Volume 138, Issue 5
News
THE CHANGING FACE OF CITY COLLEGE
BY
ADAM BRODY
Staff Writer
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As the second largest school in the country, City College serves more than 110,000 students annually — and projections indicate these numbers may increase by as much as 3 percent annually through the next decade.
In response to anticipated enrollment increases, City College has initiated a master plan, which will result in new developments at several of the college’s 12 campuses and 100 educational sites.
State projections on enrollment, classified as the total number of matriculated undergraduate students, were prepared in early 2003 and are based on a variety of factors. These include increased tuition fees and eligibility requirements for UC and CSU schools, and the fact that baby boomers will reach college age within the next 10 years.
In an April 13 statement, Chancellor Philip R. Day, Jr. indicated that the average age of City College students is 33 years old, largely due to people leaving the workforce in search of more marketable skills. Day’s memo also concluded that more than one-half of students in San Francisco taking credit courses for the first time are not from the recent pool of high school graduates.
Many of these returning students are immigrants and people in need of remedial courses. Stat-istics show that 75 percent of all degree recipients at City College have taken at least one remedial level course. As the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems continue their plan to phase out remedial level classes, these students will increasingly turn to community colleges.
City College boasts a high ethnic population, who often tend to access undergraduate education through community colleges at a much higher rate than Cau-casian students. Currently over one-third of the college’s students are of Asian/Pacific Island-er decent, nearly one-quarter are either Hispanic or Filipino and nine percent are black.
The college is also home to 680 out-of-state students, and 12 percent of its population holds a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Other factors affecting projected enrollment are the increase in statewide population and the growing number of college age residents. “Almost one in 10 San Franciscans attend City College during the course of a year and it looks like that number is climbing,” said Steven Spurling, from the Office of Research, Planning and Grants.
Fields such as health care and child development are in high de-mand. “Practically every program in the health care field has serious shortages [of trainers],” Day said.
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“The Child and Family Studies program educates more than 4,000 students [annually], and is the largest and most comprehensive trainer of multi-ethnic childcare professionals in San Francisco.” The city of San Francisco has approximately 1,350 licensed child care professionals for al-most 54,000 children, according to Chan-cellor Day.
The School of Liberal Arts also enrolled high numbers of students, and experienced a 16.57 percent increase in full-time equivalent students from fall 2003 to fall 2004.
Enrollment projections at City College are consistent with current trends at many of the college’s satellite campuses. The Fort Mason, Evans, John Adams, Castro-Valencia and Mission sites all show significant increases in the total number of students from fall 2003 through fall 2004.
Although the Chinatown/ North Beach campus saw a slight decline in attendance through this period, enrollment is expected to pick up as a new site is developed over the next few years. “The population of San Francisco may be declining, but nonetheless we have increasing graduation rates,” Spurling said.
Other programs bringing students to City College include the Welcome Back Initiative, aimed at the college’s 1,377 foreign students. It is a collaborative effort with San Francisco State Uni-versity (SFSU) and is geared toward helping immigrants.
“It’s a spin-off of the community health program designed to provide a re-entry opportunity for medical and health personnel who were educated, trained and licensed in foreign countries,” but lack U.S. credentials in the health field, Day said.
The Numbers
- The average student is 33 years old.
- One third of the students are of Asian/Pacific Islander decent.
- Twelve percent of students hold a B.A. degree or higher.
- More than one-half of students taking credit courses for the first time are not high school graduates.
e-mail: abrody@theguardsman.com
THE MASTER PLAN: City College unveils plans for an extreme makeover
BY GITANJALI BHUSHAN
Staff Writer
Download our detailed map of the new campus!
City College is undergoing an extreme makeover that will add five new buildings and reconfigure others, bringing significant changes to the face of Ocean campus by the year 2008 and beyond.
“Over the next 10 to 12 years, we’re going to be spending close to a half a billion dollars on rebuilding City College, and if that doesn’t give us a new face … nothing else will,” said Chancellor Philip R. Day, Jr.
The City College Master Plan calls for the construction of a new Student Health Center, a Child Development Center, a Community Health and Wellness Center, a Classroom/Lab Complex for Theater, Music, Visual and Media Arts Programs and a Joint-Use Academic Facility shared by City College and San Francisco State University.
The first three buildings are already underway, funded by bond money from Proposition A, passed in 2001, which gave the college $195 million for these and other projects.
According to Chancellor Day, the last two buildings will be financed by a combination of state funds and a second bond measure expected in 2006-2007.
Currently planned for the Balboa Reservoir, the $60 to $70 million Arts Complex will feature classrooms, labs and an auditorium.
The new auditorium replaces the Diego Rivera Theater, which will become the new Center for Pan-American Unity and Studies, with the Diego Rivera mural as its centerpiece.
The Joint-Use Facility, or Academic Facility Building, is in the preliminary planning stage this year and will probably be constructed on the site of the demolished North and South Gyms, according to Chancellor Day.
Peter Goldstein, vice chancellor of finance and administration, said $40 million is only an estimate for the cost of constructing this building, as well as the other buildings involved in the master plan.
Day said the Joint-Use Facility will contain classrooms, lab space, and facilities for students in the joint programs, and will not be completed until fall of 2008.
According to Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities Management James Blomquist, contractors are already being pre-qualified for the Student Health Center. Bids will be submitted for construction by early November.
The center opens next December and will consolidate health services currently housed in bungalows and scattered in buildings around campus. The two-story building, replacing Parking Lot E and four bungalows along Phelan Avenue, will contain student health services on the ground floor and 10 general-use classrooms on the second.
The Child Development Center will start construction early next year along Judson Avenue adjacent to the Health Center, and open in December 2005. It replaces childcare facilities currently housed in aging bungalows, and will also function as a “practical lab for early childhood education,” according to Day.
Day said approximately 25 bungalows will replaced by permanent classrooms. “When we went out on Prop. A in 2001, one of the promises that we made to the people was to get rid of these awful bungalows,” he said.
To solve the short-term space crunch, City College will acquire additional land on Havelock Street. Day said the college would put some “very temporary, modular classroom buildings,” on the site “that would help us keep our numbers up as far as available classroom spaces, until we build the joint use facility and some of these other classroom buildings.”
The Community Health and Wellness Center will be built on the sites of Parking Lot B, and the current practice field, which will be relocated to the area between Batmale Hall and the football field.
Designs have already been submitted to the state for review. Construction will begin in mid-March 2005, and the center will open in early 2007.
The $55 million Wellness Center will replace the existing gyms with a huge gymnasium that can be divided into six courts. The three-story center will also contain three classrooms, athletic and dance studios, yoga, martial arts, aerobics rooms, weight training, wellness-life fitness labs, a 25-meter swimming pool and a “black box theater” for small dance performances, according to Tobin Kendrick, the campus architect.
The Master Plan calls for surface lots to be replaced by underground parking, but Blomquist said the total number of parking spaces will remain essentially the same, and Day said it might even increase “by a factor of 500-750 spaces.”
e-mail: gbhushan@theguardsman.com
THERE'S A NEW CHIEF ON THE BLOCK: City College's top cop impresses staff, making safety high priority
BY
SUSAN BARNES
Staff Writer
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ERIC CHAVEZ / GUARDSMANCity College’s new Chief of Police Carl S. Koehler had hardly moved into his office and met his department personnel before he was confronted with the first day of the fall semester. With the start of the 2004 term came the chaos of more than 36,000 students arriving at Ocean campus and trying to find new classrooms amid massive parking reconstruction and traffic jams.
It was a mighty test, and one that Koehler seemingly passed with honors.
Chancellor Philip R. Day, Jr. gives him a lot of credit. “I am so impressed with Carl from his first few weeks on the job,” he said. “He’s engaged, he’s involved and he’s in the forefront of providing leadership.”
A campus police office worker, who didn’t want to be named, was more personal in her assessment. “It’s been great,” she told The Guardsman. “He’s well liked — no problems.”
Being the City College police chief is a second career for Koehler, who retired from 29 years with the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department last year. In the sheriff’s office, Koehler achieved the rank of Chief De-puty, the highest merit position in the department.
At City College, Koehler is now responsible for the safety and security of more than 100,000 students on 12 San Francisco City College sites. He has a force of 31 sworn officers and 10 civilians to help him.
“The issues are different than in the job I had before,” Koehler said. “It’s definitely a full-time job.”
He sees traffic violations and petty theft as the worst safety and security issues at City College, and feels students don’t have much other than that to worry about. “I mean, it’s just like anywhere else in the city,” he said. “[But] people here have a mission, and that’s education. I think by and large, our campuses are safe places to be.”
Koehler attended Mission Dolores Elementary, Aptos Middle School, Lowell High School, and City College before enlisting in the U.S. Navy as a submarine sailor. He joined the sheriff’s office in 1975 after his return home from a tour of duty that fortunately did not in-clude any stints in Vietnam.
Later, Koehler ob-tained a bachelor’s degree in Organiza-tional Behavior from the University of San Francisco, and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Golden Gate Univer-sity. After his retirement, he was named 2003 Peace Officer of the Year by the San Francisco chapter of the National Latino Peace Off-icers Association.
A professor as well as a professional law enforcement off-icer, Koehler has taught courses like “Jails and Prisons” and “The Architecture of Incarceration” in the criminal justice department at San Francisco State University. He plans to return to teaching next semester in addition to his job at City College.
About City College, Koehler says, “I’m having a good time. The people are great here. One thing I’ve noticed, there’s probably a higher percentage of native San Franciscans than any place I’ve ever seen... that’s always nice.”
e-mail: sbarnes@theguardsman.com
BY PAULETTE BLEAM
Editor
City College plans to phase out STARS, the Student Telephone Automated Registration System. Once STARS is eliminated, students may only enroll for classes online or in person.
On Nov. 16, spring registration begins and students will still have the option of using STARS until Dec. 23.
Ninety-five percent of City College students currently register online, while only 1,500 students enroll over the telephone.
Chancellor Philip R. Day, Jr. said, “most students who are accessing web registration are doing it through their own computers.” He stressed that City College computer labs are available all over campus for students.
One major reason for discontinuing the system is reliability concerns.
“If our phone system was working properly, I’d love to keep it operating. But the fact is, it’s not,” Day said.
A new telephone system would cost the school $100,000, plus an additional $100,000 per year to maintain.
Information will be sent out to students who utilized telephone registration in Fall 2004, detailing steps to follow when enrolling online. Workshops will be offered and staff made available to assist students.
e-mail: citynewseditor@theguardsman.com
CLOUT OF YOUTH VOTE: ICC clubs mobilize students to act
BY HALIE JOHNSON
Editor
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ERIC CHAVEZ / GUARDSMANWith the presidential election approaching, political apathy at City College remains an obstacle for groups attempting to get students to the polls. That hasn’t stopped them from trying.
Students Supporting Students (aka SCubed), the Women’s Re-source Center and the Young Democrats were active in registering students to vote by Oct. 18.
Emily Salgado is the president of the new Young Democrats Club. She started the club out of disappointment with the lack of political discussion and involvement on campus. “I was frustrated and surprised with how apathetic students are on campus,” she said.
The Young Democrats have tabled on campus to register voters and inform them about the democratic ideology. They are also active off-campus. According to Salgado, they are phone-banking to the swing states, trying to get in contact with young people and encourage them to vote.
SCubed member Jose Villa-lobos and Tracy Faulkner of the Family Resource Center asked students to join a voter registration training early in October. “We’re looking for volunteers to go out on the streets and register young people,” Villalobos said.
A flyer for the registration training compelled students to “get pissed and help mobilize the student vote for progressive change.”
Salgado said that a group at City College hopes to start a Young Republicans Club but they are not yet recognized by the Inter Club Council. “I’d love for them to get up and running,” Salgado said. She hopes to help organize a student debate between the two clubs.
e-mail: metronewseditor@theguardsman.com
FLOWER POWER: City College students earn award in floral design competition
BY SEYLA MARTINEZ
Staff Writer
NATHAN WEYLAND / GUARDSMAN |
City College students participated in the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) Symposium Student Competition over the Fourth of July weekend in New York City.
The seven students who participated in the competition paid their own expenses or received sponsorship from the American Institute of Floral Designers, which covered their registration fees. “We were lucky that we received a scholarship before the competition bec-ause the trip was expensive,” participant Hidemi Onoda said.
The competition took place on July 3. Seven judges evaluated the entries based on balance, scale, line, creativity, unity, depth, focal emphasis, mechanics and category interpretation.
There were four major categories for the student competition, including hospital design, bridal design, corsage design and sympathy design. The People’s Choice Award was judged by all of the competitors. A special dried materials category was also included.
Four City College students won awards. Hidemi Onoda — a first-time participant — won first place in the dried materials design category and third place in the People’s Choice Award competition. “It was a good experience; I met a lot of people. Although I was nervous when I first got there, I was glad to see other students competing,” Onoda said.
Two-time competitor Kaori Imaizumi won first place in the People’s Choice Award competition, second place in dried materials design and third place in hospital design. “We practiced more than other competitors and had more skills. We learned how to do different designs and used different techniques,” Imaizumi said.
Hae Jung Song won second place for her sympathy design and Katherine O’Connor received third place in dry design.
“I had the opportunity of participating in the Student Design Competition, which was a fantas-tic experience to-wards gaining my AIFD accreditation,” Deborah Hilton, a first-time participant, said.
After being judged, every design was displayed for the competitors to see.
“It was a good experience and meaningful experience for everyone that went,” Depart-ment Chair of Environmental Horticulture/ Floristry Steven Brown said.
e-mail: smartinez@theguardsman.com
City College at Large
Call or e-mail Adam Brody with campus wide news to
(415) 239-3446 or associatenews@theguardsman.com
Chinatown/North Beach
Counselors have started visiting classrooms for their Orientation for Liter-acy program. The program, which runs at the beginning of every semester, is designed to give recent arrivals to this country an overview of how City College works. Armed with a sense of humor, the counselors also try to raise awareness of cultural differences, touching on topics such as spitting, littering and the use of modern bathroom facilities.
Fort Mason Campus
The Continuing Education program is up and running at Fort Mason. A variety of weekend workshops are being offered on-site, at Marina Middle School and at the Downtown campus. Although many of the classes have already started, students can still enroll in classes that teach Japanese-style gift wrapping, stained glass, jewelry making, early California recipes, ballroom dancing and photocopy transfer techniques, to name a few. For a complete list of classes visit: www.ccsf.edu/Services/continuing_education.
Mission Campus
Dean of Mission Cam-pus Carlota del Portillo is still waiting to find out when the campus will be moving to its temporary location on Alabama Street. The Mission Campus will move to the Alabama location for an estimated two years while the existing college is being rebuilt. “We’re meeting with coordinators and administrators right now to plan for where classrooms and other rooms will go at the new campus,” Portillo said.
John Adams Campus
The Associated Student Council’s (ASC) new off-ice was dedicated this month. Senior Manage-ment Assistant Joseph Kelleher said that the ASC was formerly located “in a dark, cramped corner space . . . in the school auditorium.” The new office located in room 49 is much larger and brighter. It features a conference table and two work stations with updated equipment.
Short Cuts
Students Support Hotel Strike
City College students picketed outside Ram Plaza at noon on Thursday, Oct. 7 to support the Unite Here union strike, aimed at the San Francisco Multi-Employer Group, which includes 14 San Francisco hotels.
Students marched with picket signs, and later traveled by bus to the Argent Hotel to protest.
Starbucks Making Its Move on City College
Talk is circulating around the downtown campus that a Starbucks may be installed on the ground floor, where the school is completing a major restaurant renovation. Bids are now on the table. “I am opposed … this touches a lot of deeper concerns,” ESL instructor Brandon Fine said.
Fewer Deaths of Young Drivers
A CNN report revealed that fewer young drivers aged 15 to 20 are dying due to automobile accidents. While there were 429 more accidents involving drivers and their passengers in this decade compared to previous decades, the numbers have decreased over the last year by 6.3 percent. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that 3,657 drivers died in 2003 compared to 3,827 in 2002.
English Eligibility Exam
The English dept. will conduct eligibility exams between Nov. 16 and Nov. 19. This exam is given only once a semester for students who wish to skip one or more English classes and for initial placement into an English class. Students must maintain a C or higher in their current English class in order to take the exam. Preperation workshops are offered on Wed., Nov. 3 and Tues., Nov. 9. For more information, contact Joan Wilson at 239-3574.