​An Open Letter to the City College Board-- Trustees, make clear our City College values:

The Multi-Use Building must be preserved for students!

In 2015, the special trustee running City College moved to lease 33 Gough St. to a real estate corporation that will demolish the building and build luxury condos. Now, of course, the administrative staff who work at 33 Gough must relocate. The administration was rushing ahead with a proposal to take over most of the MU for these offices.

Scores of students and faculty came out to a Board of Trustees meeting in March to say that the Multi Use Building must be used for students, not for offices! Many speakers agreed that the first floor could be designated for a one-stop student services center with financial aid and testing, but the second and third floors must be kept for students!

We need the Board of Trustees to set forth the principle that City College’s best classroom space must be kept for student use, and have the administration come up with other plans for relocating offices. The administration must house the various departments now at 33 Gough in spaces that won’t disrupt education—like how about where financial aid and testing are currently, after those departments have moved to the MU? Everyone wants the good people at 33 Gough to have suitable offices—but not all departments need to be in one spot. Finding office space should not come at the expense of our educational mission. Also, plans must not be finalized over the summer, when many people are away.

We know how important this beautiful building is to education, providing the newest, smartest and best classrooms City College has to offer. Close to mass transit and parking, MU is by far the best building for night and weekend classes, when easy access is a real safety issue, at times when many less people are on campus. Several of the classrooms were carefully designed for Child Development and Health Education career programs, to meet special requirements—for example, the health care interpreter program needs a space that can accommodate language coaching for six different languages at a time. Two student resource rooms support thousands of disadvantaged students who are facing special challenges.

The voters of SF passed a bond measure to build the MU for instruction. These voters have consistently supported City College with bond measures and parcel taxes. It would be terrible public relations to now pull a ‘bait and switch’ on the voters’ intentions.

The Board of Trustees must not allow the special trustee’s decision to sell 33 Gough to luxury housing developers, to translate into a decision to take our best building away from students. This pill would simply be too bitter to swallow.

Our college is supposed to help students reach their potential and provide a better future. The MUB is key to that success.

Sponsoring Organizations

* The CCSF Solidarity Committee