Statement from Alan Wong on Re-selection as City College Board President
January 10, 2024 (San Francisco) – On January 9, 2024, the City College Board of Trustees re-selected Alan Wong to serve in the college’s top leadership post as president. Each year, the Board of Trustees elects a president to lead and provide direction to the college administration.
Wong previously served as a City Hall education policy advisor and in that role expanded City College classes into the Sunset District and passed legislation to guarantee a decade of Free City College for all San Franciscans. Wong won a citywide election for a four-year term on the City College Board of Trustees in November 2020 and then ascended to the post of City College Board President for the first time in January 2023.
As the City College Board of Trustees Budget Chair in 2022, Wong passed a policy requiring mandatory budget updates at each Board of Trustees meeting to strengthen transparency, increased safeguards before budget reserve dollars spending is permitted, and multi-year budgeting to ensure long term financial planning. During Wong’s 2023 term as Board President, City College passed a balanced budget and for the first time in 25 years received zero negative findings in all three of City College’s independent financial audits of its budget, parcel tax, and bond dollars.
Most notably since being elected as Board President, Wong has focused on ensuring that campus facility heating is keeping students warm and saving the college’s Cantonese classes. In 2023, Wong was able to work with California Assemblymember Phil Ting to pass AB 264, which allows California community colleges to celebrate Lunar New Year as an official school holiday. This year, Wong has proposed a climate action and sustainability plan at City College and to allow non-citizen City College students to vote in college board elections.
STATEMENT FROM CCSF BOARD PRESIDENT ALAN WONG:
“I am honored to be selected again as Board President for a second year and to lead the college. Thank you to my colleagues and the San Francisco community for believing in my leadership and experience. My entire family attended City College and I am 100% dedicated to the success of the college and its students.
“This year as Board President, I want to continue to take City College on a fiscally sustainable path and ensure that we have a stable college to serve future generations of students. I will ensure that we continue to have a balanced budget and strong financial credentials. We need to put City College on the path to long-term fiscal stability through strong budget controls, budget transparency and fiscal planning, such as utilizing the multi-year budget plan I passed as Budget Chair.
“Secondly, I am looking forward to receiving the results of our college accreditation process from 2023 and then using those likely successful results to drive and encourage enrollment to the college. We need to get stability with our student enrollment and put our college on the path to serving more students with the classes they want and need.
“We also need to find a capable and qualified individual to serve as our next City College Chancellor beginning July 1, 2024. The Chancellor position is the most important employee at the college and is responsible for implementing the policies of the Board of Trustees and administering the day-to-day operations of the college. I will implement a process to engage with our college stakeholder groups and ensure the highest level of community input as we hire our next Chancellor.”
