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CCSF issues apology over Cantonese program

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Flickr / Creative Commons

The public apology was issued July 10th.

While the college started developing the program in early 2022, according to the district's legal counsel, it was improperly retracted during the final stages of its approval.

Community leaders have advocated for the protection of Cantonese classes and creation of the certificate program, arguing that increased access to Cantonese allows students to connect with their heritage and culture and better serve the needs of San Francisco elders.

The college affirmed its commitment to developing the certificate program for the 2024-2025 school year.

Alan Wong, president of the City College Board of Trustees, first proposed the 16-unit Cantonese certificate program in 2022 after administrators planned to cut Cantonese classes from the school's curriculum.

At the time, Cantonese was the only language program lacking both a certificate program and UC-transferrable credits--two metrics the state uses to allocate funding, Wong noted. Cantonese classes, however, were popular, reaching full enrollment since 2019, Wong said

The college passed Wong's resolution to create the certificate program in the fall of 2022, allowing the proposal to advance to the curriculum community who would have to recommend the program to the board of trustees. After receiving the recommendation of the curriculum committee, the proposal was then ratified by the board of trustees. Its final step was to be submitted to the state chancellor's office for approval.

Sunni M. Khalid is a veteran of more than 40 years in journalism, having worked in print, radio, television, and web journalism.