Spring Events Make CCFT a Strong and Dynamic Presence!

by Sadie Reynolds

CCFT was a vibrant presence on campus this semester with several events designed to educate, energize, and mobilize students, faculty, and community members to keep the community in Community College.

In March we held a Community Forum organized jointly with Pajaro Valley federation of Teachers and Greater Santa Cruz Federation of Teachers, where guest speakers discussed the relationship between growing income inequality and the defunding of public education. Sylvia Allegretto, UC Berkeley Labor Economist and Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics Co-Chair, provided an engaging overview of recent trends in income inequality nationally. Jonathan Kaplan, Senior Policy Analyst with the California Budget Project, discussed how the California budget and taxation affect the quality of public education in California (see his full presentation here). And Sandra Weese, Organizing Project Director of California Federation of Teachers, tied the two presentations together to suggest avenues for action.

The Community Forum was followed by a Day of Action for Community Colleges in April. Held in the quad, the event showcased the extraordinary talents of Cabrillo College Visual, Applied and Performing Arts students and faculty to raise awareness about the detrimental effects of repeatability regulations on our students. Susan Stuart saw to it that there were multiple performances in succession—choreographed dance, theatre, instrumental and vocal music, and spoken word. The Art Department provided T-shirt silk screening. And there were speakers, pizza and drinks, and a table with a petition and postcards to send to the Board of Governors to repeal the repeatability restriction. An educational video was created by student Cindy Lapore Hart, which can be viewed here. A special thanks goes out to all the amazing organizers who made this event possible; your names are too numerous to list here but the film has credits for you.

On May Day we held our final big event for the semester, Cabrillo In Dialogue: An Open Forum on Repeatability. Guest speaker Michelle Williams, Director of the Arts Council of Santa Cruz County, discussed the positive economic impact of Cabrillo’s visual and performing arts programs on the local community. Panelists Maya Bendotoff, Michael Mangin, Tobin Keller, and Carter Frost provided an overview of the repeatability restrictions and how they are affecting Cabrillo College students. And students, faculty, and community members shared stories of how recent changes have affected them via a 3-minute microphone. Finally, we discussed what we can do to resist the regulations and reclaim full access to quality public education. The event was a lively and engaging exploration of problems with repeatability that was attended by upwards of seventy guests. So many people came for the mic that we had to take several statements after the official end because we ran out of time. The evening was filmed and footage will be used to create an educational video.

CCFT was prolific this semester in its work on campus and statewide. Your union is working hard to preserve and promote access to quality community college education for all Californians!

Thanks to Joe Gonzalez (left; shirt design) and the Student Art Association
for the fabulous "Keep the Community In Community College" T-shirts.