City College Of San Francisco To Remain Accredited Pending Trial

Career College Central summary:

A private commission cannot revoke the accreditation of City College of San Francisco until a trial is held to determine if the action is lawful, a judge ruled last week. The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges had moved to strip official certification from City College effective July 2014, citing a failure to improve serious financial and governance problems. If the 80,000-student multi-campus institution loses accreditation, it could also lose state aid and could close.
San Francisco City Atty. Dennis Herrera filed a civil suit in August, charging that the accrediting panel acted with unlawful conflict-of-interest and political bias because City College leaders expressed a philosophy over the mission of community colleges that differed from the commission’s.
Herrera and a group representing teachers’ unions and students filed preliminary injunctions in November, alleging that the commission was using stalling tactics and that a trial might be delayed until after the July revocation deadline, irreparably harming the college. In granting a partial injunction, San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Curtis E.A. Karnow agreed with Herrera, writing that losing accreditation would be “catastrophic” for the school.

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