By Li Lovett
FEB. 21, 2004 — A student I advised at City College of San Francisco said to me recently, echoing the experience of others who found their path at the college, “CCSF saved me.” Now, with the school facing the threat of losing its accreditation, the challenge is: How do we save City College?
The key to that process is transparency.
As school administrators make critical decisions for the short and long term, it is imperative that the community CCSF serves – faculty, students, taxpayers – is involved in deciding whether our beloved institution will continue to serve the diversity of students who come here.
After a decade as a counselor at City College, I have seen this institution rocked to its foundations. Over the past two years, the accreditation crisis has given the powers that be an excuse to clean house – issuing in a slew of new administrators. When the Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) gave its ultimate sentence to yank accreditation, it also threw out the elected Board of Trustees and replaced it with one man, Bob Agrella, Special Trustee with Extraordinary Powers. (more after the jump)
The CCSF situation is so close to the actual experience of a nightmare that I sometimes wonder if I’m awake. Though there have been numerous well argued pieces written, like this one, and some lawmakers are starting to try to do something about the situation (e.g. those mentioned in this piece) there seems to be no clear evidence that any of this has any chance of actually saving CCSF, an institution that is so important to the lives of so many San Franciscans. The ACCJC is at least appearing to be completely un-phased and is as resolute and recalcitrant as ever. Do they know something that none of the rest of us do, e.g. that this is really a done deal ? It appears that nothing that citizens can do (contribute to legal funds, show up at rallies, fill out surveys,…) has the slightest chance of having any effect (ergo the feeling of being in a nightmare).