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Students, Faculty Fight to Save Ethnic Students at SF State

Published

10 years ago

March 17, 2016

Student protests at San Francisco State University in 1968 led to the creation of the College of Ethnic Studies — the country’s first and only such freestanding college and a pioneer in the field that has influenced departments nationwide.

Now student protesters and faculty members are fighting to keep the college afloat in light of what they describe as cumulative, effective budget cuts that have had an outsize impact on their small unit.

“It was a powerful day and testimony to the national and international importance of this college,” Andrew Jolivette, chair of the college’s Department of American Indian Studies, said of a recent massive on-campus rally and meeting in support of Ethnic Studies. “This college is saving lives, as so many of our students are the first in their families to go to college. … But if we’re this quote, unquote jewel or symbol, why has there been nothing done to advance ethnic studies before this?”

The protest was prompted by recent word from the university that it can’t keep funding the college’s consistent deficit of about $200,000 annually, given tight budgets across California public institutions. But the college says it’s a lot more complicated than that and that the issue is one of chronic underfunding, not overspending.

“On day one [of the fiscal year] I receive less money than is necessary to pay the salaries of the people who work here, before I’ve even turned on the copy machine or purchased materials for classes or offered any faculty members professional development,” said Kenneth Monteiro, dean of Ethnic Studies. “So when one says that you’ve spent more money than there was before it got to you, we don’t enjoy that characterization.”

Monteiro and other faculty members say the college’s basic operating budget hovers above $5 million, but since the recession funding it receives from the university doesn’t reflect that.

Last year, for example, Ethnic Studies received an initial budget allocation from Academic Affairs of $3.6 million, with additional allocation of $1.3 million, and ran a deficit of about $244,000, according to information from the university.

But Monteiro said that those allocations added up to $275,000 less than was required to pay mandatory salaries. The college is budgeted for 42 full-time-equivalent faculty, according to information from the university. Of 30,000 students at the university, 716 were enrolled in at least one College of Ethnic Studies course in fall 2015, according to information from the university.

The college’s numbers are different, at 6,000 students enrolled, with 1,300-1,500 full-time-equivalent students. Monteiro said enrollment’s stayed flat for the last half-dozen years because the college can’t offer more courses with its resources.

To run the college based on allocations alone going forward, as is being requested, would mean cutting all funding to the college’s César E. Chávez Institute for research, community-based work, work-study for students, core graduate classes, classes taught by faculty members on sabbatical and more, Monteiro said. It would also mean suspending new hires for several years, even those to replace faculty members who have retired or gone elsewhere.

Monteiro described such cuts as straitjacketing the college, which he said is growing in terms of majors and minors and plays an important role in general education for many non-majors. There were 232 ethnic studies majors in fall 2014, according to the most recent information available from the university. Monteiro said there’s evidence that students — both white and of color — who take ethnic studies are more likely to graduate than those who don’t.

Dorothy Randall Tsuruta, chair of the Department of Africana Studies, said she felt backed into a corner by the situation, and was already concerned about covering classes next year in light of upcoming faculty departures.

Pressure to run a department already on a bare-bones budget more efficiently doesn’t bode well for academic offerings, she said.

“When you say you can’t afford to offer those classes, then the eventual effect will be that you don’t have a viable major,” Tsuruta said.

Jolivette estimated the college needed $500,000 to $600,000 more funding annually to remain viable and serve the needs of its students.

Les Wong, president of San Francisco State, said in an interview that the university is dedicated to the College of Ethnic Studies, and that it may well be underfunded as a result of recession-era cuts.

So he’s asked the college to work with him, saying that he will foot the $200,000 deficit this year in exchange for longer-term talks about the future. Previously, Academic Affairs, not the president, covered the additional expenditure.

“We’ve not asked them to repay that, all we’ve asked them to do is live within their current budget,” Wong said. “The whole university is stressed.”

Monteiro agreed that the entire campus is strapped for cash, saying that the College of Ethnic Studies, with its four relatively small departments and one additional program, is probably the “canary in the coal mine.”

That’s why it’s important to have real conversations about its future and not continue to slap $200,000 “Band-Aids” on it here and there, he said. And those conversations probably need to include the taxpayers and policy makers who see the value in increasing funding for public education, he added.

“We live in a state with an almost obscene amount of wealth, but everyone needs to pay their fair share of taxes to pay the bills of public institutions,” Monteiro said.

Oakland Post

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Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

7 months ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Special to The Post

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.

In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”

In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

12 months ago

January 30, 2025

Oakland Post

Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 city councilmember. File photo.

Special to The Post

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units, including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion

The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Published

1 year ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Haubert. Official photo.

Special to The Post

The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.

Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:

The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net

In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”

The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.

“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.