PHOTO/MICHELLE SNIDER
OAKLAND, CA — The California state government holds $19 billion in reserve “rainy day” funds, yet in Oakland, our community colleges are being slammed with austerity-justified cuts that result in criminal disinvestment in public education.
It is already raining! This torrential downpour includes a crumbling infrastructure that has put us on “fire watch” requiring security guards to patrol the campus all day to prevent fires, frequently broken elevators, a student center and library years overdue for replacement, and bathrooms that are cleaned just once a day. Massive cuts in class offerings—300 fewer classes this spring—make it harder for students to get the required courses they need to graduate and also mean the potential layoff of over 100 part-time contingent faculty who are 70% of faculty in our district.
The cost of housing is so high in Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area that many students, part-time faculty and newer full-time faculty, are struggling to make ends meet. In a survey of contingent faculty in our district, 51% pay more than a third of their income for rent, and an additional 1.2% are unhoused or homeless. Fully 16 % of contingent faculty report they are receiving welfare benefits other than unemployment. Our full-time faculty are the lowest paid of all the community colleges in California.
And if faculty, professional workers with advanced degrees, are suffering, imagine what our students are enduring? Over 84% of students in our district suffer from housing insecurity, including the inability to pay full rent or mortgage for one or more months, the inability to pay utilities, threats of eviction, or having to choose between food and housing. Some student leaders are starting to talk about getting affordable public housing on our community college campus, to meet important basic needs for students and faculty and staff who are struggling.
Together, those of us being pushed out by the changing job market and the digital revolution can be a powerful force for change. We need leaders that recognize rainy days and use the vast common wealth produced by society to prevent torrential downpours.
We can have quality public education for all, decent working conditions, and homes. We can hold the government accountable to provide for our basic needs. If our government leaders are too controlled by their corporate rulers to do so, then it is time for new leaders!
