Vol. 155, Issue 4, March 6-March 19, 2013
City College
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San Francisco |
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Accreditation
Ralliers demand accountability Seek unity against change mad in name of accreditation By Cassandra Hendry THE GUARDSMAN / CHENDRY@THEGUARDSMAN.COM / @SONGE2011
About 150 students, faculty, and staff members gathered for a rally organized by members of the Save CCSF Coalition outside Ocean campus’ Ram Plaza on Feb. 21 to protest the circumstances surrounding City College’s precarious accreditation status. “The Students united, will never be divided,” said Oscar Pena, an associated student council senator, as he engaged the crowd by starting the rally with the chant. Participants held a sign that read, “Save City College from the 1% Education for the 99%.” “Education is a civil, democratic, and human right and we will fight anyone who wants to take that away from us,” City College student Michael Madden said. The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges put City College on show cause in July 2012, but its previous report in 2006 designated the school as being in good standing. One of the coalition’s demands was to speak out against City College being put on “show cause” without prior sanction, and to call on the Department of Education to take action and stop the commission’s misuse of the accreditation process. A sign at the rally read, “73% of SF voted to save CCSF not privatize it,” referring to the passing of Proposition A in November. After the rally students marched around
Vice Chancellor of Finances and Administration Peter Goldstein tells protestors at Conlan Hall on Feb. 21, 2013 that the chancellor cannot meet with them because she is at a conference. Photo by Lucas Almeida/The Guardsman
Cloud Circle and then into Conlan Hall where Interim Chancellor Thelma ScottSkillman’s office is located. They were told that the chancellor was away at a conference when they asked to speak with her and present some demands, which included calling on the Board of Trustees to reverse all cuts to classes, services, staff and faculty, to stop downsizing the mission of City College and to promote equity. “With them cutting back [resource center hours], it is really hard for me to get my assignments done on time, and I am suffering along with a lot of other students,” Sherron Anita, a DSPS student at City College, said. Vice Chancellor Peter Goldstein was
Protestors march around Cloud Circle on Ocean campus on Feb. 21, 2013. Photo by Lucas Almeida/The Guardsman
present and addressed the crowd. “I am not in a position to speak for [the chancellor],” he said. “I think this college had done a good job at teaching, but the accrediting commission has the power.” A group of about 30 students staged a sit-in at Conlan Hall and refused to leave until a meeting was arranged with the chancellor. They stayed overnight and in the morning secured a meeting with her for the following Monday. “I thought the rally was good, but I wish more students and teachers would have come out,” student Rebeca Prieto said. “The students who were here had good words of wisdom and inspired other students.”
On Feb. 25 City College Interim Chancellor Thelma Scott-Skillman, special trustee Bob Agrella, and three representatives from the administration met with five of the students that participated in the sit-in. The students were not satisfied with the results of the meeting because they were told that their demands could not be met. The chancellor sent a campus-wide email explaining why the demands could not be met, and the protest has brought even more negative attention to City College. The Save CCSF Coalition has organized another rally on March 14 at Civic Center at 4 p.m.
Gallery opening
Alumni reflect on shared experiences By Jandean Deocampo THE GUARDSMAN / JDEOCAMPO@THEGUARDSMAN.COM / @BANANAISAFRUIT
City College Art Gallery entertained some celebrity when it invited renowned San Francisco-based artists Chris Johanson, Barry McGee and Laurie Reid for a collaborative exhibition which opened Feb. 21. The show and reception was filled with students, aspiring artists and various acquaintances of the artists, reinforcing the reputation of the department for having well-attended events. “They’re the most successful artists we ever worked with,” Gallery Director and art instructor Nancy Mizuno Elliott said. The three artists had attended City College together in the late 1980s and ‘90s. Johanson and Reid had their
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work chosen for the prestigious Whitney Biennial, one of the most prestigious shows in the art world. All three artists were awarded San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) award, and all three were in the inaugural 1997 Bay Area Now exhibition. The City College Art Gallery exhibit, which features the artists’ collaborative and solo work in multiple mediums of print, watercolor and hand-drawn segments, to name a few, strives to capture the intimacy and interconnectedness of students and their experiences at City College. “There are students here, and there are these people that I saw from all these different time periods of my life living in San Francisco,” Johanson said, voicing his excitement in attending the exhi-
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bition. “You can really see how art connects people through your time.” Indeed, the connection shows through the orientation of the works, which were arranged by the artists themselves just before the opening of the gallery. The display showcases a sort of childlike dialogue between Reid, Johanson and McGee that speaks to their roots. In broken yarn, selfportraits and minimalist sketches, the three artists communicated a spirit of collaboration. “It was really just about whatever developed,” Reid said. “I loved that. That freedom to go where it goes. It’s stimulating. It talks into parts of me that I don’t normally talk into myself. For me, the collaborative work brings out sides of me that my own work doesn’t always. I just love that. It’s so fun.”
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Chris Johanson, Barry Mcgee and Laurie Reid show their artwork at the Art Gallery. Feb 21, 2013.Photo by Juan Pardo/The Guardsman
In the vein of the ongoing City College accreditation crisis, the three artists were especially vocal. “I was talking to somebody here that thinks if it did get really bad, it could be a free-form utopia school, which could be interesting also,” McGee said. “Where people
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would just volunteer to teach in a very San Franciscan way.” Johanson also praised City College. “A lot of my first art classes I ever took were here,” Johanson GALLERY: PAGE 2
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