Panel opposing CCSF seeks support to stay afloat
By Nanette Asimov
The commission set to revoke City
College of San Francisco's accreditation next year is asking for help in
its own effort to stay in business.
The Accrediting
Commission for Communityand Junior Colleges needs letters of support to
pass its five-year review from the U.S. Department of Education. At stake is
its federal recognition, without which it could no longer accredit colleges.
But the commission recently learned that the Education Department has received
only complaints about it from faculty and letters of gratitude from colleges
for accreditation renewal. There have been no letters of support.
"If these communications remain the only 'voice' of the
California community colleges, then it is possible that the (Education
Department) will not be able to grant recognition to the accrediting
body," its president, Barbara
Beno, wrote on Oct. 8 to the Association
of ChiefBusiness Officers, who run the finance departments at California's
community colleges. Other education agencies apparently received the same
request for a letter expressing "your institution's or your organization's
commitment" to the commission's standards, policies and practices.
The commission accredits 134 colleges in California, Hawaii
and the Pacific islands. It was established 50 years ago by the colleges
themselves but must meet federal standards to continue holding
them accountable.
Target of criticism
In recent years - especially since it began holding City
College's feet to the fire last year - the commission has been a target of
criticism by some of those very colleges. Not just from vocal faculty members
but from the administrators who run them, though anonymously.
So when the Association of Chief Business Officers received
the request, approval was not automatic. But its 13 board members eventually
agreed to send a letter supporting one part of one accrediting standard: that
colleges must remain financially viable.
"It was not unanimous," said President Bonnie
Dowd, who didn't give the vote count. At least one board member was
dissatisfied enough to leak the letter.
Asked recently if the commission was in danger of losing its
federal recognition without the letters of support, Beno, the accrediting
commission president, said: "Sure it is."
Beno and the 19-member commission, mostly educators, have
said accreditation is meant to ensure that colleges function according to
established standards.
But support for the commission is perhaps at its
lowest point.
It's unclear what would replace it if the commission lost
federal recognition. Yet pressure for change is coming from
several sources:
Two lawsuits, one from the California
Federation of Teachers and the other from the city of San Francisco,
are challenging the commission's integrity leading up to its decision to revoke
City College's accreditation next summer.
The state has also approved an audit to check whether
accrediting practices conform to how other commissions work across the country.
The U.S. Education Department has issued preliminary findings that the
commission is out of compliance in areas from conflicts of interest to the
clarity of its requirements.
'Fear of retaliation'
Dissatisfaction is also found among college leaders.
The chancellor of one college district wrote the Education
Department on Oct. 7, urging it to reject the commission's petition for federal
recognition on grounds that the commission is overly punitive and does not
comply with the requirement that its "standards, policies, procedures, and
accreditation decisions are widely accepted in the United States."
The chancellor also points to a 2011 report by the nonprofit RP
Group, which studies California community colleges and found deep
dissatisfaction with the commission among the leaders at three of five
colleges studied.
For example, "the colleges interviewed found (the
commission) generally unreceptive to constructive criticism and expressed a
fear of retaliation," the report says. Two leaders disagreed but said that
was because they had personal relationships at the commission.
The commission's application deadline is Oct. 25. A decision
on recognition is expected in January.
Nanette
Asimov is a San
Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail:nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov
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