Former San Diego Community College District chancellor Carlos Cortez, Ph.D., who is nonbinary and queer, would find ways to bring people together in furtherance of the City College of San Francisco's mission should he be named its next chancellor. Yosemite Community College District Chancellor Henry Yong, Ed.D., Ed.S., pledged to reach out to the wider community should he be given the job.
Mitchell Bailey, the interim chancellor and the first gay male chancellor in the history of the San Francisco Community College District, would stand up for communities targeted by the Trump administration. The trio is among the five finalists under consideration for chancellor who have been visiting the community college all week.
Each has been discussing the direction they'd take the beleaguered yet critical institution during community forums held to cap off their daylong visits and discussions with various constituencies at the city's 90-year-old community college. The finalists will be voted on by the San Francisco Community College District Board of Trustees in mid-April, with the expectation the person selected will start July 1.
On behalf of the board, trustee Alan Wong stated to the Bay Area Reporter March 7 that the "trustees agreed not to have any comment at this time."
As the B.A.R. previously reported, the college is at a crossroads. One of the five finalists for the chancellor position is the current interim chancellor Mitchell Bailey, the first gay male chancellor in the history of the San Francisco Community College District – de facto head of the college, since it is the only one in the district. Bailey had told the B.A.R. initially he was not intending to run for the full-time job.
Rounding out the five finalists are Rudy Besikof, Ed.D., president of Laney College in Oakland, and Kimberlee Messina, Ed.D., president of Spokane Falls Community College in Washington state. Their forums were Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Bailey took over for David Martin. The San Francisco Chronicle reported last year that layoffs and budget cuts in an attempt to achieve fiscal stability made former chancellor Martin unpopular with parts of the faculty union.
The district has a budget of $300 million. While the board was able to approve a balanced budget and set aside a 5% reserve, it faced harsh criticism from students and faculty over the cuts it made to do so. And it is already bracing for more fiscal challenges as it works on its next budget and those in coming years.
In adopting its budget last year, the college district warned it could be facing a $171,494 deficit in the fiscal year that begins July 1. And it projected the deficit could balloon to nearly $8.5 million in fiscal year 2027-2028.
Accreditation issues linger
Further complicating matters is the school's relationship with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, which accredits community colleges nationwide.
In 2013, the ACCJC decided to revoke City College's accreditation – which allows credits to be recognized by employers and transferred to other institutions, and which also allows the college to be eligible for federal funds – subject to a one-year review and appeals period.
The ACCJC cited the college's governance, finances and insufficient self evaluation in its decision. Former city attorney Dennis Herrera filed legal challenges to stop the revocation, but before the legal challenges could be resolved, the ACCJC changed tact and renewed the college's accreditation in 2015 for two years, despite continuing to hold the college was out of compliance. In 2017, accreditation was renewed for seven years.
In 2024, the ACCJC declined to renew accreditation immediately and charged the board of trustees with putting together a corrective plan, to be implemented by 2027.
The plan was submitted in January to the ACCJC and details how the board is addressing finances, complying with its bylaws and observing separation of powers between the chancellor and the board. This week, City College announced it's refinancing a portion of its remaining 2015 bonds without extending them, taking advantage of the decrease in interest rates. The interest rate reduction from 4.8 to 2.8% reduces San Franciscans' tax bills by $6.3 million over the next six years.
Bailey stated in a news release that, "This refunding opportunity aligns with the college's commitment to efficiency, accountability and transparency in our financial responsibilities. We are dedicated to accomplishing our mission while providing smart fiscal oversight, and we are proud to have the opportunity to refund these savings to the taxpayers of San Francisco."
Ahead of their campus visits, the B.A.R. had asked the college district's human resources department if it could speak to all five chancellor finalists but did not receive a response. The B.A.R. was able to catch up with Cortez earlier this week.
As a reporter was unable to view all five of the community forums due to other commitments, the B.A.R. asked the HR department if the videos of the forums would be publicly available afterward on the college's website. At first, a college representative had said they wouldn't be but then reversed course; the videos are now posted to the college's website on a special page devoted to the chancellor search.
The B.A.R. was able to watch Cortez's community forum Wednesday evening and Yong's on Thursday evening, as well the forum with ADD held Friday. They were questioned by Brian Smith, a community member who is on the screening committee assisting with finding the college's new leader.
Cortez would "build bridges" as chancellor
Cortez said he felt the ACCJC had been unfair in the past, saying the college was "severely mistreated." But he also said that the college needs a strong leader who can make all sides feel heard in a conflict.
"When you have faculty marching into a chancellor's office and demanding his resignation, there are discussions that could have been had between those constituent parties before," Cortez said, saying the chancellor chosen needs to "understand that if there's conflict on campus, it's their job" to address it.
"The role of the chancellor is to ensure stakeholders are in agreement about the direction they're moving in, and that they're happy," he said. "When students, community members and the board are all happy with how the college is doing, I go home early and I sleep well at night."
Cortez reiterated a point he made to the B.A.R. that he wanted to boost the college's non-credit (also known as continuing education) courses. He'd said San Francisco had been the leader in that field till he beefed up the San Diego program, and said non-credit is the frontline of diversity, equity and inclusion because it brings underrepresented communities into higher education.
"We're doing the work of the creator," he said. "DEI work is about being a good person."
Yong pledges wider community engagement
In a similar vein, Yong said the college has to do a better job of bringing students into the decision-making process, and bringing the wider community into the City College community.
"We cannot adopt the attitude, 'They know we are here on Ocean Avenue,'" Yong said, referring to the main campus. He said musical performances and arts exhibitions could help bring a wider cross-section of San Franciscans to City College. A regional science bowl accomplished that goal at Modesto Junior College, he said, one of the two colleges in his district.
Yong's district includes Modesto Junior College and Columbia College in Sonora. He was previously the president of Evergreen Valley College in San Jose for six years and the vice president of instruction at Taft College in Kern County.
"My goal would be to invite the students in, make sure they have the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process, plenty of opportunity to provide input and to prove to them I value their input, and their input is important to the future of the college," Yong said.
Yong and Cortez adopted slightly different issues on remote learning, which skyrocketed during the COVID pandemic. Cortez argued "a program should not be moved online unless it is as good, if not better, than what we do in person," even though "a lot of faculty members said I like to work from home online."
That being said, "the metaverse and AI are here," Cortez noted.
"I was in a second grade classroom in February," he recalled. "Students in class in St. Louis, Missouri are wearing a pair of goggles. ... That student is going to expect to be enrolling in college in 10 years wearing a pair of goggles."
Yong, on the other hand, said, "I recognize different people do best with different modalities."
"Some want to see because they are visual learners," he said. "We have visual conferences instantly via Zoom, and some may be a hybrid combination of modalities, so we can address multiple learning needs."
Yong continued that, "I have half a dozen students come to me at my colleges and said, 'I absolutely hate online,' but they would accept Zoom video conferencing. And then some would say, 'Online is great. I don't have to drive all the way to campus and I'm saving money on gas and parking.' Bottom line: different people subscribe to different learning modalities. We need to offer a combination of different modalities so that we serve a wider spectrum of clientele."
Bailey explains reversal on the job
Bailey said that he decided he wanted to stay on to finish the job he started.
"At the beginning of this process, I was here in an interim capacity only to help bring big things forward through that period," Bailey said of the vacancy in the chancellor position, specifically referring to the accreditation and budget issues. "I've been able to gain perspective. What I knew about City College is what's generally known to the public. Some people don't think City College was founded until 2012, when the first accreditation issue hit. But I've had the opportunity to work with faculty, staff and students at this college, and I see the work happening, and help it move along."
For Bailey, he said, "It went back to the core thing. Did I think I could help move the needle to be able to help move this college forward to be able to meet its mission?"
In that role, Bailey has been trying to build "a community college this community can be proud of," he said.
"I'm the chief advocate for our college," he added. "I'm our cheerleader. I'm making the case. ... I'm also responsible for making sure we have a strategy in place to help us with enrollment, secure our financial sustainability for the long-term and allow us to meet the needs of our community."
City College is facing "challenging times," he acknowledged.
"Politics is a sport in San Francisco and some people play it differently than others. What I try to do is base the work in ... putting students first," Bailey said.
The college will continue to exemplify San Francisco values, he said, in spite of provocations from President Donald Trump. The Trump administration has launched investigations into four-year universities looking at how they are addressing antisemitism, threatened their federal funding, and demanded all schools receiving federal funds end their diversity programs.
"Creating that space that is inviting, welcoming and supportive is part of what we do," Bailey said. "We see a lot of things happening in Washington, D.C. about policy matters and rhetoric about what colleges and universities should be doing and shouldn't be doing. I'll focus specifically on our work with diversity, equity and inclusion. It's not work. It's values. It's the core of what we do. It's the fabric of this college and it's the fabric of this community."
Bailey continued that "the values of this college will not be changed from national policy," and gave a shout out to Muslim students, transgender and other LGBTQ students, "femme-identified" students and women, whom he said are all "welcomed and supported at this college."
On the remote learning question, Bailey said that, "We have to figure out that sweet spot and that has to change over time." City College continues to offer online classes.
"Being able to offer a schedule that meets the student need is at the core of what we're working toward," he said. "When students use online courses – it's a smaller percent who do it 100% of the time – they're going to be voting with their feet and take some classes in person."
Having that kind of consideration is important for student success, Bailey said.
"I don't remember a lot of what our professors told me," he said. "But I will guarantee you to the person that our students will always remember how we made them feel. If we give the impression they're a burden, they're not welcome, they're not supported, they're not going to come here, and I wouldn't, if I were them."
Besikof, Messina make their cases
Besikof said March 10 that he sees three priorities for the role if he's chosen.
"The first priority I see is really just strengthening our college by getting word out about CCSF to the community, to really share how we can meet their education and future career or present career needs, and become or continue as City College of San Francisco students and by boosting enrollments that will make this college a stronger place over all," Besikof said. "The second priority that I have is, because of my experience, I believe I can help in a leadership role as CCSF is continuing through its process to get its accreditation reaffirmed."
To that effect, Besikof said he's served in all phases of accreditation at his current and past collegiate roles, and has chaired teams on behalf of the accreditation committee to two different college districts.
"Finally, just when I read the job description, I jumped out of my chair when I saw this – someone who can really be that presence in the City of San Francisco," he said. "I've got a lot to learn about those communities, but I look forward to it, and I come to you saying that in my current role as the president of Laney College, I'm someone who has put my college and myself on the map."
Messina said that climate action and sustainability have to be addressed concurrently with other demands the college needs to face. The CCSF board of trustees adopted a climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 100% by 2035, which requires new buildings to be certified zero-carbon.
"We may or may not have the resources to address the specifics that come up," she said. "We need to be as proactive as we can in being sustainable and ... we have to look at what resources we have and how we can change what we can change in order to do that."
Messina said that in her home district, the state government gave climate mandates that schools had to meet.
"You've got new construction, which is going to be much more environmentally sound than existing construction, and I will share that in Washington state, there was legislation, so it wasn't the local board, but there's legislation called the climate commitment act that requires all public buildings to meet certain benchmarks," said Messina, "and if you don't meet them there are penalties for that. ... We don't get funded to replace boilers with environmentally sustainable HVAC systems. What happens if we're not meeting those targets is our utility company has to buy climate credits and charge us."
This led to some $40,000 in additional energy costs for Spokane Falls Community College, she said.
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