Of Audits and Accreditation

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Recently, it appears that the California Legislature has decided that Compton College is now important to them.  Given the past history of several organizations lack of support during the "Crisis,' we find this to be an interesting development.  From a pessimistic perspective, the interest in Compton Community College seems directly connected to the war between City College of San Francisco and the ACCJC.  Many in the CCCFE Faculty Union have been saying to our fellow brothers and sisters, "I told you so!" Now people listen to us.        

Recently, the District requested a letter of support in terms of dealing with a potential audit as related to some interest by the California Legislature.  The Union has taken a neutral stance on the matter, and we did not issue anything.  It was clear that the District wants to take, but they do not wish to give anything to faculty as their latest budget proposals contain nothing for faculty.  The lack of respect for faculty (especially the senior faculty who saved the institution from destruction so the Admins could have a job) is obvious.      

Barbara Beno of the ACCJC visited the campus on Flex Day, August 21, 2015.  She stated her backing of CEO Curry and the Administration, but the ACCJC has come under increased scrutiny.  Although she stated that the college would be on a fast track to accreditation, it would require a lot of work from faculty.  When questioned about pay, the District said, "NO!"  Ironically, their speaker from Napa Valley College received 100% release time, and several other members of the faculty working on the self study also received release time.   

This year, 2015, the Chancellor's Office of the California Community College System has issued a report on accreditation.  The Task Force on Accreditation's report clearly proposes alternative accreditation options for California.  The report states:

The task force finds that: ƒ 

The structure of accreditation in this region no longer meets the current and anticipated needs of the California Community Colleges. ƒ The ACCJC has consistently failed to meet the expectations outlined in section three of this report. ƒ On several occasions the ACCJC has promised changes and has offered reports detailing their efforts to address concerns, but these promises and reports have led to few significant improvements. ƒ The California Community College system and its member institutions have lost confidence in the ACCJC.

Given all these events, it appears that everything is in a state of flux.  What is probably more important to Compton is the Chancellor's Office report.

Regardless of any action, we will have to create an application for accreditation.  Accreditation will not magically appear.