Back to School: At City College, gay men helm the board

Years ago, Alex Randolph and Tom Temprano both benefited from attending community colleges in Southern California, in San Diego and Ventura respectively, prior to enrolling at four-year universities in the Bay Area. Today, they are leading one of the largest community colleges in the country.

Earlier this year Randolph, 36, became president of the San Francisco City College Board of Trustees, while Temprano, 33, became vice president of the governing body. It is believed to mark the first time that the two leadership positions have been jointly held by gay trustees as well as by two millennials. (Shanell Williams, a bisexual woman, also serves on the board.)

Ahead of the start of the fall semester, which began August 17, the Bay Area Reporter sat down with Randolph and Temprano to talk about the challenges they have faced leading the community college board, from addressing multimillion-dollar budget deficits and hiring a new college chancellor to implementing a free tuition program for full-time students paid for by the city.

"For me personally, I'm excited to be here, because it's not been an easy year at City College, definitely, to take the presidency," said Randolph, a former City Hall aide who now works for Uber handling policy and public affairs. "We have a lot of challenges that we still need to address and are addressing. But I think we've made a lot of good progress toward achieving the goals the board has set."

Added Temprano, a legislative aide to gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, "I think we have done a good job in challenging circumstances in righting the ship at a really critical institution for San Francisco."

Both trustees joined the board — Randolph was appointed to a vacant seat in 2015 and a year later won election to a four-year term, as did Temprano — amid the institution's fight to maintain its accreditation and stay open. While the college secured a seven-year renewal of its accreditation in 2017, the controversy led to a significant drop in its enrollment that it is still trying to recoup.

A decade ago, City College's head count numbered 90,000. Last year, it had 67,638 full- and part-time students enrolled. The college now has close to 23,000 full-time equivalent students and is aiming to increase that number back to 32,000.

The board has had to grapple with declining revenues in recent years and faced closing an estimated $32 million budget deficit this year. It has led to class cuts and inducements for staff to retire in order to save costs.

When it meets Thursday, August 22, the college board is set to adopt its first balanced budget in 10 years. It has set a budget of roughly $165 million for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

"This board has made it very clear that the days of deficit spending at City College are done," said Temprano, who acknowledged that the reduction in staff and courses offered "is a pain that is being felt across the college."

But he argued that the plan the board has put in place is also a "fair" one that prioritized the needs of students and ensures they can graduate within two years.

"We are trying to minimize the impact of these cuts on students, and are trying to, you know, prioritize courses that have high student enrollment and are courses that lead to completion of degrees and certificates," said Temprano.

The governing body Thursday is also expected to finalize the agreement with the city of San Francisco to cover the cost of providing free tuition to full-time students. The Free City Program will provide the college with $15 million this fiscal year from the city's general fund and a backfill payment of $5.2 million.

Cementing a long-term deal with the city to ensure the funding for the program would be there each year was a top priority for Randolph as board president. It was vital for the college's students, he said, so they had assurances their tuition would be paid.

"That amount of money they were getting through the program was key to their being able to remain at the college and having sort of hanging over the program this, this uncertainty, I think, made a lot of our students anxious. And so this provides security for the college," said Randolph.

The infusion of cash from the city will increase in subsequent years to at least $16.4 million. Students who also qualify for the California College Promise Grant will receive grants from the Free City Program equal to $46 for each enrolled credit unit.

"It is targeted toward first-time community college students," explained Randolph.

While the college did see a bump in enrollment when the free city college first began, it has since flatlined.

"We saw modest growth last semester, which is counter to the trends across the state that are seeing community college enrollment decline sharply. And this year's budget is actually based on flat enrollment growth," said Temprano. "If we are able to stay flat, we will be among the leaders in the state in terms of enrollment and not declining."

With extremely low unemployment rates in San Francisco, people can easily find jobs rather than seeking new degrees, the trustees pointed out.

"San Francisco is at, what, a 1.9% unemployment rate. And whenever the economy is going well, and people have jobs, there's no reason for them to go back to school, get new training, or take classes," said Randolph.

According to the state Employment Development Department, the unemployment rate for San Francisco County was 2.4% in July.

One way to boost enrollment is to gear the degrees and certificates City College offers to today's economy and workforce. A prime need is training workers to enter the state's marijuana industry, especially now that recreational use is legal.

Both Temprano and Randolph have been supportive of seeing the college offer a cannabis degree that anyone could take online. The hope is it will become available sometime in 2020.

"That will be one of the first in the country," noted Temprano.

Offering a cannabis certificate, added Randolph, "is another example where we know that there's a lot of jobs in this emerging sector in the state that a lot of people, honestly, don't have the skills right now to participate in."