Advocates of the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) have been locked in a lawsuit since 2013, when the commission attempted to revoke the college’s accreditation. Without accreditation, the school would not be eligible for state or federal aid and would likely have had to close down.
The college was not without its troubles, and its challenges may be even greater now that its fate has hung in the balance for years. Nevertheless, CCSF advocates say that it is possible to change the situation, just as long as the school has some time to institute reforms and rebuild.
To save the college from shutting down, the California Federation of Teachers (CFT/AFT) and the City Attorney of San Francisco filed suits against the ACCJC, seeking an injunction to keep the college open. City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s suit found favor with the San Francisco Superior Court, which granted the injunction in February. Last week, the CFT/AFT suit had a minor victory of its own in the Court of Appeals, when the court denied the ACCJC’s attempt to have the CFT suit dismissed.
Untangling the trajectory of the CFT lawsuit against the ACCJC is indicative of how convoluted the legal wrangling between CCSF’s advocates and the ACCJC has been. CFT and AFT 2121 filed suit against the ACCJC in 2013, alleging that the ACCJC violated California law, federal regulations, and its own policies in its review of CCSF. The ACCJC asked the court to dismiss CFT’s suit, arguing that CFT violated their right to free speech. The Superior Court denied ACCJC’s action, and the ACCJC appealed the denial in the Court of Appeals.
“This ruling clears the way for possible further legal action that builds on the successful City Attorney’s suit. It also bolsters the argument — now made by many elected officials — that the Legislature should reform our broken accreditation system,” CFT president Joshua Pechthalt said in a statement.
Now that the ACCJC’s appeal is out of the way, the CFT/AFT lawsuit is free to move forward, CFT communications director Fred Glass said on Thursday. Glass said that CFT is closely watching two community college accreditation reform bills that are being considered in the Senate currently.
California Assembly member Phil Ting is the principal author of two reform bills, AB 1397 and AB 1385, which would provide a measure of protection for community colleges. AB 1385 would prevent accrediting commissions from paying for their legal fees with funds derived from community colleges, except by a special vote. AB 1397 would change the composition of visiting accrediting teams, ensuring that persons with “conflicts of interest” are not on the team and that academics make up a certain percentage of the team.
