Supervisors hear City College update as court injunction and interim lease buy time for restoration

The Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors met May 7 to hear an update on City College of San Francisco amid ongoing litigation with its accreditor, the ACCJC, and sharp enrollment losses that threaten the college's finances. Chair Eric Marr opened by framing the hearing around two developments: litigation outcomes that paused termination of accreditation and a newly signed interim lease to restore Civic Center courses.

Deputy City Attorney (City Attorney's Office) told the committee that the city's lawsuit challenged the ACCJC on procedural grounds and won a preliminary injunction in January 2014. "This case was about fairness," the deputy said, explaining that the court found the ACCJC had deprived City College of "notice and that opportunity to be heard," and ordered the accreditor to provide a written report so the college could respond.

College leaders described restoration and stabilization efforts. Chancellor Art Tyler and President Rafael Mandelmann said City College had opted into a restoration process that gives the school time to address deficiencies. Mandelmann said the college is "on the road to recovery" but warned that enrollment has fallen sharply and that temporary stabilization funding will expire in about two years unless enrollment rebounds. Administrators cited different measures of enrollment decline ("about a quarter" in some remarks and, by another count, "as much as 37%"), and said the drop directly reduces state funding under community-college formulas.

Students and community members urged faster, more inclusive action. Student trustee Chanel Williams said she represents "80,000 students in the college district" and called for compliance with Title 5 and for students to be consulted earlier in decisions that affect campuses and services. Many public commenters described how abrupt closures, a new payment policy and course cancellations have kept low-income and undocumented students out of classes; one commenter said city funds promised for undocumented students "have not been received to this day."

The committee also addressed the contentious role and compensation of the college's special trustee. Supervisors and public speakers cited reports that the special trustee's salary was about $216,000 and that the college provides a housing allowance of roughly $3,500 a month; the chancellor said compensation is public information and described the trustee's onsite schedule rather than disputing the figures. Students and faculty called for removing the special trustee's extraordinary powers and restoring local governance as soon as it can be done safely.

College administrators described steps to restore affected services. The chancellor said the administration had negotiated interim classroom space near the Civic Center and had arranged short-term supports such as bus passes while longer-term seismic and facilities work proceeds. Community partners and neighborhood groups urged aggressive outreach to the Tenderloin and multilingual advertising to rebuild enrollment.

The committee concluded with supervisors thanking the college and community and moving to "file" the hearing for the record; no vote was recorded as objection was not raised. Committee members said they would continue to work with the city attorney's office, trustees, college administration and community groups on enrollment campaigns, student support and housing and transportation partnerships as the restoration process continues.

Next steps reported at the hearing: City College remains accredited under the restoration process, the court-ordered review is ongoing, the interim Civic Center lease is in place for classes planned to resume in the fall term, and supervisors and college leaders said they will seek ways to help rebuild enrollment before stabilization funding expires.