Associated Students Pass Resolution Supporting Downtown Center
The Executive Council passed a resolution backing efforts to save the Downtown Center after the administration moved to pull classes without student input.
By Patricia Baldwin
At the Executive Council meeting on Friday, March 20, student leaders discussed actions students can take to push back on the administration’s decision to stop holding classes at the Downtown Center (DTC).
The Executive Council, which includes Associated Student Council (ASC) members from each of City College’s campuses/centers, meets weekly from 1:10-4 p.m. on Friday afternoons to tackle issues that affect students. On March 20, the council agendized Downtown Center - Updates & Impacts.
Like many students and community members, Executive Council members were surprised to learn about the administration’s plan to close the DTC when it was announced on March 6.
ASC Ocean President Dahlia Gonzalez, who learned of the closure through Instagram, raised questions: “I need more information: Why is this happening? How will it affect students?”
What’s Happening
Chancellor Messina’s email from March 6 states that her “leadership team has made the difficult decision not to schedule classes at the Downtown Center for the Fall semester.”
Student Vice Chancellor Malinalli Villalobos clarified that right now the administration is “not officially closing the DTC; they are moving the classes out of the DTC.”
There is a process that must be followed to close a campus or center, including a vote by the Board of Trustees, which would allow for public comment, according to Villalobos.
However, without classes, the center would effectively be closed even if the doors to the building were to remain open.
Closure by Design
In her letter, Chancellor Messina writes, “enrollment at the center has fallen below the 1000 FTEs threshold.” FTE stands for Full-Time Equivalent and is a standard unit of measurement in district funding formulas.
Student Trustee Angela Campos said, “There’s been a lot of talk from the institution about FTE’s and low enrollment. However, this is closure by design.”
Daniel O’Connell, ESL teacher and ASC Downtown Advisor, said that the FTE’s have been removed from DTC through program cuts and relocations.
O’Connell listed the programs that the administration had previously cut or relocated from the DTC — business classes, the fashion program, the Educated Palate restaurant, foreign language classes — leaving only ESL and the pastry program.
Student-at-Large Lydia Hernandez asked, “How many FTE’s were available at the DTC with so few class/program offerings?”
Villalobos identified the administration’s lack of transparency as a “tactic.” “Less information shared results in less pushback,” Villalobos said.
According to Villalobos, approximately 15 months ago, the Executive Council heard a budget presentation from Dr. Yulian Ligioso, Interim Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, which included information about the funding pressure that the DTC faced.
Since then, budget concerns about DTC have not been raised with the Executive Council. According to Villalobos, no students were involved in the administration’s decision to close the DTC, and executive leadership was not consulted.
On Jan. 28, at a DTC town hall, the Chancellor said that City College wanted to offer more classes at the DTC, according to Anderson Cortes, former ASC Downtown Vice-President (’24-’25).
According to Cortes, students believe they were misled at the town hall; DTC students learned of the plan to remove all the classes in March, just before the media announced the closure plan.
The first meeting between the administration and students at the DTC took place after the closure announcement. According to Malinalli, during that meeting, student leadership recommended that the administration partner with non-profits and/or City Hall to allow them to continue offering classes at the DTC.
Moving Forward
DTC students are already taking action to pressure the administration to reverse course and bring back classes to the DTC. They include a “post-it” writing campaign displayed in the lobby of the DTC building, speaking out at the Board of Trustees meetings, writing letters to the Mayor and Board of Supervisors, submitting an opinion piece to The Guardsman and planning a rally.
The Executive Council officially took a stand via a resolution.
ASC Downtown President Maria Caroliny moved “to endorse and fully support the efforts to Save Downtown Center, have its doors open, and [offer] a plethora of courses and programs.” The motion was seconded, voted on, and passed at approximately 4:07 p.m.