The much-despised accreditor that tried, and failed, to put City College out of business is about go out of business itself.
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, which has become the bane of much of the state’s education community, has apparently gone so far that even the conservative leaders of the state’s community colleges have voted to get rid of it.
And it’s likely that the state board overseeing the local school will do the same thing Monday.
In a stunning show of no-confidence, the presidents and chancellors of all of California’s community colleges voted by more than 90 percent this week to seek an alternative to the ACCJC. The so-called “CEOs group” of college leaders is hardly a radical group and is typically quite slow to endorse this sort of change.
It’s particularly noteworthy since the ACCJC still has the authority to seek to shut down any of those schools.
But since the fiasco that was the ACCJC assault on City College, just about everyone in higher education in the state has come to realize that this is a rogue agency that has no accountability and operates with a strange vindictiveness that can do great harm to schools that are a critical part of the state’s economy.
On Monday, the Board of Governors of the state Community College system will take up, and most say likely approve, a resolution that directs the state chancellor to begin severing ties with the ACCJC and moving to a different accreditor.
There would be an interim period – but during that time, the board is asking for more close oversight – in essence, to make sure that the ACCJC changes its current patterns and doesn’t take revenge on any of the schools that have rejected it.
That, one insider told me, almost certainly means a change in leadership – Barbara Beno, the ACCJC president whose arrogance has stunned and offended state officials across the spectrum, will be either out the door or answering to some sort of state oversight group.
And within a year or two, the ACCJC would cease to exist and community colleges would be accredited by another agency, most likely the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which already does accreditation for the UC system.
“It is a great day for community colleges in California,” Tim Killikelly, head of the local college teachers’ union, told me. “The heads of the state’s colleges have said to the ACCJC, ‘you’re done.’”
California Federation of Teachers President Joshua Pechthalt called it a “decisive blow to ACCJC’s fading hopes of maintaining the unacceptable status quo.”
The ACCJC’s actions in San Francisco spurred a lengthy, successful lawsuit by City Attorney Dennis Herrera, during which the bizarre standards of the accreditors became public.
The battle isn’t over for City College – the accreditors will be back in October, and will issue a final report on whether the school can stay open in January. But it’s hard to imagine that the same discredited leadership will be involved – and that anyone could take seriously any continuation of the procedures that have taken place so far.
It’s too bad that City College – which has been largely vindicated by the court ruling and this new round of decisions – can’t sue the ACCJC for damages, which would amount to tens of millions of dollars. The bogus accreditation process has driven down the school’s enrollment and hurt its finances.
But the ACCJC’s only money comes from the dues other colleges pay, so that wouldn’t help the education system in the state.
On the other hand, State Sen. Mark Leno passed legislation to give City College temporary extra funding, and with the clear evidence that the ACCJC was faulty, and at fault, and that the deep financial setbacks at City College aren’t the school’s fault, that money should be continued or expanded.
In the meantime, the ACCJC is finally getting the fate it so truly deserves – extinction.
