Accjc gone wild
Save CCSF Rally - November 7, 2013
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- They expressed support for a lawsuit filed Thursday
- We hope that one of the three lawsuits would stop this bad dream - this nightmare that would have City College close
- Aug. 13 reprimand by the U.S. Department of Education
- "Her lack of responsiveness is emblematic of the problem
- We need a fair and, most importantly, a transparent system
- Response to the November 7 Forum
- It then goes on comment on the lawsuits
Save CCSF Rally - November 7, 2013SF Gate Article by Nanette Asimov Two Peninsula representatives Thursday became the first members of Congress to weigh in on the crisis facing City College of San Francisco, whose accreditation is to be revoked next summer. "This institution cannot be shut down," Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, declared as she and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, joined hundreds of faculty, students and politicians who packed an auditorium on the Phelan Avenue campus to say the accrediting commission must be stopped. They expressed support for a lawsuit filed Thursday against the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges - the third since August - seeking to invalidate its ruling on City College. The suit is from the "Save City College Coalition" of students and employees. The earlier suits - from the city of San Francisco and the California Federation of Teachers - are also seeking to invalidate the ruling. "We hope that one of the three lawsuits would stop this bad dream - this nightmare that would have City College close," Speier told the crowd. She and Eshoo criticized the commission for what they said was its record of sanctioning colleges at a far higher rate than similar commissions around the country. They also cited an Aug. 13 reprimand by the U.S. Department of Education, which oversees the commission. It identified problems ranging from too few teachers on the commission's evaluation team for City College, to the appearance of a conflict of interest when it appointed the husband of its president, Barbara Beno, to the evaluation team. The accrediting commission is a private, nonprofit agency that must follow federal guidelines in its role as the arbiter of quality for California's 112 community colleges. "Reports of bad record-keeping and conflicts of interest - these have fueled my concerns," Eshoo said. "I want to hear how the system can be made better." Attacks 'disheartening' Beno was not at the forum, but responded by e-mail when contacted by The Chronicle. "Attacks against the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior College and its work to ensure quality education are disheartening to the evaluation teams who volunteer their time for peer reviews each year," she said. "The Commission is confident that all City College of San Francisco supporters share the belief that the students and residents of San Francisco deserve an institution that meets standards of quality met by 111 other public community colleges in California." The commission placed City College in the most severe sanction, "show cause," in July 2012, citing an array of problems in governance and finance. A year later, the commission said the college had failed to fix all of its problems and would lose its accreditation in July 2014. Without it, the college would close. Speier said she had invited Beno to participate in Thursday's event, billed as a forum for understanding how college accreditation works in the state. "Dr. Beno declined our request to participate," she told the booing audience. "Her lack of responsiveness is emblematic of the problem." Among the 11 people on stage were state senators Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, and Jim Beall, D-San Jose, who promised to pursue legislation to overturn a law designating the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges as the only agency able to accredit California colleges. In August, Beall and Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber (Tehama County), persuaded a state audit committee to investigate the college accrediting system in the state. "We need a fair and, most importantly, a transparent system," Beall said Thursday. Chancellor speaks out Also on stage was Ron Galatolo, chancellor of the San Mateo Community College District, the state's only college district leader to speak out against the accrediting commission, though he said many others have told him they wish they could. "Some would say I probably should have my head examined, since I'm going through (accrediting) review right now," Galatolo said. "But this is the right thing to do." He made the audience laugh and applaud by mocking the commission's reasons for yanking City College's accreditation. "They say City College should be closed forever because they did not develop - and this is a quote - 'a strategy for fully implementing the existing planning process' " he said to hoots from the crowd. In the audience, art student Rose Byers, 20, said she had come to the forum to learn more about the accreditation crisis. She's dismayed because students are no longer able to take classes more than once. "A lot of people want to take the classes over to improve their skills," she said. "That's what I do." Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Hittelman comments: Beno’s quote is characteristic of all of her responses to criticism of the ACCJC and her part in their proceedings. When she speaks to the work of the “evaluation teams who volunteer their time for peer reviews each year," she doesn’t mention that the team recommendations for sanction are often ignored by the Commission and that the teams have been found to be lacking in faculty representation by the U.S. Department of Education. When she speaks to the “111 other public community colleges in California" that have met the ACCJC “standards” she leaves out that, in fact, the Commission has placed 71 of the 112 California community colleges (63%) on sanction since 2007 for not satisfying all of the “standards” imposed by the ACCJC. It is clear that the standards, as they are enforced by ACCJC, are not well accepted in the California community colleges. In fact, from 2003-2008 ACCJC generated 89% of all sanctions nationwide. ACCJC is simply out of control. The ACCJC wrote a letter to Congresswoman Jackie Speir on October 28, 2013 in response to the invitation to attend the forum of November 7, 2013. She stated she could not attend as the ACCJC is “not able”, due to the various law suits, to comment on accreditation matters related to CCSF. However, the ACCJC did place on their website a “Response to the November 7 Forum.” The response begins by stating that “The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) cannot comment at this time on accreditation matters related to the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) as the College has entered into a due process of Review with the Commission, and there is litigation brought by third parties against the ACCJC concerning its evaluation and accreditation decision on CCSF.” It then goes on comment on the lawsuits: “The ACCJC believes these third-party lawsuits are without merit. They all rest on similar premises that are, in fact, weak. It is important to note that the City College of San Francisco itself is not involved in these suits. The College has stated that it subscribes to ACCJC standards, and is working to come into compliance with standards. These lawsuits are politically motivated and do not align with the real efforts to assure CCSF's future accreditation, but rather distract from those efforts.” Of course she doesn’t note the fact that the ACCJC has forbidden the Special Trustee and the District from making any public comments with regard to their request for review of the Commission’s removal of accreditation. It does not note that the Department of Education found the ACCJC in violation of its standards – many of the same issues raised in the lawsuits. The letter continues with: “Accreditation of a college is crucial. Without it, students cannot receive financial aid. The accreditation process is designed to assure that a member college meets standards; that the education given is of value to the student who earned it; and employers, trade- or profession-related licensing agencies, and other colleges and universities can accept a student's credentials as legitimate.” She fails to mention that none of the so-called “deficiencies” at CCSF speak to whether the education at CCSF is of high quality or whether other colleges and employers have any concerns with the students that CCSF has sent them. The issues are not those suggested by the letter but rather of a bureaucratic nature. The letter speaks to what the ACCJC considers “transparency”: “The Commission provides transparency of its decisions by requiring the colleges to make the major documents, the college self-evaluation, the evaluation team report, and the Commission's letter detailing the reasons for its action, available to the public.” She does not mention that the Visiting Team recommendations for sanction are not made public and that the Commission often ignores the recommendation for sanction proposed by the Visiting Teams. She does not mention that the Commission meets in private and only after all the decisions are made is the public able to address the Commission and even then, attendance at the Commission meetings is strictly controlled. The actual work of the Visiting Teams and the Commission are kept secret by edict of Dr. Beno and documents are required to be destroyed. This is hardly a transparent operation. 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