A Housing Advocate's Bid to Keep City College Free

The candidate, Jeremy Lee, has worked in housing for the better part of the decade, wants to become a college board trustee this coming Nov. 3.

Lee opposes any further cuts to Free City College or the district's noncredit programs. "I won't support any cuts," Lee said, adding that he hopes to "grow the noncredit program."

Lee compared the college's enrollment waitlist to “The Hunger Games,” a the film depicting a dystopian future that causes regular people to fight for scraps from the elite.

"It's like rationing education, which should be a right," he said.

He said he wants trustees to find "common ground, regardless of political ideology." 

"I want to work in good faith and assume that trustees are all student-centering," he said. "If not for the students, then what are we doing? Students are the heart and soul of what we do."

He noted that there is a "strong correlation" between his campaign and Connie Chan's congressional campaign "to [deliver] for the Chinese community," while stressing the focus extends "not just [to] Chinese people but all marginalized communities." 

"I have a very strong relationship with Supervisor Chan, and she has endorsed my campaign," Lee said.

He sees Supervisor Chan "supporting education" and having her in Congress "will be good for the college," saying that he has "seen what she does at the Board [of Supervisors]."

Health care workers would "benefit from taking Cantonese classes," he added.

Chan, Lee said, is "an absolute champion for City College, and without her advocacy, Free City would have been cut." Chan is a sitting member of the Budget and Finance Committee that worked with the mayor's office for Free City College program's $9.3 million for FY 2026-27. Mayor Daniel Lurie approved a $7.2 million for FY 2027-28 in the same city budget.

He defines Free City as a program where "you can be formerly homeless, go to City College and rebuild your life, and be a productive member of society." 

He is concerned about the status of non-credit classes.

Coming from classes at Skyline College and College of San Mateo, he understands the need for educational accessibility.

The Downtown Center, he said, "made education much more accessible." He doesn't want "geography to be an issue for anyone" trying to receive education. 

Lee heard "stories about people who work downtown and take classes at Downtown [Center] at the end of [their] day." He includes the Southeast sector of the city, which lost its City College campus in 2023 when students, faculty and staff were asked to "clear out" with only a day’s notice.

The former Southeast Center at 1800 Oakdale Ave. is in the Bayview District but "the folks in the outer regions [of the city], Mission Bay, Russian Hill" might "find it hard to commute all the way to the Ocean Campus." 

Making of a Candidate

Lee is the co-president of the Rose Pak Asian American Club, a member of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club and the California Working Families Party, and served on the city's Redistricting Task Force from 2021 to 2022. 

He volunteered on Jane Kim's 2018 mayoral campaign and was a staff member for District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen's 2024 run, work he described as "mobilizing for a large number of progressive candidates and ballot measures." 

Lee co-hosts a podcast highlighting San Francisco politics from an Asian American perspective, called “Between the Fog and Fury,” with longtime friends Natalie Gee and Michael Nguyen, started, he said, "because we don't often hear voices from our community." He called it a "normal, random conversation between friends" that turned into something all three wanted to keep doing.

Lee was born at Children's Hospital on California Street to union-worker parents. His family later moved to South San Francisco, where he is a graduate of El Camino High School.

Lee said the candidacy paperwork alone has been "a lot,” which was echoed by Bunny McFadden, who’s running on the same slate.