The Guardsman A Continued Fight For Subsidized Public Transportation SFMTA and Student working for affordable transportation

By: Jade Leonardo charlottejadeleonardo@gmail.com

On Jan.10, student leaders from City College, alongside Chancellor David Martin and members of the administration, traveled to Sacramento to fight to keep a subsidized transportation program available to California college students.

Student Chancellor Heather Brandt was there and said there was a lot of discussion and while state legislators understood the need for subsidized public transportation for students, the persistent issue is finding the funding.

Students were able to present the idea of subsidized public transportation as a “win all the way around,” for students, a resolution to the Associated Students Executive Council meeting on Jan. 27 where they were able to acquire sponsorship to move to the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC).

Impact of Layoffs and Class Enrollment

The culmination of layoffs and program consolidations have caused major challenges for educators and students alike.

colleges, transit agencies, and more – emphasizing that student attendance would improve and stress levels would decrease due to students not having to worry about paying for public transportation.

A 2021 study done by Temple College stated transportation is a “barrier to college completion,” and lowering transportation costs for students is a “promising strategy for increasing the likelihood that students will: remain enrolled one semester and one year later; complete a greater number of credits; and, earn a credential.”

City College of San Francisco’s students also attested to the fact that transit agencies could use a “bailout” due to hardships from the pandemic. Students mentioned a transportation program would be beneficial to the environment and overrun parking situations – students would likely take public transportation instead of driving to class, if a subsidized program were in place.

In addition to the trip to Sacramento, City College student leaders presented

This resolution is to urge the SSCCC to make subsidized public transportation “a legislative priority on behalf of students at all 116 community colleges across the state.”

When asked if the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is actively seeking to work with college administrators on transportation programs for students, Deputy Spokesperson of Communications, Marketing, and Outreach Division Stephen Chun responded that the SFMTA has engaged with several colleges, including City College, over the years to discuss the SFMTA’s Class Pass Program. Through this program, students would pay a semester fee, $128 per student, for a transit pass that covers

By Renée Bartlett-Webber rbartle8@mail.ccsf.edu

“Class cuts” is a common term during the beginning of the semester because there are often cuts due to low enrollment each semester. But this spring, “class cuts” has a much more biting connotation.

College.

In the wake of the layoffs of 38 teachers as well as the consolidation of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program last year, the term “cut” stings deeply at City

Meet the New Trustees at City College

Canceled classes can prevent students from reaching their academic goals. For some, it could discourage them from continuing their education at all, either at City College or any other institution. This in turn could have an impact on the administration because the college is dependent on enrollment for funding and maintaining accreditation. City College is currently under “enhanced monitoring” by the accrediting organization primarily due to financial deficits and a 38% decline of fulltime equivalent students (FTES.)

The Numbers

During this year’s Flex Day, Chancellor David Martin shared that there were 154 fewer credit classes between fall 2021

The three newest board members prepare to action their campaign promises.

By Renee Bartlett-Webber rbartle8@mail.ccsf.edu

City College is at a turning point in its history. The school is currently facing declining enrollment, enhanced accreditation monitoring, teacher layoffs and program consolidations. Amidst these challenges, there are now three new faces on the Board of Trustees: Anita Martinez, Susan Solomon and Vick Van Chung were elected as a unit on a platform to roll back some administrative decisions.

As candidates, they campaigned to rehire faculty who were laid off and emphasized restoring the English program.

“We’re sad to see that City College has slowly descended into a twoyear college for transfer students only, away from the community college that I was always intended to be,” Vice President Martinez said in a video featuring the three candidates.

As vice president of the board, Martinez brings 28 years of experience across three community colleges. She admits that, like many new students, she will face a learning curve to get up to speed as this is her first time serving on a board. “I welcome input from everybody, all the campus constituencies, but the people I welcome input [from] the most are the students, because I was a teacher. We exist as a college for the students.” Martinez encourages students to reach out to her at anitamartinez@ccsf.edu and (415) 239-3921.

Trustee Solomon has been an active teacher and union organizer and fall 2022. Overall, the school gained more part-

'The full time layoffs have created a huge problem. I think of it as an atom bomb in the college.' time students but there are still material losses in the number of classes that students are engaging in. This has resulted in a decrease of 567 FTES, the metric California Community Colleges uses to grant funds to schools. There are many factors that affect enrollment, so further analysis needs to be done.

Continued on page 2 for many years and just recently retired as president of United Educators of San Francisco. She is passionate about facilitating participatory governance to ensure that the college functions for the students. “We were elected to do a job, and so we are responsible to our stakeholders” Solomon said

Continued on page 2

Continued from page 1 - Impact of Layoff and Class Enrollment.

However the college has not provided the requested data before the deadline of thispublication. As a result, information on cut or consolidated classes is primarily anecdotal.

Layoffs Wreak Havoc

The layoffs in May 2022 have drastically impacted 14 departments who in turn have had to

'The concern that I have is that by eliminating ESL classes from the John Adams Campus, it will prevent some students from ever attending,' make cuts to their own class offerings and even to change the requirements to graduate.

Faculty member Steven Brown described it as “an atom bomb in the college” during the last board meeting.

Dana Jae Labrecque, chair of the broadcast electronic media arts department, addressed the board on Jan. 26, explaining why she thinks her program will not last another year.

“Unfortunately, now that we are dripping one intermediate course out at a time, it’s impossible for students to even finish in two years.”

'The full time layoffs have created a huge problem. I think of it as an atom bomb in the college.'

First Semester Without ESL Classes on the West Side

In addition to class cuts due to layoffs, many students are struggling to recover from the elimination of ESL classes at the John Adams Campus. After City College announced this change in December 2022, demonstrators filled the Mission Campus in protest. The school is still fielding outrage from students as the first semester without any ESL offerings on the west side of San

Francisco begins. “The concern that I have is that by eliminating ESL classes from the John Adams Campus, it will prevent some students from ever attending,” new trustee Susan Solomon told The Guardsman. “Students who live on that side of town may not drive, if they have a car, or take a bus ride across town to take a class and then get back home and somehow take care of their families.”

Fanny Law, an ESL instructor, told a reporter that of the almost 200 students who were at John Adams in the fall, only one-fourth returned this semester. She went on to say that the administration “did not use any data to give us any rationale as to why the consolidations were made official. And so far, the classrooms at the Mission Campus are not ready for teaching. I try to come up with some reasons. Honestly, I’m not able to.”

It is still unclear exactly why the ESL program was consolidated. Faculty have said that the administration made these decisions unilaterally. There is some talk that the John Adams Campus will be used as a specialized campus, but currently the classrooms that were used for ESL sit empty. The chancellor has not responded to any of The Guardsman’s requests for comments.

Looking Ahead

Whatever the reason for any class cut or consolidation, it raises serious questions about how City College can stay true to their vision to “provide a sustainable and accessible environment [to] support and encourage student possibilities by building on the vibrancy of San Francisco.”

The new faces on the board, Solomon, Anita Martinez and Vick Chung, ran on a platform calling for the roll back of layoffs and program cuts. “I want to see the viability of reversing the decisions that have been made,” Solomon said. City College waits in suspense to see if and how the board will

"Ghost Students" Haunt California Community Colleges as Fraudulent Applicants Steal Financial Aid and Class Spots

The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office has taken measures to reduce fraud, such as upgrading its admission portal and improving technology to more quickly identify cases of fraud.

By Ann Marie Galvan agalvan1@mail.ccsf.edu

City College and the California Community Colleges system is facing a years-long problem with "ghost students," who are either fake applicants looking to obtain a ".edu" email address, or applicants who receive financial aid but never attend classes. These fake students can clog class rosters and prevent real students from enrolling.

In a conversation with The Guardsman last year, Mark Johnson, the executive director of the department of marketing, communications, and public relations at Peralta College, said that “ghost students” commit fraud at two different levels: fraud “at the enrollment and application stage” is for financial gain, while application fraud at CCCApply, the online admission application center used by all 116 of California’s community colleges, is for the “.edu” email address, which can be used for free or discounted products and services. Community colleges grant the “.edu” email address at the time of application and not at payment and registration, unlike four-year schools.

The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) has installed software to reduce the number of automated applications, but still more than 60,000 fake students applied for financial aid in 2021, resulting in the distribution of hundreds of thousands of dollars of financial aid money to bots, according to the Los Angeles Times. The CCCCO said that the “ghost student” phenomenon is “pandemic-induced” in a memo from January 2022.

Fake students also enroll in classes, filling up rosters and taking spots away from real students. Molly Oleson, journalism instructor at City College, said that her Data and Multimedia Journalism class was over-enrolled with 36 students, but 15 of those students were fraudulent. “I thought the class was overcapacity. I had a couple students on the waitlist who really wanted to take the class but weren’t able to get in because of the fraudulent students registered,” she said. She did not know for sure the students were fraudulent until the first few classes when they did not show up, she added. While the “ghost students” at City College aren’t always noticeable by their name, there are other signs. Oleson said that “they don’t have pictures on their student ID and usually their ID number starts with ‘WA299.’” Oleson said she was instructed to look out for students registered with that number, although she thinks it’s possible bots are now registering under a different number.

The CCCCO, who maintains the admission portal for California community colleges, are aware of the issue. “We’re in the middle of upgrading CCCApply,” Dr. Aisha Lowe, vice chancellor for educational services and support at CCCCO, said. “We made lots of improvements to our technology, to be able to more rapidly identify cases of fraud.”

The CCCCO has updated their “system-wide technology infrastructure” that allows colleges to share suspected fraudulent applications and suspend or block accounts from enrolling, “effectively protecting all other colleges automatically.”

Additionally, the system now requires two-factor authentication, and while not every bot is caught, this reduces the number of malicious application attempts. different number.

The CCCCO, who maintains the admission portal for California community colleges, are aware of the issue. “We’re in the middle of upgrading CCCApply,” Dr. Aisha Lowe, vice chancellor for educational services and support at CCCCO, said. “We made lots of improvements to our technology, to be able to more rapidly identify cases of fraud.”

The CCCCO has updated their “system-wide technology infrastructure” that allows colleges to share suspected fraudulent applications and suspend or block accounts from enrolling, “effectively protecting all other colleges automatically.”

Additionally, the system now requires two-factor authentication, and while not every bot is caught, this reduces the number of malicious application attempts. According to Lowe, transparency with data is a priority for the CCCCO, who reports any instances of fraud to the federal government. Students experiencing registration difficulties caused by bots overloading class lists are encouraged to contact the CCCC

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page 1 - A continued fight for subsidized transportation

According to Chun, “this program requires all students to pay this fee, regardless of whether they utilize the service, thus providing a discount for those that do.”

In response to this proposed fee, Associated Students Executive Council Treasurer Emily Oryall commented, “…this is a lot of money for community college students to pay, especially since many CCSF students go to CCSF specifically because it is free/low cost.” She also stated that the “$128 per semester is almost five times the approximately $29 that students pay in registration/health/ representation fees per semester.” fee, “This is steep and a huge ask for students who lack the funds in the first place to have to pay this upfront with no option to opt out, particularly for our students who are paying out-of-state or international tuition, not to mention our non-credit students.”

The SFMTA does offer programs such as: the Lifeline Pass program which offers a 50% monthly pass discount, the START Clipper program which offers up to a 50% discount on single ride fares on most Bay Area transit areas for individuals at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level, free Muni for all youth 18 years and under regardless of income status and free Muni for Seniors and People with Disabilities for individuals at or below 100% Bay Area Median Income.

While Brandt believes the free Muni program for youth is a “great program,” she stated it does not meet the needs of a majority of City College students, as they are not youth 18 years and under. She also believes “the students in this program are impacted when they age out” and they face “a barrier to accessing their education that they didn't previously have.” every class (which impacts grades) due to cost or not paying for every trip.”

Brandt concluded her comment by saying, “This is the reality when you have to choose between eating or attending class.”

The City College student leaders hope to continue conversations with the SFMTA in an attempt to find a fair solution for all parties involved. They are also in communication with many local, state, and federal leaders with an aim to make transportation for California college students a priority. Furthermore, these students are discussing the potential of a Basic Needs Listening forum at the end of February, as well as another trip to Sacramento in the near future. For more information on these efforts, Brandt can be reached at studentchancellor@mail. ccsf.edu.

Continued from page 1 - Meet the New Trustees at City College

Board member Chung served as student trustee from 2020-2021. As a child of refugees, Chung is passionate about helping low-income, marginalized communities of color. They have been a student at and advocate for City College for the past four years. “While I hope students see me as an additional student voice on the board, more importantly, I hope my experience encourages more students to get involved at the college and deeply engage with the resources available to them.”The three members shared some of their goals with The Guardsman.

Participatory Governance

Trustee Chung has “met with Dr. Martin weekly all in an effort to build collegial trust and effectiveness amongst board members and our administration.”

Enrollment & Registration

Martinez is excited that a Request for Proposal (RFP) is going out to hire a firm who will address registration issues. “We have to make sure that we have the curriculum in a college that will attract the students and we have to have the services that will help the students do everything they need to register and start their classes.”

Budget

Both Martinez and Solomon are on the budget committee. “It makes more sense to align a budget to goals than align goals to a budget,” said Solomon.

Accreditation

Martinez is looking forward to meeting with the visiting team of the accreditation commission in the fall. She remains optimistic that this will provide a positive outcome.

Facilities

While the newest members of the board have expressed their goals for City College, only time will tell how their intentions will come to fruition. With just a few weeks on the board, many at the college anxiously await how these trustees will put

Brandt also commented on this

Students will then have to “juggle figuring that out, even at times not attending

Trustee Solomon wants to “make sure that constituent voices are heard and the participatory governance system is actually working to its full capacity. There can be a difference between making space for voices and letting those voices inform the work.”

As chair of the Facilities Board, Solomon hopes to get back some of the custodians that were laid off last year. “It really just feels like there aren't enough now to take care of the grounds in the buildings.”