Accreditation Issue at Community College of SF

CALIFORNIA ACCREDITATION AGENCY GOES "All In" ACCJC threatens to terminate CCSF by Rick Sterling‚ Jul. 08‚ 2013 On the second floor of a small office building in suburban Novato, California are the headquarters of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). A "For Lease" sign is out front. ACCJC office neighbors on the second floor are "1st Global Capital" and "Big Cat Advertising". The office is unassuming but ACCJC has managed to acquire the power to threaten the existence of community colleges throughout the state. The leadership of ACCJC has gone "all in" in a conflict with City College of San Francisco (CCSF). They have threatened to terminate the largest community college in the state, founded in 1935. What are the real reasons for the conflict? Why is ACCJC so intent on shutting down CCSF as it has existed and served San Francisco? See more; http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=11552#more

Corporate education reform threatens San Francisco Community College

CORPORATE EDUCATION REFORM HITS SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY COLLEGE
By David Bacon

Truthout Report

http://truth-out.org/news/item/15213-corporate-education-reform-hits-san-francisco-community-college

SAN FRANCISCO, CA  (3/18/13) - On March 14, the day before the Trustees at San Francisco Community College District handed in the report that may decide the life or death of California's largest community college, student and faculty marchers headed downtown to City Hall.  A sinuous line of hundreds of chanting, banner-waving people stopped traffic on Mission Street, the main artery through the city barrio. Their mood combined equal parts of desperation at the prospect of the closure of the school, and anger and defiance at the kinds of changes that authorities are demanding to keep it open.

       

Shanell Williams, urban studies major and president of the Associated Students at SFCC, told a rally at the march's starting point on the college's Mission campus that the required changes are part of a larger effort to turn students into commodities, and move towards the privatization of education.  "Next year students will be affected by the Student Success Act," she warned.  "Every student will have to have an education plan, there will be repeat limits, and a 90-credit cap on the Board of Governors fee waiver [that allows poor and working class students to petition to waive tuition fees].  Now is the time when they need more student services and support from the administration, but they're cutting part time counselors and taking other actions that will be even greater barriers."

Closing San Francisco Community College became a possibility last spring when the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges sent a team to San Francisco, as part of a 6-year accreditation cycle.  The district, the largest public school system in California, had been warned earlier about deficiencies and knew there would be problems.  With 85,000 students and 1650 faculty, and an annual operating budget of $200 million, SFCC had never been sanctioned.  But under the impact of cuts in state funding, last year it had a deficit of $6 million.