In 2018 the new Solano Community College (SCC) Vallejo campus opened its doors, promising higher education without having to leave the city. Why is it then that this beautiful new campus has so little classes offered for the most populated city in Solano County? The answer is in the almost 70 year history of the college.
Solano Community College was originally named Vallejo Junior College, and was first established in 1945. The college was first held in the same building as Vallejo High School, but then moved in 1957 to a new building that was originally built for a junior high.
This unsurprisingly was not a good fit for the college either.
In 1967, Solano County voted to move the entire college to Fairfield and left Vallejo. While the campus definitely needed to be moved, it was an pausing choice moving it to Fairfield because Vallejo was a larger city (and still is now). In the 1970’s census it was reported that Vallejo had roughly 22,000 more people than Fairfield.
In 1985 SCC rented the basement of the JFK Library in downtown Vallejo to act as the Vallejo Center of the college. The Library is in a very sketchy area. Outside you’ll find many mentally-ill people, drug deals, and encampments across the street. Even if the area wasn’t unsafe, the classes were being held in a tiny basement for classes to be held.
In the 60’s tensions were high in America and Vallejo. This was because of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, antiwar movements, counterculture, and specifically for the Bay Area, the Black Panther Party. People in power were starting to get uncomfortable. It’s interesting, then, that Solano County voted to move their Community College out of the most populated city in the county, which also happened to be one of the most diverse cities in the whole country.
In 1968 a peaceful protest was held on campus by the Black Student Union (BSU) for equal rights of all SCC students. The idea for the protest came from other colleges in the Bay Area also protesting, including SF State and UC Berkeley.
The founding members of the BSU didn’t think it would be a problem, since it was a peaceful sit-in. As a student that was apart of the protest reflected, “We were never rowdy, we were always respectful, but we were enthusiastic, and so when we were asked to leave even though we were doing what we were supposed to do, so when they brought the police in that’s when we knew this was serious.”
At the end of the day there were 21 students suspended and 2 expelled for a law-abiding and constitutional protest. Even though this injustice happened, changes that the students wanted did start being made after the protest. More black teachers were being hired, and black students were being treated more fairly.
In 2019 the college formally apologized to the students from that protest and expunged all suspensions and expulsions.
Today there is a high quality and established Vallejo campus, but there still is only a fraction of classes being held there. Many Vallejo students still have to drive 20-30 minutes to Faierfield to get their education, which many cannot afford and shouldn’t have to. There is also no reasonable public transportation from Vallejo to Fairfield for people who don’t drive.
SCC’s mission states “Solano Community College District’s mission is to educate a culturally and academically diverse student population drawn from our local communities and beyond.” So why is it that the most diverse city in the local community is still being ignored today?