Candidate for
Member, Community College Board; County of San Francisco

I am running for College Board because I have a life-time of experience working with the Community College; because I know what a tremendous community resource it can be and must be; and because I knew, even before the Accreditation Report came out, that it was a troubled and endangered institution. I am running because I believe in public education, I am a product of public education, and because I believe my experiences, including a career dedicated to achieving cooperative and equitable settlements, equip me to make a real contribution to improving the functioning of this life-changing institution

To save City College, I will

• Fight for a vision of the College which is not an elitist, Junior College vision, but a vision of a true Community College, a College for everyone in San Francisco, whether they want an opportunity to prepare to go on for more college and university training, or whether they want to develop a vocation, or whether they want to upgrade or refresh their skills, whether they want to find a new occupational direction, or whether, budget allowing, they simply wish to enrich and enlarge their lives.

• Significantly increase College revenues. We must pass Proposition A, but we also must increase non-tax income. Recently, as a Workers' Compensation Attorney, I have put together a program with the City College Disabled Students Program, the California Department of Industrial Relations, and the Workers' Compensation Insurance carriers to bring much-needed revenue to the College from the insurance carriers, who will be paying for re-training and rehabilitation for injured workers, which is also much-needed. My workers' retraining program is a real start, but we also need to explore --increasing the number of foreign students; community partnerships with private enterprises; selling training programs to companies; investment immigration programs (currently being investigated by the City of Seattle), partnerships with employers, and more.... Experiment, innovate, explore all possibilities.

• Bring leadership to the Board of Trustees. The Accreditation Report says the current Board is a failure. It is. Trust and respect between the faculty + the foundation and backbone of an educational institution + and the Board, and even between members of the Board, broke down long ago. Sometimes Board meetings begin to resemble food fights at a college fraternity. I have spent 26 years in a career dedicated to achieving cooperative and equitable settlements, and I am well-respected and supported by my opposing counsel. I think I can be of help in bringing cooperation and real leadership to this Board.

• Support Democratic Governance. Democratic governance, established by state law, is working well in 109 California Community Colleges. Why are some people calling for its abolition at San Francisco City College ? This is really a thinly disguised attack on academic freedom. We need to repel this attack, and defeat the Board members who support it.