San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow ruled on January 16 as we expected – two more years of reprieve for City College of San Francisco. However, in spite of the media hype about CCSF celebrating another win, the bottom line in Judge Karnow’s decision is that,
~ The Accreditation Commission’s termination decision was not vacated – it stands.
~ City College has two years under the new Commission’s “Restoration Policy” to achieve full compliance.
~ The Accreditation Commission and the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office have until February 3 to comment or object. [Note: CCSF is not a party to these legal proceedings. The suit against the Accreditation Commission was brought by the City Attorney.)
How much work is left for CCSF to do? There are a lot of “Partially meets this standard” in the self evaluation report submitted by the college to the Commission in October 2014. Just four examples of the several goals receiving the "partially met" label should prompt serious students and taxpayers to demand more accountability and less moaning from the college as well as City officials.
“II.A.2.h. The institution awards credit based on student achievement of the course’s stated learning outcomes. Units of credit awarded are consistent with institutional policies that reflect generally accepted norms or equivalencies in higher education.” Standard partially met.
“II.A.5. Students completing vocational and occupational certificates and degrees demonstrate technical and professional competencies that meet employment and other applicable standards and are prepared for external licensure and certification.” Standard partially met.
“III.B.1.a. The institution plans, builds, maintains, and upgrades or replaces its physical resources in a manner that assures effective utilization and the continuing quality necessary to support its programs and services.” Standard partially met.
“III.B.2.a. Long-range capital plans support institutional improvement goals and reflect projections of the total cost of ownership of new facilities and equipment.” Standards partially met.
As we did in 2012, today we again predict that the dysfunction in City College will continue forever unless voters make clear that there will be no more pouring of hard earned taxpayer money unless CCSF meets all the standards met by all other functioning California Community Colleges.
To read the City College of San Francisco Institutional Self Evaluation report in application for
Restoration Status, October 15, 2014: CCSF Self Evaluation Report October 2014
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