Eric Mar’s Bio [Nov 2000]


The SF Bay Guardian featured Eric as a 'Local Hero' in 1998 [click on the photo below to view the article]



San Francisco School Board Resolutions Authored or co-authored by Eric Mar

March 2001     Resolution in Support of the Day of Action for Affirmative Action in the UC system
August 2001       Addressing the Educational Needs of Asian Pacific Islander Students, Their Families, and Communities
September 2001  RE: 9/11 & rise in hate crimes/war - Policy Statement on Tolerance & Respect for Human Rights for All People
September 2001  Supporting Local 2 Boycott of the SF Marriott Hotel
October 2001      Racial Justice in the San Francisco Unified School District
November 2001    Resolution in Support of Immediate Elimination of the SAT-I as an Entrance Requirement for the University of California
November 2001    Resolution in support of Urban Pioneer Experiential Academy



Eric Mar is a San Francisco attorney and parent who has taught Asian American and Ethnic Studies at SF State University since 1992.  He is the past director of the Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights and served as the Assistant Dean and Professor of Law at New College of California School of Law from 1993 to 97.

In November 2000 Eric was elected to the San Francisco Board of Education.  He came in a strong second place finish [4 members elected] receiving 95,000 votes citywide.  Mar becomes the 3rd Chinese American elected to the 7 member SF school board.  For Eric's platform and info see the League of Women Voters Website for the November 2000 Election. See also the SF Bay Guardian's commentary on that political race.

Eric has been active along with his wife, teacher Sandra Chin Mar, in the fight for educational equality for immigrant and low-income students of color since the mid-1980’s.  Mar was instrumental in building coalitions between immigrant parents, labor unions, and teachers in the 1998 campaigns to defeat the anti-bilingual education Proposition 227 and the anti-working families Proposition 226.

Mar is a longtime board member of the Chinese Progressive Association and a founding member of APIforCE (Asians and Pacific Islanders for Community Empowerment) and the Institute for Multiracial Justice.  He is a past executive board member of the Bay Area Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.  In 1999, Mar received the community service award from the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA).  He is a former shop steward for SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Local 790.

Mar is an elected member of the SF Democratic County Central Committee and a board member of San Franciscans for Tax Justice and the Media Alliance. As an attorney Eric has served on the Human Rights Committee for the State Bar of California and the Civil Rights Committee of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.



Recent Articles:  

SF Post-Election Analysis for January 2000  - The 1999 SF Mayor's Race & Asian Americans:  Will the Piper be Playing any Asian tunes?

Eric's Unedited version of Asian Week Jan 2000 Op-Ed

On the 1999 SF Mayor's Race - San Francisco Examiner op-ed

Protest for Immigrant Rights at the State Capitol in Sacramento May 1999

On the Serve the People Conference of 1998

On the Formation of APIforCE [Asians and Pacific Islanders for Community Empowerment]

The New San Francisco Examiner featured a November 2000 story on Eric's election to the SF School Board
The San Jose Mercury News also featured a November 2000 on Eric's plans in his first school board term.