The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges on Jan. 13 approved a package of contracts and grants that continues system investments in a near‑real‑time common cloud data platform and funds student fellowships, including climate‑focused positions.

Interim General Counsel Jake Knapp and Executive Vice Chancellor Chris Ferguson told the board the award renewals and grants will support an expanded platform intended to give the system and colleges faster access to enrollment and student success data and to scale student fellow programs at campuses such as West Los Angeles College. "We use a fiscal agent through Coastline who aggregates the services and helps bring on every cohort of colleges moving forward so we can get that system wide near real time data," Ferguson said during his presentation.

Board members commended the packet’s organization and its attention to student and workforce priorities. Member Tom Epstein said the contracts and presentations were well prepared and praised the chancellor’s team.

During the public comment period Omar Zavala, a student and privacy advocate, urged the board to specify what data will be incorporated into the platform and how third‑party vendors such as Canvas will be governed. "Canvas is an opaque system, and their contract allows them to come into our classrooms and homes for mass data collection," Zavala said, asking for guarantees about what data is collected and where it’s stored.

Board members voted by roll call to approve the contracts after the public comment period. Christina, the board’s staff, recorded unanimous "Aye" votes from members present. The board did not change the contract approvals on the dais.

What happens next: Board staff will execute the approved contracts and work with colleges and the fiscal agent to implement the next phase of the common cloud platform and the student fellowship awards. Public privacy concerns raised in comment will be forwarded to procurement and contract managers for follow‑up.