NEWS | 3
Vol. 173, Issue 8 | May 16 – May 25
The Siege Continues
Death By A Thousand Cuts By Julie Zigoris jzigoris@mail.ccsf.edu Patricia Miller, Theater Arts department chair, pointed to the irony that faculty were willing to take pay cuts to save classes — and now those very faculty are facing unemployment. “This is just criminal. It's medieval. It's a siege,” Miller said. The cuts are impacting some of the most popular departments at the school, like music and environmental horticulture and floristry. “We just kept going down and down and down, and I just shriek and howl and stop and yell about get the damned data, right,” said Madeline
calculation. “We’re getting shut down,” said Miller at the April 13 rally.
"Get the damned data." Indeed, no program at the school appears immune from the cuts, no matter the size, popularity, or subject matter. Some programs, like Older Adults and non-credit Business courses, have been cut entirely. Others, like Architecture, lost ten positions through cuts. Other departments sustain-
administration is holding up their end of the bargain. “For 40 years they agreed to have this program and all of a sudden you’re not going to support it?” The cuts prompted a March 23 resolution by the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) to oppose the downsizing. “The College is now rapidly losing its ability to provide necessary classes and job training to support the City’s economic recovery,” said the resolution, sponsored by Peter Gallotta, John Avalos, Anabel Ibanez, Li Lovett, and Carolina Morales. With these massive cuts come major losses. Businesses not opened, citizenship not gained, languages not learned, dreams not met. The cuts disproportionately impact women and students of color, the very students that City College is charged to serve. The cuts are happening to some of the most popular departments with the most sought after classes, despite the school’s projected budget surplus.
City College of San Francisco staff and union members set camp outside of Conlan Hall to protest staff cuts. May 3. Karem Rodriguez/The Guardsman
AFT2121 Vice President Mary Bravewoman, in a red jacket, reacts after hearing the decision of the board of trustees at San Francisco's City College to approve the layoffs and budget cuts. May 6. Karem Rodriguez/The Guardsman
"Who is served?"
Protest continued from page 1
Music Department Chair Madeleine Mueller in front of her home. Julie Zigoris/The Guardsman Mueller, chair of the music department, whose program has been cut nearly 75% by her estimate, despite student demand. “Now if there's a problem with these cuts will come in and talk to us individually. Oh, give me a break. You don't do that after the fact. It's just it's just pretend. And so I will. And I'll say probably what I'm saying to you, how dare you?” Mueller said. The frustration on the part of many department chairs is that lower enrollment is being used as a rationale by the administration for course cuts, even as the very courses they’re cutting is what is making it difficult for students to complete their programs. “It’s the wrong end of the telescope,” Mueller said. Mueller asserts it’s a schoolwide issue, pointing to the Theatre Arts department that has been reduced 52% in the last three years, according to her
Staff Staff Writer Beth Lederer
ing significant cuts include: Automotive, ESL, Architecture, English, the sciences, and even business programs have all withstood cuts. Brown, who has had his operational budget cut by more than 75%, does not think the
The cuts are necessary according to the Board of Trustees in order to close the $65 million deficit in City College’s budget. Yet the Board has not responded to AFT 2121’s alternative budget that prevents any faculty eliminations. “It all raises the question what will City College look like in the next five to 10 years? Will its role and its mission change as a result? And who will be served?” Gonzales said.
A protester at the March 15 rally to "Stop the Cuts." Julie Zigoris/ The Guardsman
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Karem Rodriguez
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Prior to the meeting, many students and faculty took to social media to voice their impassioned opposition to the proposed cuts, so much so that it sparked a campout on the City College campus as an act of civil disobedience. When the public webinar began it did so with public comments from 118 individuals, including students and faculty, While the time allotment for comment was extended for another hour by Student Trustee Malinalli Villalobos, the effect was the same with the majority opposing the budget cuts. After public comments and
debate between board members concluded the final vote came down 5-1 in favor of faculty layoffs, with Trustee member Alan Wongthe lone opposition. The proposed cuts by the Board of Trustees, if enacted as approved, would lay off full time and part time faculty which would necessarily limit the type of classes students can take as courses require teachers to have specific qualifications to teach them. Most of the departments on high on the list of the proposed cuts range from theater, business, science and technical training, with aeronautics being the most hard hit losing all of its faculty members.
An AFT2121 member shows their proposed alternative budget to avoid faculty layoffs during the gathering to watch the online meeting of the Board of Trustees to vote over layoffs and budget cuts. May 6. Karem Rodriguez/The Guardsman
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