Latest articles on CCSF and accreditation. Two perspectives.

Capital and Main website has an article on the ACCJC.  Obviously, they view the commission in a negative light as most of the articles have been.  It states:  

The decision to impose sanctions on CCSF has set in motion a fierce yearlong struggle that is being played out on its 11 campuses, in hearing rooms in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., and in San Francisco courtrooms. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, the California Federation of Teachers and the Save CCSF Coalition have filed lawsuits alleging that ACCJC allowed its advocacy and political bias to prejudice its evaluation of college accreditation standards. (Editor’s Note: The California Federation of Teachers is a financial supporter of Capital & Main.)
In Sacramento, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee has approved a request to audit the ACCJC. In Washington, a federal Department of Education staff report has criticized the ACCJC for not including enough faculty members on its accrediting team.
Next week in San Francisco, a state superior court judge will hear a motion from Herrera’s office seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the ACCJC from revoking CCSF’s accreditation status in July. The City Attorney’s office says that the accrediting body has been using stalling tactics and failing to turn over records. The hearing is scheduled for the day after Christmas.
In an interview with Capital & Main, Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart calls the ACCJC a “rogue agency that is accountable to no-one,” adding that its efforts to revoke CCSF’s accreditation status represent an “unconscionable” move that would devastate tens of thousands of poor and working class students.

The California Legislature, the City of San Francisco, and obviously many of the California Community Colleges do feel like they are being hit hard by the ACCJC.  You might think that some people in Washington would agree.  Not necessarily.  Inside Higher Education has an interesting article on Washington's view of the process.  CCSF is not exactly in a good position if you read the following by Anne D Neal of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni which is a part of NACIQI panel that accredits the accreditation bodies:

“I have a profound concern that this is an issue where an accreditor is out of control,” she said. However, she added that an accreditor’s decision to close an institution is not evidence that it was not meeting the federal standards of how an accreditor should act -- which will be at the heart of the panel’s deliberations when they begin Friday.

Of all people, Senator Warren inquired about "bright lines" or rather trigger mechanisms to revoke accreditation.   It was noted in the article:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, asked panelists if Congress should set a “bright line” with minimum standards for colleges to participate in federal financial aid programs.
Warren said thresholds could be set for student loan default rates, graduation rates or the retention of students with Pell grants.
“From the outside, it doesn’t look like it should be quite so hard,” Warren said of the role accreditors play. “The goal is to identify the schools that are of really low quality.”
The panelists, however, argued the feds should leave most of the decisions on standards to accreditors.
“Bright lines are tough,” said Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and the former president of Teachers College at Columbia University.
For example, Levine said a one-size-fits-all graduation rate could hurt colleges with open-door admissions policies. “If we have 50 percent as the bright line, we’ve just closed every community college in the United States,” he said.

The other thing that seems to be developing is a perception that a commission is only as good as how many bad colleges it closes.  Senator Harkin stated:

Only four colleges lost their regional accreditation in 2010-11, Harkin said, citing data from the Congressional Research Service.
“That’s out of 7,000 institutions. That means 6,996 are doing a great job,” he said. “Or maybe our standards are too low. I don’t know. Which is it?”
Attempting to tackle that question was Ralph Wolff, who recently stepped down as president of the senior college commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
He said accreditors had begun driving a harder line with sanctions. Many colleges have made major improvements as a result. However, Wolff said accreditors should be more open about their work.
“The process is opaque right now,” he said. “You can’t see what most accreditors do.”

However, Alexander, a former university president and U.S. secretary of education, was more concerned about the federal government overreaching by placing unnecessary regulations on accreditation bodies and colleges. He stated:  

However, Alexander, a former university president and U.S. Secretary of Education, was more concerned about the federal government overreaching by placing unnecessary regulations on accreditors and colleges.
"Is all this necessary?" he asked.
Both Warren and Harkin raised questions about perceived conflicts of interest by accreditors. The agencies’ review teams are staffed by volunteers from higher education, making the process a form of self-regulation.

If people were hoping for change, it could actually change for the worse with a form of No Child Left Behind being applied to the Community Colleges.  In fact, to meet certain criterias, the open enrollment model might be an endangered species.