City College is falling apart and no-one is going to bail us out

By Patrick Tamayo
The Guardsman

Now that the holidays are over, and a new semester has started, it is slowly becoming clear that our school is in a state of discouragement.

As I write this, our school is on the verge of having to ask for more time to meet the requirements—others like to call them “recommendations”—imposed by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

The commission has not been shy about painting a vivid picture of the possible outcomes for the school—including closure. With the threat of accreditation being pulled, changes are beginning to be implemented.

Changes that many people are resisting, including a unilaterally imposed 8.8 percent pay cut for faculty and staff layoffs.

Although voters recently approved Proposition A—a parcel tax that will net City College around $16 million annually for seven years—the school’s special trustee Bob Agrella recently told the San Francisco Chronicle that “college officials want to use the money to shore up the school’s dangerously low reserves and to pay pension obligations.”

But would voters have approved Proposition A had they known that officials would spend the money on pensions?

It’s hard to say, but in the end everyone might be asking, “What will happen to the money from Proposition A if City College’s accreditation actually gets taken away?

Whether City College is too big to fail remains to be seen, but considering it’s not a big financial institution that the government is willing to swoop in and save, only time will tell.

It’s odd that the government would bail out the makers of the Chrysler Laser and Chrysler Stratus, but let one of the largest community colleges in the country fail.

Sure, it’s not always about the money, but in this case, yes, it is all about money. Money the school does not have, but money nonetheless.

On the bright side, City College only has to pay Agrella $1000 a day.

Everyone should make the most of this semester, because we might all be attending Laney College next semester.