Vol. 163, Issue 2 | February 8, - February 22 , 2017 | City College of San Francisco | Since 1935 | FREE
The City College
community banded
together and joined the resistance
Over 100,000 bundled protestors rally in front of City Hall at Civic Center for the Women's March in San Francisco on Jan. 21,2017. (Photo by Cassie Ordonio/ The Guardsman)
By Bethaney Lee
blee@theguardsman.com
The California Community Colleges Board of Governors (BOG) is backing members of the City College community who banded together in the heart of Civic Center to protest executive orders and policies encompassing healthcare, immigration, and fundamental rights. Several City College students and faculty members joined over 100,000 people during the SF Women’s March on Jan. 21, waving signs and tromping from the center of Civic to Justin Herman Plaza. City College Vice Chancellor Samuel Santos supported a key issue discussed by over 100,000 participants during the SF Women’s March, which prompted him to send an e-mail to all students in regards to President Donald Trump’s recent executive
orders pertaining to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Within the e-mail the BOG declared, “that all 113 community colleges remain open, safe and welcoming to all students who meet the minimum requirements for admission, regardless of immigration status, and that financial aid remains available to certain undocumented students.” Speaker for the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Ruth McFarlane, presented a speech during the Women’s March insisting that, “when we march today we must hold at the center of our collective viewfinder those for whom the danger is clear and imminent.” McFarlane described a long list of whom those dangers were present for, “Muslims, undocumented people, Black men and youth, low income people, especially those with disabilities and serious health concerns, transgender and gender nonconforming
people, and those who live in places where they are especially prone to attack by their neighbors and their legislators.” The BOG expressed that in awareness of this, the incoming administration will continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program grants reprieve from deportation to individuals brought to this country as children. The BOG wrote, “California and the United States are stronger due to their contributions to our economy, to our communities and to our Armed Forces.” Attesting to the very real threat of deportation for students was UC Berkeley senior, Angelica Vargas, who opened her speech at the march stating, “I stand today as an undocumented immigrant in this country that I call my home.” Vargas, like several City College students, lives with the fear that she could come home to face deportation. A situation Vargas called
City College community marches with ANSWER Coalition By Otto Pippenger opippenger@theguardsman.com
As Donald Trump took office on January 20, citizens of San Francisco appeared by the thousands in stingingly heavy rainfall to voice their anger. Posters that the event organizers of the Act
Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition (ANSWER) had distributed to promote the event were simple: a black and white profile of Trump, aggressively blotted out with a black X. The ANSWER Coalition, mobilized large numbers of people for the Washington, D.C.
protest, and attracted demonstrators on both the West and East coasts. “Standing together to say no to… attacks on immigrants, union busting, medicare cutbacks, police brutality, (and) new white supremacy groups,” the ANSWER website reads. The protest occupied most of United Nations Plaza with kiosks and speaking platforms filling the block all the way from the statue of Simon Bolivar, where organizers from ANSWER spoke, to the Carl’s Jr. where members of City College’s American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 (AFT 2121) joined several other local progressive groups including San Francisco Living Wage Coalition, Jobs With Justice, and teachers from Mission High. AFT 2121 Political Director, Alisa Messer, shouted into a small megaphone to be heard over the
A women bobs a sign reading "Make America Think Again," while protesting against, "#notmypresident," during the inaugural march ANSWER continues on page 3 on Jan. 20, 2017. (Photo by Gabriela Reni/The Guardsman)
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ironic, since the U.S. “claims birthrights to a land that wasn’t even ours to begin with.” Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Katherine Ellison also spoke to the roaring crowd, which invaded the heart of the city despite torrential rainfall. “We see clearly what is at stake,” Ellison said, “our health care, a livable wage, family leave, civility, ethics, and bold action on climate change after the third consecutive hottest summer.” Between speakers, the crowd bobbed signs reading phrases like “I will not go back to the 1950’s quietly,” “no access, no choice,” and “hands off my uterus.” Women, men, and children chanted in unison, “No more walls, we build bridges!” The the lone hush to fall on the crowd was after McFarlane said, “in our lifetime there has never been a more profound challenge to this country's ideals of justice, inclusion, and equality, than there is today.”
NEWS ALERT:
Free tuition for City College in its final stretch
By Cassie Ordonio Special to The Guardsman.
City College is one step closer to being tuition free. On Feb. 2, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and the Board of Supervisors agreed to spend $5.4 million to ensure college accessibility that includes books for low-income students. Interim Chancellor Susan Lamb said in a statement that she hopes “the prospect of a free community college will inspire people to take advantage of this educational opportunity and enroll at City College this fall.” The college’s Board of Trustees will review the agreement at its Feb. 9 meeting. On Jan. 13, the college’s accreditation was reaffirmed for the next seven years. City College was a tuition-free institution in 1983. A women cloaked in the American flag while at the inaugural protest on Jan. 20, 2017 where approximately 8,000 people attended to join the resistence. (Photov by Gabriela Reni/ The Guardsman)
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