We, the undersigned, urge the Board of Trustees of City College of San Francisco not to lay off over fifty tenured and tenure-track faculty.  These layoffs will result in the elimination of hundreds of classes at CCSF, removing vital educational opportunities from thousands of students. The situation is aggravated because hundreds of part-timers from the targeted Departments must be fired before full-time faculty are removed.This attack on CCSF is part of the privatization and destruction in our colleges and schools throughout the country and must be stopped.

City College of San Francisco is suffering death by a thousand cuts.  In the Fall of 2012, claiming lack of funding, the CCSF administration began cutting classes and student services, firing hundreds of part-time instructors who were the lifeblood of the school. Classes for San Franciscans of all ages, incomes, genders, colors, ethnicities, backgrounds and cultures were eliminated.  And the damage continues.

This February the CCSF Board of Trustees authorized that pink slips (layoff notices) be sent to fifty full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty advising them that they would soon be laid off. If finalized in May, these firings will lead to drastic class cuts and continued downsizing of the College. But these class cuts and firings are not necessary. City College has enough money, if only the Trustees and the Chancellor would consider alternative budget proposals.

City College of San Francisco is at a breaking point. The Trustees must reconsider their flawed budget proposals. They must reject proposed class cuts and layoffs that will lead to a downward spiral in enrollment. Tragically, the College is rapidly losing its ability to provide necessary classes and job training to support the City’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s time to rebuild City College of San Francisco into the thriving school it once was that has served all San Franciscans for decades.

The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee has recently passed a Resolution demanding the CCSF Board of Trustees refuse to enact the proposed layoffs and further cuts to the College. They further urge the Board of Trustees to work with staff, faculty, students, organized labor, community members and elected officials to work on a plan to bring necessary revenue to City College. We support this Resolution.

We repeat our demand that the City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees votes not to approve the layoffs of over fifty faculty, votes not to eliminate any classes, and votes to work collaboratively with all CCSF stakeholders to restore the CCSF budget to enable CCSF to grow and continue to serve all San Franciscans.