A letter from Linda Ford (MFA 2002), Pam Martin (MFA 2002):

Chris Bratton, President                                                                                                                                                         April 23, 2009

Espi Sanjana, Chief Operating Officer 

Okwui Enwezor, Dean 

San Francisco Art Institute 

800 Chestnut Street 

San Francisco, CA 94133

To: The SFAI Administration and Board of Trustees

From: Concerned SFAI Alumni

As alumni who love SFAI, we are extremely concerned about the recent decisions of the Administration to layoff tenured faculty. According to the Faculty Union, the Board of Trustees and Administration did so by declaring exigency, an extreme financial condition, which has not been proven by the appropriate financial documents. Within the community there exists a wide range of opinions about how to breathe new life into an institution and it's faculty pool and employ more emerging artists, as well as take SFAI into the future. However, we feel that this action must be seen within the context of worker's rights and existing labor laws (what is left of them). The Administration is reportedly in violation of these laws and the union contract. (The contract and very clear documentation of the violations has been posted on the Student Wiki Website www.sfaistudentaction.pbwiki.com) Chris Bratton's letter to alumni states that the Administration "took action rapidly and purposefully to align our income and expenses" but there is no mention of laying off tenured faculty. Despite the need for all institutions (and most individuals) to "respond to the economic downturn", we refuse to see the continued degradation of workers' rights and labor law as the solution. In many ways SFAI has become a microcosm of the world-wide economic "crisis" and calls into question the responsibility and accountability of those in positions of power. The gross malfeasance of the Administration is only made worse by the fact that both Mr. Bratton and Mr. Enwezor have built their own careers based on championing leftist politics.      

These most recent decisions of the SFAI Administration, have been the final actions in what seem like a long (5 year) history of gutting what was the local SFAI community. We have witnessed the slow but sure firings of many of the staff who served SFAI for many years. Amongst these have been, Pete in the cafe, and most recently, Doug and Rob who not only maintained the facilities, but did enumerable things to support students. The circumstances of these firings have called into question worker's rights issues and served to alienate many alumni from SFAI. The firings of so many long standing staff who had been an integral part of the community and continued to connect alumni to the school, have for the most part destroyed this network. This may in fact be part of the reason why, as Chris Bratton reports, there has been such a "drop in value" of the endowment. As alumni who care about SFAI and have a vested interest in it's success, we cannot support an institution that treats it's workers in this manner. Pitting worker's against one another because of age, health insurance issues, and competing salaries, are all ways in which corporations attempt to divide and conquer workers. Unfortunately most of the fired and more recently furloughed staff were not protected by a union contract. The reports that informational flyers posted by students involving these issues, were removed by the administration, point to gross violations of free speech. If these actions have been and continue to be taken by the administration they should be seen for what they are: classic union-busting strategies that are used by corporations all over the world against workers.

As a community of artists and intellectuals, we are seemingly beholden to question and be vocal about such issues. We hope that this letter will serve to voice such questions and urge the Administration and Board of Trustees to reconsider their actions, reinstate the faculty and adopt a more transparent and inclusive decision-making process. We wholly support the SFAI faculty and staff to come together in solidarity. We would lastly like to appeal to the responsibility that the Board of Trustees has to SFAI to serve as it's financial caretakers, as well as local community voices who can defend it's rich and progressive history. 

Sincerely,

Linda M. Ford (MFA 2002) and Pam Martin (MFA 2002)