On June 30, 2020, KBCS News and Public Affairs Director, Yuko Kodama, will no longer be employed by KBCS. Her contract is not being renewed. 

The purpose of this petition is to request that KBCS management, the Bellevue College Foundation (KBCS's fiscal agent), and the Bellevue College Board of Trustees (the board of trustees holds the broadcast license of KBCS) work together to find a solution to reverse this decision. 

The current justification for Yuko's contract not being renewed is due to budgetary constraints. Yuko is a critical voice in our local media market and her separation from KBCS will deal a blow to the station's ability to support its mission. 

As News and Public Affairs Director for KBCS, Yuko produces stories focusing on the station's commitment to social justice. Her stories, along with those of her volunteer/student news team often focus on the most underserved populations in our community, and people that the commercial media landscape fails to represent. 

The decision to not renew Yuko's contract comes directly on the heels of increasing public scrutiny of Bellevue College's claims for diversity, equity and inclusion. In February, a Bellevue College Vice President and the college president departed the college after that Vice President had defaced artist Erin Shigaki's “Never Again Is Now,” art installation. The artwork was installed during the week of the Day of Remembrance, which observes President Franklin Roosevelt's signing of Executive Order 9066 - the order giving the US military, the authority to forcibly remove and imprison Japanese Americans during WWII.

As a Japanese-American and one of very few women and people of color in a leadership news director role in the media industry, Kodama's voice is vital to our healing community and country. Reconsidering Yuko's contract would be one step in demonstrating the college's claim to be dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Please sign with your support to renew Yuko's contract today.