It looks like I’ll have the California trifecta for the past week, having already posted on Cal State and University of California news recently. Maybe I should find a Stanford or some other private university story.
In my last post on CCSF from January:
Last week, as expected, a California superior court judge ruled on whether to allow the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) to end accreditation for City College of San Francisco (CCSF) as of July 31, 2014. As reported inmultiple news outlets, the judge granted an injunction preventing ACCJC from stripping CCSF’s accreditation at least until a court trial based on the city of San Francisco lawsuit, which would occur in the summer 2014 at the earliest. This means that CCSF will stay open for at least another academic term (fall 2014), and it is possible that ACCJC would have to redo their accreditation review.
In the meantime, ACCJC reviewed CCSF’s appeal of the accrediting decision, and ACCJC is sticking to its guns on the decision, as described in the San Francisco Chronicle:
City College of San Francisco remains out of compliance with eight accreditation standards, so the threat to revoke its accreditation stands, said the commission that set July 31 for the action that would shut the college down.
Accreditation won’t be revoked on that date, however, because a judge delayed the deadline until an October trial can determine if the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges properly conducted its 2012 evaluation of City College.
In other words, ACCJC has changed its determination that CCSF should lose accreditation. There are only two caveats at this point:
- The injunction that prevents ACCJC from revoking accreditation until the October court date; and
- A new loophole called “restoration status”.
From the SF Chronicle again:
Besides pinning its hopes on the lawsuit – which could trigger a completely new evaluation – the college has one more option, made possible in June when the U.S. Department of Education firmly explained to the reluctant commission that it had the power to extend the revocation deadline.
As a result of that intervention, the commission created a new “restoration status” for City College – and any other college that finds itself in such a precarious position – giving it two more years to improve and comply with a new range of requirements.
City College would have to apply for the new status by July 31.
But Phil, you say, I am fascinated by the accreditation review process and want more! To keep you going, here is the letter from ACCJC to CCSF rejecting the appeal. In the letter ACCJC calls out the areas where CCSF is still not in compliance:
I.B Improving Institutional Effectiveness
II.A Instructional Programs
II.B Student Support Services
II.C Library and Learning Support Services
III.B Physical Resources
III.C Technology Resources
III.D Financial Resources
IV.B Board and Administrative Organization
For historical context of how we got here, see this post.
The high-profile game of Chicken continues.
