‘We Have a Big Problem Here’: Tirade At City College Board Meeting Exposes Divisions

City College of San Francisco’s top officials issued an unusual school-wide statement last Wednesday to apologize for allowing a union leader’s expletive-filled tirade against an instructor who had given public comment at the May 29 board meeting.

“Free speech is not a license to disrespect one another or to express ourselves in harmful or intimidating ways,” Board President Anita Martinez and Vice President Luis Zamora wrote.

The boardroom incident between computer networking instructor Abigail Bornstein and Maria Salazar-Colon, the president of the college’s affiliate Service Employees International Union Local 1021, occurs at a time when the college is facing financial uncertainty, struggling to hire a chancellor and undergoing scrutiny from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges over governance concerns.

Bornstein, a frequent voice on the college’s financial practices and non-competitive wages, took to the podium after 11 p.m. during public comment to critique the college reopening the employment contract for service employees. The modified contract, if adopted, would raise wages to match the overdue 14% increase won by the faculty union.

After stating her support for “reopeners,” Bornstein said wage decisions should not be made based on ideas of “they got this, so we should get that.” She also expressed concern over going into multi-year contract negotiations when the college does not yet have a multi-year budget.

Instead of giving her support for the item, Salazar-Colon shouted obscenities and insults aimed directly at Bornstein.

“That big mouth that's always in there, I really wish that colonizer Abigail Dumb-stein would shut her damn mouth and not speak on SEIU items,” Salazar-Colon said.

She said Bornstein had “no place whatsoever in our damn business” and accused the trustees of allowing public commenters to “attack SEIU all day, every day, when it comes to these board meetings.”

“Nobody corrects her,” Salazar-Colon said. “I've had enough of it. Enough, period. So until you guys put her in her place, or someone has a conversation with her, don't tell me how to speak. Goodbye.”

By law, anyone is free to make comments on any agenda item, and the trustees have no responsibility for and are forbidden from speaking directly to commenters. They are, however, supposed to stop out-of-order comments.

Although Trustee Aliya Chisti interjected to remind Martinez to be mindful of the comments, the board chair allowed Salazar-Colon to continue.

Later in the meeting, Bornstein took advantage of the last public comment to remind trustees of Board Policy 1.12, which reads: “I. Standards of Decorum. The following may be ruled out of order by the presiding officer. A. Profanity, obscenity, and other offensive language.” She told the elected officials that she received a “threatening” email from Salazar-Colon, which she forwarded on to HR.

Martinez offered a personal apology and acknowledged she was wrong for allowing Salazar-Colon’s tirade.

Meeting Aftermath

Trustees and interim Chancellor Mitchell Bailey spent days working with attorneys crafting the statement, insiders said. It could not be confirmed what actions HR was taking regarding the alleged email threats, as personnel matters are confidential.

Bornstein told The Light she attempted to report Salazar-Colon’s email to City College Police Chief Mario Vasquez before the meeting ended, but instead sent what she described as a “lengthy email” with the subject line “Need to make a police report”.

It’s unknown what actions the police will take, if any. Vasquez declined to comment.

“We have a big problem here,” Bornstein said of the email. “This is not the first time we've heard things like this. This isn't just toward me, it's toward many, but I have some very specific language in here which is disgusting.”

The Light obtained a copy of the email.

“YOU LACK THE POWER TO STOP OR CONTROL SEIU, AND YOU NEVER WILL! ACCEPT THAT, COLONIZER!” the email read after listing a series of adjectives such as “deranged,” “racist” and “elitist,” and ending in “good riddance.”

“It's taken up a lot of space in my head, and I have a lot of work to do, and now I'm just having a hard time concentrating,” said Bornstein, whose Jewish surname had been ridiculed on top of other offensive language.

Upon reflection of her outburst, the SEIU President Salazar-Colon made the case that the tension stems from years of “prejudiced and elitist” attitudes affecting classified staff, and that the SEIU represented the most racially diverse group of employees at the college.

Salazar-Colon has since faced accusations of anti-Semitism over her use of “colonizer.” She believed it was someone else, not Bornstein, who interpreted the term “colonizer” as such.

“For years, the college had to endure certain faculty members with their classism, and the minute this Black and brown leader drops a profanity word, now they want to try to spin a story that somehow I'm anti-Semitic. That's just not true,” Salazar-Colon said.

Despite the denial of anti-semitism, Salazar-Colon did recall past tensions between Bornstein and student Trustee Heather Brandt over the war in Gaza taking place in board meetings following the Oct. 7 attacks between Oct. 19 and Nov. 9, 2023. After Brandt took the time to describe her instances of alienation as a muslim woman in Western society, she referred to Bornstein in an attempted peace offering, to which Bornstein declined.

“I will never forget what she did to [student] Trustee Brandt,” Salazar-Colon said. “I understand that the wording could’ve been different, but the intention was not to disparage anyone's religion or culture, but express an ongoing frustration with an anti-union faculty member based on years of her repeated undermining of our union's efforts.”

Labor Strife

The initial bargaining agreement between SEIU and the San Francisco Community College District included a reopener clause that would open negotiations after any other group received more than a 10% cumulative wage increase. The initial agreement described a cumulative 9% wage increase between 2022-25 for service employees.

“The district lied. They said everybody was getting a 10% across-the-board increase. The only group that didn't get 10% or more was us. That's why we're back at the table,” Salazar-Colon said, adding that administrators received an 18% increase.

Other faculty members at the college who did not wish to be identified also spoke to the purportedly anti-union nature of the full-time caucus organization, which Bornstein is a part of. Bornstein does not belong to the college’s faculty union, American Federation of Teachers 2121.

Salazar-Colon characterized the full-time caucus listserv as an organization that attacks labor groups.

“While you're over here talking about unprofessionalism, you're all participating in unprofessionalism on this email listserv. This is exactly what I'm talking about,” she said.

Salazar-Colon received her own spiteful email on Friday from a faculty member in response to her comments, which in turn described her as a colonizer and warned her to stay away from education.

Bornstein reaffirmed her belief that employees at the school should instead negotiate to be in the top 80-90% of earners for their respective job titles in the Bay Area, rather than comparing their pay increases to those of other employees.

“In Maria's mind, she thinks that no one should have any discussion about anything related to classified staff. If you listen to what I was saying, it was about the budget and the financing for the school. It was a bigger picture of the whole overall structure,” Bornstein said.

The incident took place just after the faculty union walked out on the board meeting when it was revealed they would not be ratifying the contract for Carlos Cortez, who was reported to be the next chancellor of the college.

Administrators have called a special closed session meeting for Tuesday, June 10, to discuss labor negotiations and the chancellor selection process. Ahead of the closed session is a “Decorum Notice” reminder of Board Policy 1.12.

Interim Chancellor Bailey’s contract expires on July 1, and while City College is under review by the accreditation commission, they must reach a determination within the next 30 days on how to adjust the college’s warning sanction.