A tuition-free faculty based by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his spouse, Dr. Priscilla Chan, for low-income communities of colour within the Bay Space is abruptly shutting its doorways — solely a decade after it opened.
The Major College, based in 2016 by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, sought to supply free education, well being care and social work assets to households within the East Palo Alto space, only a few miles from Meta’s headquarters.
It decried the systemic results of racism and poverty, and Chan, a pediatrician married to Zuckerberg, and her late educator pal Meredith Liu typically mentioned how low-income youngsters have been extra more likely to expertise impactful trauma early of their lives.
However The Major College, and its sister campus within the East Bay, despatched shockwaves all through the group final week when it introduced it could shut on the finish of the 2025-26 faculty 12 months.
Although it didn’t present a purpose for the closure, it comes as Zuckerberg has executed a robust political about-face as he tries to curry favor with the Trump administration.
The Major College and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative didn’t instantly reply to The Submit’s requests for remark.
Earlier this 12 months, simply weeks earlier than Trump’s inauguration, Zuckerberg killed Meta’s DEI packages and scrapped the social media platform’s fact-checking insurance policies in favor of a “Community Notes” mannequin. Trump ally Elon Musk makes use of an analogous be aware system on X, arguing that content material moderation insurance policies infringe on free speech.
Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund via Meta, and, alongside Chan, sat upfront at his inauguration.
Meta additionally agreed to pay a whopping $25 million to settle a lawsuit Trump introduced in opposition to the corporate for suspending his account after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. About $22 million of that determine will assist fund a Trump presidential library.
Emeline Vainikolo, a father or mother with youngsters within the district, instructed The New York Instances that she and different dad and mom have been invited by faculty directors to a breakfast of bagels, fruit and Starbucks espresso after they dropped the information of the closure, however got no purpose.
Her son, a kindergartner at The Major College, later shared what he had gleaned from his trainer.
“‘Mommy, the guy who’s been giving money to our school doesn’t want to give it to us anymore,’” he instructed his mom, based on the Instances.
Zuckerberg and Chan’s nonprofit, CZI, plans to speculate $50 million within the faculty’s surrounding communities over the subsequent few years, donating to schooling financial savings plans for all Major College college students, in addition to assist for households transitioning to new districts.
In February, the initiative introduced it could concentrate on science and “wind down” its social advocacy work – together with investments in immigration reform and racial fairness grantmaking, in addition to inside DEI packages.
Households at The Major College, nonetheless, stated CZI’s sudden departure is simply one other slap within the face from Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, who’ve contributed to a housing scarcity because of an inflow of highly-paid tech staff.
The Major College “was highly publicized as a gift to the community,” one father or mother instructed the San Francisco Customary. “They were already taking our homes because of Facebook, landlords pricing us out. Now they’re gonna take this away too. It seems unfair.”
