Ruth Ferguson is the newest member of City College of San Francisco’s Board of Trustees.
The 31-year-old Bernal Heights resident missed election to the board in 2024 by 0.43%, but opportunity knocked when Trustee Alan Wong was appointed District 4 supervisor last year. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie appointed Ferguson, after a rigorous interview process, on Jan. 5.
“I'm excited to meet community members and stakeholders,” Ferguson said. “I think anyone who is excited by the opportunity and joy that a community college like City College brings to our lives, I hope they see me as a partner and utilize me as a partner to collectively just work toward a future that builds a better city for all San Franciscans and for everyone that City College serves.”
Ferguson, who’s originally from Washington, grew up in a family whose members attended community college, she said. She herself participated in Washington’s Running Start program, an initiative that allows 11th and 12th graders to take upper-level courses at community colleges. She holds a master's in public policy from UC Berkeley.
Ferguson works as a freelance consultant and has worked on several measures in the California Legislature that have focused on housing, transportation and student homelessness. She has been a whistleblower in the state legislature and is active in local politics. She has advocated for housing development in her neighborhood and for term limits for some locally elected offices.
“There will be moments with tension and real struggle. I just hope that we can all commit to being focused on the outcome, which is prioritizing student success and the health of the college.”
Ferguson said she plans to collaborate with her fellow trustees and Chancellor Kimberlee Messina to ensure the college is sustainable and meeting everyone’s needs.
“There will be moments with tension and real struggle,” she said. “I just hope that we can all commit to being focused on the outcome, which is prioritizing student success and the health of the college.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How does it feel to be appointed to the Board of Trustees?
It feels crazy. It's so interesting because I ran for this office in 2024, and I was by far the youngest candidate. It was my first time running for office, and I came so close to winning, less than half a percentage point away. After that campaign, I just felt so grateful and energized. I think sometimes that's not the response that people have, but for me, that’s how it felt.
It just feels really kismet that there was a series of events that led to a vacancy on the board. I will say that the mayor's interview process was very robust and included many, many interviews. It certainly was not a sure thing, and so I just feel really proud and excited that I get to serve in this role.
Are there any resolutions or measures you plan on pursuing in this position?
Not so much right now. I really want to be respectful and mindful of the fact that I'm coming in as a brand new person and that there's a lot that I would like to learn from my colleagues. I plan to set up meetings with each of my colleagues just to like better understand them and what they're working on. I don't have any resolutions planned as of right now.
Some people have said there’s a more moderate bend to the board these days, and a lot is going on with the union and obviously the financial stability of the college, so what are your thoughts on the board?
When I look at the board, I really see a group of people with different and very much overlapping lived and professional experiences. For instance, people say that now the board is more of a moderate bend, as you're saying, but if you really look at like who comprises that so-called moderate bend, you have Heather McCarty, who has been a community college professor for the last 20 years and has worked actively in the labor movement for the past like 30 years or something crazy like that. She's on the Alameda County Labor Council for her own union at her community college, so clearly, you have a commitment to labor.
You've got [Vice President] Luis Zamora. He and [President] Aliya Chisti are both part of labor unions. They received, both of them, many endorsements from labor unions, and you've got me. I'm a newcomer and I have some union support, and I am a whistleblower. I blew the whistle on workplace harassment, discrimination and retaliation in the California legislature and really fought up against leadership in the legislature to better protect workers and achieve some really critical advances by coming to the table with legislative leadership and negotiating some of the policies that were needed to better protect workers.
"For me, one of the things that I really care about there is thinking about and urging the chancellor to really think about methods to increase enrollment so that we are getting back to a place where we are fully self-sufficient, because right now, there are some challenges as it relates to kind of long-term funding."
I think sometimes in San Francisco politics, we zoom in really far into some of the micro labor dynamics or whatever the dynamics may be, that we forget kind of like to zoom out and look at the broader picture is that you really have people across the board who are committed to workers but are also committed to students and committed to the health of the college.
City College has gone through the wringer, so to speak. Is there anything you are most concerned about or that you want to look at to try to improve?
Something that is on my mind is the fact that City College's budget is stable, and we have three more years with the Trump administration. Because California is kind of one of Trump's favorite states to bully, we have a lot of challenges financially at the state level. At the local level, I'm really thinking about how we make sure we are really continuing to stabilize the college's finances and make sure that we aren't risking the health of this institution. I think that's a really hard position for all of us to be in, and we have to be thinking about the fact that this is a moment where we all have to come together and really prioritize the current students and the future students that the college really wants to attract. For me, one of the things that I really care about there is thinking about and urging the chancellor to really think about methods to increase enrollment so that we are getting back to a place where we are fully self-sufficient, because right now, there are some challenges as it relates to kind of long-term funding.
