August 12, 2013
An Open Letter to Mayor Ed Lee:
As students of City College of San Francisco, we share the sentiment you expressed at
the July 9, 2013 Board of Supervisors meeting that allowing City College of San
Francisco to close would be “devastating.” Indeed, as the largest working class institution
in San Francisco, a school of immigrants, workers, adult learners, the formerly
incarcerated, and others who depend on it for personal transformation, City College must
not close. But neither can we allow its transformation into an elite, undemocratic school
serving the needs of the few.
At the July 9th meeting, you said that we are in a hurry, and that we must act swiftly and
decisively to meet the accrediting commission’s demands. But we ask that you pause for
a moment to consider why an institution that has been educating San Francisco residents
for seventy-seven years is, in the span of one short year, in danger of being dismantled.
We ask that you consider why the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior
Colleges, an institution that should want us to succeed at the tasks it outlines, imposed
such a severe timetable on meeting those tasks and then administered the disaccreditation
death sentence.
In a San Francisco Chronicle piece you wrote recently with California Community
College Chancellor Brice Harris, you said: “What’s needed now is a stronger hand, a
single individual with the experience, trustworthiness, and focus to turn City College
around.” As a mayor elected by democratic vote, we are alarmed that you would advocate
such a wholly undemocratic solution to CCSF’s present ‘crisis.’ The City College Board
of Trustees was democratically elected by the residents of San Francisco; the macabre
sounding “Super Trustee with Extraordinary Powers” Robert Agrella has never been
approved by San Franciscans and has now been granted absolute power to dictate the
futures of the college and its beneficiaries – the people of San Francisco. We also must
ask you the question, "Why do you think that he can turn City College around now when
he had the chance to do so last year and failed completely?"
In a foreboding display of secrecy and authoritarianism, within two weeks of his
appointment Super Trustee Agrella kicked CCSF Student Trustee Shanell Williams off
the chancellor search committee. When the democratically elected Williams attempted to
attend a meeting she had been directed to, campus police barred her from entering. This
silencing of student voices cannot be tolerated.
The rapid transformations occurring in San Francisco since you were elected in 2011 - a
booming tech sector, massive land development, and a devastating housing crisis – have
not gone unnoticed by members of our community; certainly not by those who would be
shut out by the transformation of City College from a working class institution to a twoyear junior college. When asked about the increasing number of evictions, rising
homelessness and sky-high rents in our city, you recently said that you “didn’t realize we
had a housing crisis.” Perhaps, then, you have also not considered the history of the
ACCJC – its lack of transparency, violation of federal, state and even its own laws, and
its relationship to a national push to privatize public education. We urge you to visit
www.saveccsf.org, where much research and work has already been compiled.
Perhaps you heard the voices of those concerned San Franciscans who marched to the
U.S. Department of Education on July 9th: “Where’s Ed Lee?” they asked. This is
because the community members, students, staff and faculty who care deeply about City
College were hoping that you, their top elected city official, would stand with them in
support of the college, in defense of the attacks and threats of the ACCJC. When many
elected officials, including Assemblyman Tom Ammiano and Supervisors Avalos and
Campos, have already taken a stand with us against the ACCJC’s attacks on our city, we
ask that you join our defense of City College by making a public statement in support of
the following points:

City College of San Francisco must remain an open, accessible, affordable and
democratic public institution serving the diverse needs of all San Francisco
residents.

Call on Chancellor Brice Harris and the California Community College Board of
Governors to immediately reinstate the democratically elected Board of Trustees
and remove the position of the undemocratic so-called “Super Trustee with
Extraordinary Powers” Robert Agrella.

Call on the ACCJC to immediately remove City College from sanction status.

Support an investigation of the ACCJC in regard to conflicts of interest, lack of
transparency, violations of federal and state laws, and violations of its own formal
policies and procedures.

Do not close campuses. Full and immediate reporting of steps that have already
been taken to sell off City College property to private real estate interests. Public
accountability for City College common property, which belongs to the past
generations who paid for it through their taxes and to future generations in
perpetuity.

Democratic community participation in the creation of the CCSF Road Map.

Full and open participation in the hiring of the CCSF Chancellor and Vice
Chancellor.

Release Prop A funds as promised and voted on by San Francisco residents.
City College of San Francisco reflects the values that have made San Francisco a refuge
for so many people – one of opportunity, not just for the wealthy and successful, but for
those who have struggled to turn their lives around. Individuals with little and few places
to go come to City College as an opportunity to transform themselves, to better their own
lives and those of their communities. We see this in grave danger of being undone, not
only if City College is closed – which would be devastating – but also if the college
capitulates to the devastating demands of the ACCJC.
We urge you to stand with us in defense of City College. We are sure that you will.
Sincerely,
Students of the Save CCSF Coaltion