Passions are running high as supporters of City College of San Francisco attempt to pressure federal authorities to reverse the school’s loss of accreditation. Hundreds of students, staff and others marched to the local U.S. Department of Education offices Tuesday to protest the decision.
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges formally revoked City College’s accreditation last week, but the decision will not take effect until July 2014, after a review and appeal process. City College staff and administrators have scrambled to get on better financial footing, streamline decision-making and better track student outcomes since the commission slapped the school with its most serious sanction a year ago.
“We didn’t agree with all the recommendations,” City College Trustee Chris Jackson said. “Some we agreed with, some we didn’t. But we all united around the fact that we wanted our college to stay accredited and open, so we gritted our teeth and did it. And now to see that none of it really mattered – I think that’s the jarring part.”
If City College’s loss of accreditation becomes final, it would disrupt the school’s funding and mean an end to federal financial aid for students. Credit for classes would no longer transfer to other accredited universities. Theoretically, the college could be absorbed by another neighboring district, but its size makes that option improbable. Therefore, losing accreditation would likely mean one of the largest public education institutions in the nation would close, and some 85,000 students would be displaced.
Jackson and City College’s other elected trustees were stripped of all governance power Monday when the chancellor of California Community Colleges, Brice Harris, and the board of governors transferred oversight to a state-appointed special trustee, Robert Agrella, who has been advising the college since the accreditation crisis began.