as a masters student at s.f. state. i'll be working with two students from the masters program in the tsaw program at sf state. so, that's important. they are really fearful of what could happen in the next year with the special trustee because we feel like civic center campus might be vulnerable to being closed and i would really like to advocate that we need to keep the vic i can center campus open. i was speaking with edgar torres who is the chair of latino studies department and he noted that as the mission becomes more gentrified, a lot of immigrants are moving to the tenderloin ~ and we really need to be able to serve that population. i also just want to make the point that over the last year the faculty and staff at ccsf formed 14 different work groups to address every recommendation that the accjc cited us on and we put in a lot of hours to try and meet their recommendations. so, it's been a huge slap in

the face that we are at this point now. we think it's very unjust and undeserved and thank you very much for your support today. (applause) >> thank you. next speaker. hi, supervisors. thank you, supervisor cohen, for holding this hearing and supervisor avalos. my name is dennis [speaker not understood]. by the way, i went to city college three years, 1957 to 1960. and then later in the middle of my printing trades career, i decided i wanted to see if i could do something else so i went back to study physiology which was available to me. but that's not what i'm here for. i think you guys know because you've heard it all, that this is a political fight not an education fight. it's a political fight to hold onto this ability to have this kind of capacity to offer. what really is the only working class institution in san francisco that serves more than 90,000 adults here, and many of

them are working full time or half time. so, the question to you is because i can't figure it out, is who can change this decision? who do we put pressure on, aside from [speaker not understood] and meetings and hearings which are all going to be very important to educate people, who makes the decision to reverse this? it's a self-appealing committee that is -- i read about it. it's not a credible body. it's not somebody that you can talk to. so, who is the target of the political pressure? i don't know, but i hope when you guys get involved because i think it's going to take you guys to do this as well as a whole lot of the rest of us. i hope you can figure out exactly who we target because it's only a year. and i heard the statement today it's going to take a very long time to do this evaluation process. there isn't that much time. so, what do we do in the year and how do we do it? because if times goes on and

thing linger and there's no target, the year will pass and they will make the decision and they just may downsize the college because that may be what they're doing using threat of closure as leverage. leverage closure to scare the crap out of people. >> thank you. next speaker. (applause) hi, thank you for you all for your stamina. what you do for city college and what you do every day. it is a phenomenal amount of energy you put into. this my name is tracy wheeler. i left a very high pressure job about 10 years ago and took 10 classes at city college that shifted me out of corporate marketing. i worked for the gap, and into mission marketing advocacy for -- [speaker not understood] i worked with southern exposure for 7 years and i now work for bennington college helping them negotiate some of the same

forces, different, but very similar forces that are massing on the horizon of higher education. this is, as everybody said, i really big battle. it's a battle for our values. i think it could potentially be the conversation for san francisco right now, not just about city college, but also about who we are as a city, what our values are and what we believe in. i think any city that gets called the snobbiest city in the country, which we he just were by travel and leisure, a city that get tarred by the same brush that silicon valley is. with google, all the things going on, we really need to talk about not just what city college offers, but what it means as an institution of diversity, of accessibility, of welcome in a city at a time when the counter narrative is that we're closing down, we're not accessible, and we're not interested in anybody who is not rich. so, please, please, i hope that

we can all work together and take this very seriously. thank you. >> thank you. (applause) >> are there any other members of the public who would like to comment? if so, please come forward. and seeing no one else come forward, we can close public comment. >> all right. public comment is closed. [gavel] >> well, thank you, everyone, for being here and for providing your input and your stamina as well for this hearing. it's been about three hours, i think, maybe more. this has been a learning process for me. i've spent the past year looking at how come there's all these different points of view that aren't seeming to geling together and to* give me a right sense to weigh in on the issue. in fact since it's under my jurisdiction. but i thought that when the board of trustees ~ were suspended that we needed to provide some kind of public

space for people to come together. i've had real concerns. i actually throwing up the fact or the idea that the accrediting commission is completely unaccountable, that it doesn't have any linkage to state public education institutions except that it can rule over some of them at the local level, has been a scary thought and one that i think needs further investigation. i haven't read aft's or cft's report. i'm going to look at that. i think it's important to, you know, question that, but i also think at the same time it's important that there is a strong process that is going to work towards keeping the college open, keeping accreditation together. i do think there is significant resources as reported by archy mendoza, the mayor's education director that the mayor's office is involved at some level. i do think that the mayor's office needs to have a public space to be able to share its work and also a place where the

public can exhort the mayor's office to be accountable to the community. i'm happy to hear assembly member tom ammiano's office is active >> citith level. i think we need to hear from congressional leaders as well as what is happening at the federal level as well. the issue could go to the federal level about who has accountable -- the accjc could be accountable to. there were comments we'll hear about that as well. it was before the hearing i met with students from smac and coleman advocates. someone actually concerning me over the past years, how come there's students and faculty that don't seem to be on the same page on a lot of things. the students who came and spoke really spoke with a lot of emotion about how they feel their voice hasn't been heard. that's something i think cannot be denied. and one of the things i hope to come out of this hearing would be how there could be some way

to get people to the other end of work so their voices can be heard from the other side. i think the students need to have sense that the school is making headway and not just hearing their voices, but implementing their ideas into action that come from them. it is something that -- the only way they're going to actually feel there is actual meaningful change that is happening. this process doesn't lead to some changes being made, there is the opportunity to have their voices implemented. i'd like to see that happen. my office is -- works on a myriad of issues here at city hall, but i am willing to devote some of my staff and interns' time to be able to, you know, hear from community groups, from labor groups, from people who are administrators and faculty at the college, perhaps even the trustee and others to sort out what's going on and have a stronger point of view. i'm willing to work towards

building greater unity within the city to make sure that we can actually make valid changes and keep this college together. and, so, i offer that, you know, in the coming months to do that. and, you know, people can contact me directly by e-mail. my office phone, telephone lines, personally, my staff will be working directly with raquel [speaker not understood]. and calling my office and e-mailing her would be a way to go as well. i'm also on facebook. so, with that, if there are -- i think supervisor tang has comments as well. but i do really appreciate people coming here and i want to make sure that we are playing a role to support the efforts to save and improve city college. >> all right. well, i just wanted to really thank supervisor avalos for your leadership on this issue and of course thank you to all the people who came out and spoke. we really enjoyed listening about the diversity of opinions

you have and experiences that you've had through city college. certainly i even have peers to this day who decided to go back to city college to take extra courses. so, we truly do know how important it is to maintain this incredible institution. and i know that all of the members on the board of supervisors don't want to see it closed. i think that regardless of whatever your opinion is on the accrediting commission that improvements that have been recommended to city college will help in the long run. a lot of people spoke about not only just maintaining city college, but making sure it thrives in the future. i think that the improvements that will be made and that have already been made would not only help the students who are currently there, the people who are currently working there, but people who in the future will decide to go to city college. so, i know that all the members of the board and especially supervisor avalos who will work very hard to make sure city college can remain a viable institution in the future, so, thank you everyone for coming out. >> if we could perhaps continue this to the call of the chair. >> perfect, okay.

let's go ahead and close out public comment. i don't know if i -- okay. public comment is closed. [gavel] >> there's been a motion to file to the call of the chair and it's been seconded and it's been unanimous. this motion is accepted and filed. is there anything else you wanted to say? >> just to continue -- >> i'm sorry, continued to the call of the chair. >> thank you. >> it's been a long day, folks. okay, thank you, everyone, for coming out. and i thank you for caring. (applause) >> madam clerk, are there any other matters before this body? >> that concludes our business for the day. >> thank you, this body is adjourned. [gavel] >> thank you. [adjourned]

>> i tried to think about this room as the dream room, where we dream and bring some of those dreams to life.

i feel very blessed that i have been able to spend the last 31 years of my life doing it my way, thinking about things better interesting to me, and then pursuing them. there are a lot of different artists that come here to work, mostly doing aerial work. kindred spirits, so to speak. there is a circus company that i have been fortunate enough to work with the last couple of years. i use elements of dance and choreography and combine that with theater techniques. a lot of the work is content- based, has a strong narrative. the dancers have more of a theatrical feel. i think we are best known for our specific work. in the last 15 years, spending a lot of time focusing on issues

that affect us and are related to the african-american experience, here in the united states. i had heard of marcus shelby and had been in join his work but never had the opportunity to meet him. we were brought together by the equal justice society specifically for this project. we were charged with beginning work. marquez and i spent a lot of time addressing our own position on the death penalty, our experiences with people who had been incarcerated, family members, friends of friends. pulling our information. beyond that, we did our own research. to create a picture that resonated with humanity.

it is the shape of a house. in this context, it is also small and acts like a cell. i thought that was an interesting play on how these people make these adjustments, half to create home. what is home for these people? the home is their cell. people talk a lot about noise -- very noisy in prisons. that is interesting to me. looking at the communication level, the rise of frustration of being caged, wondering, where does redemption fit into the equation here? [singing]

i think both of us really believe the death penalty is wrong, and is flawed for many reasons. the list is as long as my arm -- about several others. we feel this is important for both of us, personally, to participate in the debate of this issue in a way that we can help people frame it for a conversation.