All By Her Lonesome: Ferguson Unopposed In Trustees Race
Board of Trustees Member Ruth Ferguson is up for election, with no competition in sight.
Trustee Ruth Ferguson’s seat is an interesting part of the race since, and by default of having no opposition, it’s a guarantee she’ll complete the term she is a candidate for.
Ferguson is seeking a seat on the Community College Board “to bring stakeholders together and find reasonable, common sense solutions” to issues facing City College.
“Enrollment, to me, is a really interesting issue,” Ferguson said, adding that while decreasing enrollment is a national trend, “at City College it’s been quite dramatic.”
In the time since the Free City program began at City College in 2017, national enrollment in two-year public colleges decreased by 23%, while City College’s enrollment decreased by 38%. These numbers were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the 15% difference between them suggests that other factors were at play. This last year has seen modest increases from fall 2023 to spring 2024 both nationally (by 2.5%) and at City College (by 1.3%).
Ferguson said that while Free City “is an incredible program and … a resource that is needed,” the disproportionate decline in City College enrollment suggests that other barriers remain.
She said the “sharp increase in cost of living in San Francisco” and the “astronomical price of childcare” as potential avenues for research when trying to understand “what’s keeping people from utilizing Free City.”
City College’s arrangement with the City and County of San Francisco over funds generated by Proposition W, a 2016 transfer tax increase, is such that earmarked money can only be used for costs associated with Free City. An estimate in The Chronicle pegs currently untapped funds at $23 million. Between the threat of a funding freeze and the promise of subsidized units, the Free City program appears to be an important piece of the enrollment puzzle.
Ferguson also points to the college’s history of accreditation issues, especially as they pertain to public confidence.
She said she spoke with one San Francisco resident that did not consider City College years ago when pursuing her education because “she was afraid that her credits wouldn’t be able to transfer.”
City College has maintained its accreditation for nearly 90 years. The most serious threat to it, the 2012 “show cause” order from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, ended in a judicial ruling critical of how the commission handled its case and provided the college with a way forward. This, however, can be difficult to explain to a public that has gotten used to hearing about cuts and cliffs, many of whom work while attending college classes leaving them little time to unpack the nuances of a site visit or a warning from a commission.
As a public policy analyst, Ferguson’s approach is to seek out “models of schools that have faced decline or … even more severe accreditation issues than the one the college is in currently,” adding, “the Board should be a convener to some degree … for those conversations and that sort of bridge building.”
She is making her way through a busy campaign season as she pursues the last half of a four-year trustee term. The role was appointed to her in January.
She will be eligible to run another two campaigns for the college board, totaling in eight years in office if elected in all, after the November elections.
She credits her community college education with helping to make it possible for her to attend a four-year university and save thousands of dollars in the process.
She has since completed a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Washington and a master’s in public policy from University of California, Berkeley.
Prior to applying to the master’s program at Berkeley, Ferguson returned to community college to complete several prerequisite classes.
“I would not have gotten into my grad program,” she said, “if I hadn’t had access to that sort of affordable education.”
In the last five years, she has worked as a field representative for the California State Assembly, conducted a policy analysis for State Senator Dave Cortese, and co-founded Stop Sexual Harassment in Politics (SHIP).
In terms of increasing enrollment, she said this may include “finding meaningful pathways to increase dual enrollment … increase the pipeline between SFUSD and City College.” She also suggested adopting policies that reduce barriers to entry for parents by providing free childcare citing Mission College’s lab school program for enrolled students.
“With meaningful collaboration,” Ferguson said, “the college can be in a much stronger state than it is today.”
