Students and faculty are protesting the sale of 27 acres on Evergreen Community College's San Jose campus.
Shopping center developers are expected Tuesday night to place bids on the land.
The plot of land on the campus is expected to bring in $1.5 million a year.
"This is about students, this is about opportunity, this is about the future," Evergreen Community College Chancellor Rita Cepeda said.
Cepeda said the added revenue will act as a buffer between students and a tight budget. For example, if state funding decreases again, students will not have to pay the difference in tuition costs.
"Buffering and preparing in good times for what we know what will happen in economic cycles," Cepeda said.
District officials said leasing the land is an opportunity, but some staff members call it a huge mistake.
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"I don't want this college to be land looked where we have no room to expand in the future," said Ralph Nichols, who has been teaching at Evergreen for more than 20 years. "The land should be devoted to college use and not a revenue generating source."
Nichols is not in favor of the land being turned into a shopping center. Instead, he he would like to see the land developed into a recreation space or a new research facility.
In the 1990s, six acres on the Evergreen campus was converted into a strip mall -- the space alone will bring in more than $500,000 to the district this year.
"There are obviously community concerns that have to be addressed, and will be addressed," Cepeda said.
