Save City College General Assembly @ City College Ocean Campus

How the Gentrifiers are Gentrifying City College: Land Grabs, Student Push-out Policies and Downsizing

Join in a roundtable discussion of the rotten underbelly of the City College accreditation crisis: An official in Sacramento told Tom Ammiano that Mayor Lee did not want the elected Board of Trustees to be reinstated yet, as important real estate deals need
to be completed.

We will analyze the “January surprises” in which the current administration pushed out some 3100 already-
enrolled students in a single week—in the middle of a major enrollment crisis! On January 7, 2015, some
1400 students with small overdue payments were robo-dropped about five weeks before their financial aid
arrived, throwing their work schedules and childcare arrangements into chaos, and losing the college many
thousands in state appropriations.

On January 9th, the administration announced the abrupt closure of the Civic Center Tenderloin campus on
one afternoon’s notice, on the grounds of seismic concerns. When some 2000 new immigrant students
showed up for their ESL classes on Monday, the doors were locked and the administration provided
directions to alternate sites—written in English! Only 300 students ever made it to an alternate site. 1700
more students gone—the same “disposable” non-credit students de-prioritized by the Student Success Act
and the administration. Fiasco– or downsizing policy?

We will have a round table to share analysis and information (invited speakers below):

 The Shock Doctrine and Disaster Capitalism—short videos on lessons from Chicago, where public school
closures have been concentrated in gentrifying Black and Latino neighborhoods close to valuable downtown
real estate;

 A short slideshow on the Reservoir Wars in the 80s and 90s, in which the real estate industry
unsuccessfully tried three times to pass a ballot measure for luxury housing development at the Reservoir.
Grassroots organizing won the day! The real estate industry also tried to tear down Balboa High School to
build condos—grassroots organizing won the day!

 MECHA and Asian Student Union organizers will discuss the payment policy;

 James Tracy will discuss the Civic Center closure and community resistance;

 AFT 2121;

 Update on the PAEC and the May 5th meeting about the Reservoir.