Copyright© 2007 by School Services of California, Inc.

                                      Volume 20                   For Publication Date: April 13, 2007             No. 8

San Francisco City College Comes Under Fire 

Three trustees of the City College of San Francisco are requesting an investigation into the college’s 2005 bond campaign. After a story in the San Francisco Chronicle, which asserted that college officials diverted campus funds owed to the college into the campaign of a political committee to promote the college’s $246.3 million bond, college trustees Milton Marks, Julio Ramos, and John Rizzo want answers. 

The trustees have requested that the college hold an emergency meeting to discuss “what action the board should take regarding personnel at the college who may have broken the law.”   The college did hold an emergency meeting on April 10, 2007, to address this matter.  

According to legal experts, the state Penal Code and Education Code bar the use of public funds for electioneering, and the Fair Political Practices Act requires political committees to accurately report the source of all funds. Federal law also prohibits misuse of public funds. At issue is the potential misuse of public funds for elections. A college official diverted a $10,000 rent payment from a motorcycle training school that leases a college parking lot from the college to the bond campaign. James Blomquist, the associate vice chancellor, instructed the motorcycle school to pay the funds owed to the college to the political committee handling the bond campaign. Blomquist supervises construction projects at the college. In another case, a company that won a contract to operate a coffee shop at the college’s downtown campus had a lease payment of $20,000 that was diverted to the bond committee.  

Chancellor Philip Day assured officials that the issue would be resolved. He has already asked the political committee, the “Committee to Support Our City College,” to refund the $10,000 in rent money. According to Chancellor Day, the $20,000 dollars was refunded to the college in August of 2005, four months after the committee received the funds.  

Aaron Peskin, president of the Board of Supervisors, said, “The City College owes it to the public to conduct a thorough investigation, and if they need to change their policies, they should do so immediately. And if there’s been criminal wrongdoing, they should make sure justice is served.” 

Chancellor Day assured the Board that this matter would be “reconciled.” 

—Jamillah Moore, Ed.D.