“Progress remains slow,” according to a recent report on faculty diversity at California’s community colleges. For Nikia Chaney, the sole full-time Black faculty member at Cabrillo College, the experience is personal.
Cabrillo College
Posted inFood & Drink
New Cabrillo Wine Studies degree raises profile of Santa Cruz’s wine industry
Starting in the 2024-25 academic year, Cabrillo College will offer a 60-unit associate degree in Wine Studies, plus two companion certificates. It’s one of two wine degrees offered at public institutions south of San Francisco, and its broad course of study has it poised to become one of the best in the state, drawing attention to the often-overlooked Santa Cruz Mountains wine region.
Posted inLatest News
Carmageddon: Santa Cruz Metro prepares for free rides, 15-minute wait times in bid to double ridership
Santa Cruz Metro is set to begin rolling out the first phase of its Reimagine Metro initiative aimed at more direct, frequent routes and 15-minute all-day service. The changes will begin as a three-year pilot program, and civic leaders will work towards transitioning the pilot into a permanent fixture.
Posted inEducation
UCSC, Cabrillo confront fraught campus debate over Israel and Gaza
The Israel-Hamas conflict has triggered a reckoning for college campuses across the country — including at UC Santa Cruz and Cabrillo College — where tensions over free speech and academic freedom have simmered for years until boiling over in the past month, challenging students, faculty and administrators alike.
Posted inEducation
Cabrillo College governing board censures trustee Steve Trujillo after offensive social media posts
In a 6-1 vote Monday, with Steve Trujillo as the lone dissent, Cabrillo College trustees registered their disapproval of Trujillo’s Facebook posts and found that the posts violated policy; Trujillo reiterated his defense that the account had been hacked. The formal censure also prohibits Trujillo from serving as an officer of the board for three years.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I am the first male, openly trans person elected to public office in our state; this is my coming-out story
Nov. 13-19 is national Transgender Awareness Week, and in a Community Voices opinion piece, Adam Spickler, a Cabrillo College trustee and one of only four openly transgender people to hold elected office in all of California, shares their coming-out story. Adam wishes when they were growing up in the 1980s and 1990s that they had transgender role models.
Posted inEducation
Cabrillo College probe recommends against censuring trustee Steve Trujillo over offensive Facebook posts
A Cabrillo College committee investigating complaints of inappropriate and offensive language on trustee Steve Trujillo’s Facebook found that the posts do exist on his page, but could not verify Trujillo’s claim that his account had been hacked. The governing board will decide Monday whether Trujillo violated the school’s code of ethics, but said policies that would allow the board to censure a trustee over social media posts didn’t exist until recently.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruzans organize vigils, respond to Israel-Hamas war
Santa Cruz County residents with ties to Palestine and Israel say they’re stunned and saddened by the violence in the region. Two organizations are scheduled to host vigils this week to mourn those lost in the violence.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Cabrillo College name needs to change, trustee Steve Trujillo writes — it’s the right thing to do
School leaders have put off a vote on the Cabrillo College name change until at least 2028. But Steve Trujillo, a trustee, thinks this is a mistake and wants the name removed. “To say Cabrillo was merely exploring is laughable,” he writes.
Posted inEducation
Cabrillo College trustees say they were targets of homophobic, transphobic attacks amid name-change debate
Two Cabrillo College trustees say they experienced incidents of harassment because of their support for changing the name of the college. Adam Spickler says he was the subject of a transphobic petition. Steve Trujillo says he has been the target of homophobic emails, and that Watsonville Police Chief Jorge Zamora told him to carry pepper spray and had officers escort him home from dinner because of a tip that someone was following him.