation film.

Played by Josh Gad, the humorous snow- This one in particular explores a deeper man Olaf is back and steals the spotlight plot which may not be fully understood by every once in a while. Kristoff (Jonathan 2019’s kids, but will be understood by the Groff), is back with solo songs and strug- ones who were younger in 2013 and have gling to find the right moment to step up been fans ever since. his relationship with Anna (Kristen Bell).

“Frozen 2” is an interesting adventure Frozen 2 also introduces background with fabulous magic and social statements on the people of Arendelle and their land. that do convene with the 21st century. The Believed to be set in Scandinavia, the movie fans will feel like “the cold never bothered Illustration by Lisa Martin also explores other people that live within us anyway”. Oh yes, and prepare for some their own fjord. The Northuldran are indige- tears if you’re a fan. nous people who live by nature and tradition.

This reference might indicate real

Vol. 168, Issue 8 | December 4 – December 20, 2019

CULTURE | 5

Visitors look at David Bacon's photos during the exhibit opening in the Front Page Gallery on Oct. 22, 2019. Photo by Amal Ben Ghanem / The Guardsman

Latest Photo Exhibit Explores the Hardships of Striking Hotel Workers

By Diana Guzman dianaanaid.gf@gmail.com

“Local 2, the union, it is a very participatory, democratic union in which these workers are from. I sort of consider myself part of the social movement that is represented here.”

Writer and photojournalist David Bacon speaks to the attendees at the opening of his solo exhibit at the Front Page Gallery, Journalism Department, on Friday, Nov. 22, 2019.

Bacon has been documenting the hotel worker's movement since the mid-1980s. Photo

by Amal Ben Ghanem / The Guardsman

City College’s Journalism and Labor Studies Department presented a solo exhibition of the photographs captured by photojournalist and author David Bacon. The opening night was on Friday, Nov. 22 from 6 – 9 pm.

David Bacon has been documenting San Francisco hotel workers since the mid-1980s. His work shows the lives of many hardworking people who fight for the right to survive in one of the world’s most expensive cities.

UNITE HERE Local 2 is a union of more than 13,000 hotel, airport, and food service workers in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. In Bacon’s view, it is one of the most diverse workforces in the area.

“The concept is to show, in photographs, a little bit of the history of the hotel workers and their union,” said Bacon. “Local 2, the union, it is a very participatory, democratic union in which these workers are from. I sort of consider myself part of the social movement that is represented here.”

Members of Local 2 came to the opening as well.

Hotel workers and members of the strike, Vera Travis and Camucha King, both felt heartwarming emotions on the work that Bacon had empowered over the years.

“I’ve worked at The Marriott Hotel for about 22 years and this was the most powerful movement we’ve ever done, that I’ve felt. It’s a big business, they mess with us. We are just going to keep fighting, fighting for us, fighting for you guys and everybody else,” Travis said.

“Some of the pictures bring me so much emotion.

Sometimes it was really hard for us to survive; the fires, the rains, the cold in the streets. For us it was really amazing to see the final work,” King said. King has been a member of the Local 2 union for 23 years.

President of the Local 2 union, Anand Singh said, “The focus of this exhibition is our struggle, fights, and campaigns. Our slogan ‘One Job Should Be Enough’ really does resonate with the public. It makes so much sense that hardworking people should only work one job to meet their needs to survive and put food on their table for their families. Our movement for civil rights focuses on immigrant workers, working people everywhere and the movement for civil rights and justice.”

The exhibition is open to visitors at the Journalism Department until December 20, 2019. For more information you can contact the department at info@ccsf.com | (415) 239-3446 | Hours: Monday through Friday, from 11 am – 5 pm.

6 | OPINION

Vol. 168, Issue 8 | December 4 – December 20, 2019

Now Is the Time to Fight Class Cuts

By The Guardsman Staff As the staff of The Guardsman, we no longer feel we can stay silent as our classes are swept out from under our feet and our peers are rendered unable to graduate on time.

Approximately 225 credit sections and 63 non-credit sections were removed from the Spring 2020 schedule, according to an official college statement released by the Office of the Chancellor on Nov. 21.

Per their contract with the faculty union AFT 2121, the school cannot cut under enrolled classes until after the enrollment period is over (after classes have actually begun). By making the proposed cuts known to deans and department chairs only 2 days before enrollment began, the administration created a crisis in which educators were forced to scramble to protect what classes they could.

Many programs, like Metal Arts, were advertising their offerings at the RAM Block Party on Nov. 21 without realizing the administration had cut the same classes they were persuading students to enroll in.

Some part-time instructors will be losing their jobs because their classes have been cut. One department chair has advised the faculty in his department to consider their unemployment and food stamp options.

To add to the confusion, some of the cut classes are still appearing on the online registration site, but are being listed as if they were full with full waitlists so students stil are unable to enroll.

The effects of these cuts are more far reaching than we had imagined as international students, including those in the journalism program, could have their citizenship status jeopardized if they are unable to meet stringent class requirements.

There is a larger problem with the lack of transparency at the upper levels of administration at City College, as department chairs, faculty unions and student representatives did not receive adequate time to give their input on the eliminations.

The lack of financial accountability as well as institutional deficiencies in the area of leadership and governance is unacceptable.

It’s time to reconsider the role of the campus administrators and the future of our community college.

It seems as though AFT 2121 has been doing far more to establish alternative means of funding for the college than administrators, whose job descriptions include seeking additional funding sources.

They have proposed a Community Higher Education Fund (CHEF) and are working hard on next year’s Schools and Communities First property tax reform measure.

City College plays an important role in the community because it makes access to education possible for people of all backgrounds.

The college is a public good that benefits not only those who attend the college, but those who live in the community.

Having next semester’s classes gutted shouldn’t be quintessential to the City College experience, but it’s quickly becoming a school tradition. What students can do is connect with their peers to unite against class cuts.

Illustration by Jennifer Yin

Electoral Watchdog Organization Shows Blatant Bias

By Claudia Drdul

children fleeing the violence in Central America, who have for about 20 minutes.” The main proponent of the Bolivian been deported from the United States without adequate election fraud argument was the “interruption” of election cdrdul@mail.ccsf.edu legal representation.” data transfer which occurred at 7:40 p.m., however, when On Nov. 10 the internet exploded with news reports on In article 1 of the OAS Charter, it states that the orga- Colorado’s SCORE system collapsed, no such claim of Bolivia’s supposedly fraudulent 2019 presidential elections, nization will serve to “defend their (member countries) fraud was proposed by the OAS. This shows a clear bias all with little evidence or context to their claims. sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their indepen- in OAS audits.

Most reports by major newspapers in the U.S. cite the dence." The claim that this organization is pro-sovereignty The U.S. and organizations funded by the U.S. should Organization of American States (OAS) as their source for and independence of other countries is laughable at best. not view themselves as the policer of the world and should these accusations, even though the OAS was developed in Comparing the OAS preliminary report on the absolutely not base analyses of other countries’ political 1948 to “serve as a bulwark against the spread of commu- 2016 U.S. presidential election to the preliminary systems off of their own processes which lack demoratic nism” as described by the Council on Foreign Relations. report on the 2019 Bolivian presidential election is like values.

According to the OAS semiannual financial summary comparing apples to oranges.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), report, in the first semester of 2019, the U.S. contributed First off, the OAS performed a full audit on the Oct. 20 released a statistical analysis report on Nov. 8 stating that $25,140,253 to the OAS member state fund. An amount Bolivian elections, something it had not done for Brazil’s they found “no evidence that irregularities or fraud affected which is three times as high as the next highest country’s highly contested 2018 presidential elections or the 2016 U.S. the official result which gave President Evo Morales a firstcontribution. presidential elections. round victory.” CEPR receives 80% of its funding from The Council on Hemispheric Affairs released an open The OAM Electoral Observation Mission's (EOM) organizational grants, and the rest of the funds are from letter to the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, on report of the 2016 U.S. election noted that observations individual donors, making it far less likely to be swayed by May 21, 2016 which read “you direct a level of criticism at were only performed in 12 states as some state laws do not partisan interests.

Venezuela that is inordinate given that states like Honduras, allow international observers. Isn’t the allowance of interThe OAS regurgitates U.S. State Department rhetoric Mexico and Colombia, that incidentally are firm U.S. allies, national observers a healthy measure of transparency and and has aligned itself with the interests of a country which come under far less scrutiny for their massive violations non-partisanship within an election process? seeks to intervene in the sovereignty of Latin American of human rights.”

The EOM report found that there were “sporadic techni- nations. When there is ample evidence which concludes no The Council added, “Furthermore, the OAS has cal malfunctions with electoral equipment such as scanners, election fraud in Bolivia, and the evidence that concludes made no vigorous objection to the violations of the or as in the case of Colorado, with the Statewide Colorado there is, is tainted by partisan politics, the public deserves rights of thousands of undocumented persons, including Registration and Election (SCORE) system, which collapsed a full investigation into the OAS.

COMMUNITY | 7

Vol. 168, Issue 8 | December 4 – December 20, 2019

L etter S to the EditoR

CALENDAR 6 DEC

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS' TOWN HALL 2 PM – 4 PM | Ocean Campus,

City Cafe in Student Union Building

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General admission: $20 CCSF student: $10

Dear Editor,

offerings for older adults.” Well, hello! “Offerings for older adults” are not subject areas, but a hit Age discrimination at City College of San against a category of students.

Francisco? That’s what recent class cuts look If this were a hit demolishing 90 percent of a like to us.

Women’s program, or one for African-Americans, On the Friday before Thanksgiving, many or LatinX or LGBTQ , does anyone doubt that ‘older adult’ students came as usual to their heav- this would have rightfully caused an uproar? ily-attended sculpture and drawing classes at Fort The suddenness of this cut totaling 288 classes Mason — only to learn that neither class would overall also raises questions of administrative be given this Spring and, in fact, 90 percent of competence, or concealment, or both. Equity for the entire Older Adult (OLAD) program’s classes Older Students is working toward full restoration had been cut. of classes for all, but especially for the disproThis represents a fait accompli with no notice portionately devastated Older Adults program. to students ahead of the decision, and with only three more weeks of classes remaining.

Co-signed by members of The effective date was given as the start of Equity for Older Students (EFOS) Spring registration, which was just a few days EquityForOlderStudents@protonmail.com earlier. A letter from the OLAD program head, Kelvin M. Young said, “I don’t know if the classes selected for cancellation are based on any logical criteria, but they don’t seem to correlate to instructor seniority or class productivity from what I can see. The Office of Instruction has already removed all cancelled classes from the I was saddened to see a photo of toxic cigaonline schedule and registration system.” rette butts accompanying your recent front page Mr. Young said that 50 of 58 OLAD classes story. (“Zero Waste Club Organizes Campus have been cut. That’s almost 90 percent!

Trash Pickup” November 20-December 4 2019.)

A message from the union, AFT 2121, said However, this nasty photo presents an opporthe decision “sidestep[ed] the department chairs tunity to remind the community that a 100% and shared governance process in an ‘emergency’ smoke-free/vape-free policy was passed by the effort … to solve a ‘crisis’ we all saw coming.” Participatory Governance Council, Chancellor The union message said, “presenting the shortfall and Board of Trustees back in 2018. as unexpected is a classic ‘shock doctrine’ tactic A request to the Chancellor: Could you designed to create panic and complicity with a re-double your efforts to inform students, staff, specific agenda.” faculty, administration and visitors about the City College’s Chancellor, Dr. Mark Rocha, policy? was well aware of the discriminatory impact on older adults. He wrote in a November 21 memo, Thank you, “Non-credit subject areas most impacted were Bob Gordon

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8 | SPORTS

Vol. 168, Issue 8 | December 4 – December 20, 2019

MAGICAL FINISH AFTER DISAPPOINTING END TO REGULAR SEASON

By Alec White and Meyer Gorelick awhite65@mail.ccsf.edu and msggorelick@gmail.com

The Rams played the number one ranked team in California, the San Mateo Bulldogs, with their playoff dreams on the line on Saturday, Nov. 16.

The game was a battle into the fourth quarter with the Rams scoring via a touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Ethan Bullock to sophomore wide receiver Kenden Robinson Jr. with a little over 11 minutes left in the 4th quarter, cutting the deficit to 38-31.

Soon after, the Bulldogs put the nail in the coffin by ending the game on an 88-yard touchdown drive, and beating the rams 45-31. The Bulldogs took the Bay 6 Conference title back to San Mateo, and also cut the Rams’ hopes of making the playoffs short.

Finishing the regular season with a 7-3 record, the Rams earned a berth in the Golden State Bowl and hosted the Shasta College Knights to close out the year on Saturday, Nov. 23. The game was a wild back-and-forth shootout, with neither side managing to definitively take control of the game.

Despite not having firststring quarterback Bullock due to injury, the Rams got out to an early lead with two first quarter passing touchdowns from sophomore quarterback Jacob Cruz, Ram’s Wide Reciever Kenden Robinson Jr. attempts to catch the ball to Robinson Jr. and sophomore during a home game on Nov. 16, 2019. Photo by Matthew Maes / wide receiver Christian Willis, The Guardsman making it 14-3 Rams by the end of the first quarter.

MEN’S SOCCER ADVANCES TO SECOND ROUND OF PLAYOFFS THEN LOSES

By Meyer Gorelick

With overtime looming, the Rams hit paydirt in the 80th minute when sophomore winger Richard msggorelick@gmail.com Perez-Rodriguez combined nicely down the right The eighth-seeded City College men’s soccer flank with freshman Sagan Patarroyo-White before team advanced to the second of the Northern cutting the ball back from the endline to freshman California playoffs with a dramatic 1-0 victory over forward Armando Sandria who was ready inside the ninth-seeded West Valley College Vikings on the penalty box.

Saturday, Nov. 23.

Sandria rifled his shot into the roof of the net The Rams came out flat, and struggled to keep before sprinting to the corner flag to celebrate with possession throughout the first half. They came close his elated teammates. to conceding twice.

West Valley proceeded to pour on the presIn the eighth minute, a West Valley player fired sure, creating two great chances to equalize, one a point blank shot off the post that would have rico- headed off the crossbar and over, the other hit cheted into the goal if not for a goal line clearance tamely at Alvarez. The Rams hung on and the from freshman center back Lionel Rodriguez.

Vikings season ended.

In the 29th minute, West Valley was awarded a “That was a top moment for me, it was surreal,” penalty kick after an unlucky handball from freshman Sandria said, recounting his goal. “We played great center back Sora Konishi-Gray. Viking sophomore as a team, and with intensity. We had a good week standout Pablo Ramirez Belmont, who had been of training. That goal is something we practiced, it’s wreaking havoc down the left sideline stepped straight out of training.” up to take the kick.

“That was a huge save, huge moment, I stepped His shot was saved by freshman goalie Isaac up and tried to do my job,” Alvarez said about his Alvarez, igniting a guttural eruption from the penalty stop. “We were great, we played with passion full bleachers. and did the dirty work. Everyone busted their ass.

The Rams tweaked their formation at halftime, This is a special group.” switching from a 4-5-1 to a 4-4-2 in order to apply The win earned the Rams a second round more pressure on the Viking wingbacks. matchup against the top-seeded Santa Rosa Junior The strategy paid off, and the Rams started College Bear Cubs, a team they tied 2-2 in the regular the second half on the front foot. Freshman striker season after giving up a late goal.

Christian Vasquez set himself up with a fantastic The Rams couldn’t reel off another victory, and first touch for a promising lob attempt that he skied on Tuesday Nov. 26, the Rams season ended in a 3-1 over the bar. loss to the Bear Cubs.

But the Knights swung the He proceeded to shred the momentum their way and after Knights secondary, with two more outscoring the Rams 20-7 in the catches, the second being a 26-yard second quarter, carried a 23-21 touchdown to make the score 41-43 lead into halftime. with 1:19 left. The Rams had the The Rams' struggles bled into opportunity to tie the game with the second half as the Knights a two-point conversion. ground out a methodical five A costly delay of game penalty minute 75 yard touchdown drive, set them back, making the converand then forced a Rams three-and- sion a seven-yard attempt rather out. With a 30-21 lead the Knights than two, upping the degree of had an opportunity to seize control difficulty significantly. of the game with a field goal, but The Rams rode the hot hand, the 38-yard attempt was blocked, and Drummer, with a defender handing the ball back to the Rams, draped all over him, caught the who roared back into the game. game-tying two-point conversion After a Ram touchdown off the despite a pass-interference flag heels of a big fourth-down conver- against the defense. sion to make it a one possession Deadlocked at 43-43 at the game, they forced and recovered a end of regulation, the thriller went fumble on the ensuing kickoff. into overtime. After the Rams lost Standout running back and the toss, Julien Jr. walked into the Offensive MVP of the bowl game, endzone from two yards out to freshman Jarmar Julien Jr. ran complete a drive that started at in from two yards for the second the 25-yard-line (as per commuof his three touchdowns to give nity college football overtime rules), the rams a 35-30 lead with 13:21 putting the home team up 50-43. remaining in regulation.

Shasta had the opportunity to But the Knights were deter- even the game, but their season mined to spoil the Rams comeback ended on a fourth down interwith one of their own. In dramatic ception by Rams sophomore fashion, they thwarted two Ram Isaiah Mays. goal-line stands with tough Players were thrilled to pull out fourth-down short distance rush- the dramatic victory, but the bowl ing touchdowns, giving Shasta a game title felt a little hollow, given 43-35 lead with 3:46 to go. the state and national championOn the final drive, Cruz was ship aspirations that they opened sacked on back to back plays, the season with. pushing the Rams back to fourth “It was a good season, we and 22 with the season on the could’ve done better,” said lateline. The Rams needed a miracle game savior Drummer after the or two if they wanted to keep their victory. “We coming back bigger Golden State Bowl title hopes and better next year.” alive, and freshman wide receiver “We’re all a little disappointed Traivion Drummer obliged. He that we fell short this season, but caught a 32 yard pass to convert happy it ended on a good note,” the fourth down. said Golden State Bowl MVP Cruz.

“It was good being a Ram.”