The Guardsman, Vol. 156, Issue 1. City College of San Francisco

VOL. 156, ISSUE 1, AUG. 21-SEPT. 3, 2013

CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO | SINCE 1935 | THEGUARDSMAN.COM | @SFBREAKINGNEWS | FREE

Accreditation: Is it just a game of Chutes and Ladders?

Story on page 3.

Photo illustration by Sara Bloomberg

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ENROLLMENT: drop in numbers threatens course offerings

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MOVIE REVIEW: “World’s End,” the last of the Cornetto Trilogy

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SPORTS: How is accrediation affecting athletics?

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news

Managing Editors Madeline Collins Lucas Almeida Photo Editor Juan Pardo Culture Editor Lavinia Pisani Opinion Editor Dalton Amador Design Director Sara Bloomberg Copy Chief Patrick Tamayo Copy Editors Dalton Amador Illustrator Anthony Mata Staff Writers Gina Scialabba Alex Lamp Dan Harrington Jackson Ly Alexander Tidd Tim Maguire Patrick Cochran Daniel Galloway Carlos DaSilva Staff Photographers Ekevara Kitpowsong Quintin Chilsom Faculty Advisor Juan Gonzales Mail: 50 Phelan Ave Box V-67 San Francisco, CA 94112 Phone: (415) 239-3446 Advertising: advertising@theguardsman.com

Online: www.theguardsman.com Twitter: @sfbreakingnews Facebook: facebook.com/theguardsman Youtube: youtube.com/theguardsmanonline

General contact: news@theguardsman.com California Newspaper Publisher’s Association Journalism Association of Community Colleges

World Briefs Egypt

There have been 890 deaths in Egypt since Aug. 14, not including the three dozen detainees killed Aug. 18 during an escape attempt while being transported in a prison truck. Fighting broke out between protesters supporting ousted President Mohamed Morsi and security forces. Egyptian state media is reporting that a court has ordered the release of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has been jailed since 2011. Mubarak has been serving a life sentence for allowing the killing of protesters during the uprising that led to his removal.

(USA Today) (BBC)

Yemen

A United States drone killed three suspected al-Qaida militants in Lahj, Yemen on Aug. 17. “The militants were taking a weapons shipment by vehicle

to a different location when that strike took place,” a security official in the area said. Two others sustained injuries in a strike in the Askariayah district and another vehicle escaped a drone attack in the same area. There have been 12 drone attacks since July 28 in Yemen and 34 people have been killed, a senior Defense Ministry official said.

(CNN)

Somalia

There are now 105 confirmed cases of polio in Somalia, making up more than half of the total global cases of the disease. A big contributor to the extreme outbreak since May is health workers being unable to access areas of Somalia that are under al-Qaida control. In these areas seven out of 10 children are not immunized for polio. The global aid group Doctors Without

Borders made the decision to leave Somalia due to attacks on their workers, further setting back the goal of eliminating the disease in the country. In the last 10 years there have been over 50 outbreaks, spreading through fecal contact and through sneezing or coughing.

(ABC News)

Philippines

A ferry collided with a cargo ship outside of Cebu on Aug. 16.

The ferry, carrying 870 passengers and crew members, quickly began to sink after the collision ripped a hole in its hull. The Coast Guard reported that at least 39 died and more than 80 are missing.

The cargo ship was leaving Cebu after a routine stop and collided with the ferry on its way into the city. Incoming and outgoing ships have different routes, and it remains unclear if one strayed from its path.

(USA Today)

Russia

As Russia prepares to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, the country is facing more potential backlash for the anti-gay propaganda

law passed last month. The law bars the public discussion of gay rights and relationships anywhere that children may hear it. There has been concern about how the law will affect gay athletes and visitors during the Olympics next year. The International Olympic Committee said in a statement that they have been assured by the Russian government that this law will have no effect on athletes or visitors during the winter games.

(CNN)

Mexico

The Mexican Army captured Mario Armando Ramirez Treviño, the leader of the Gulf cartel on Aug. 17. The cartel’s presence in the drug trade has diminished significantly due to fierce competition from the Zetas cartel. The Gulf cartel joined forces with the Sinaloa cartel to compete with the Zetas, and it has resulted in a turf war throughout Mexico. It is the second major cartel-related arrest since the inauguration of President Enrique Peña Nieto in December.

(LA Times) Compiled by Madeline Collins

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news

Cover story

Accrediation: is it an arbitrary game?

Commission gets slapped with warning by feds

By Sara Bloomberg

@bloomreports sbloomberg@theguardsman.com

The Guardsman

A child picks up a die. She shakes it in her hand for a few seconds before tossing it hopefully onto the game board and then closes her eyes for a moment.

When she opens them, a five appears in front of her. She holds her breath and advances … One, two, three, four, five ... landing her at the top of a long slide that takes her all the way back to the beginning of the game.

All that hard work, and for what? It’s a frustrating game of Chutes and Ladders and there’s no rhyme or reason to it—only the whim of the die and lady luck.

It’s also how the process of accreditation appears to work, at least under the auspices of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

And the United States Department of Education seems to agree.

As City College instructors attended professional development workshops the day before fall semester began, news broke that the Department of Education had determined the commission was out of compliance with federal regulations.

The department cited four problem areas, including a lack of clarity in the commission’s evaluation of City College.

It is “difficult to ascertain what a recommendation represents—an area of non-compliance or an area for improvement,” the department wrote in its letter to the commission. “This lack of clear identification impacts the [commission’s] ability to provide institutions with adequate due process.”

This is particularly poignant because the commission has threatened to revoke the school’s accreditation next summer.

In July 2012, the commission placed City College on show cause status—its most severe sanction before terminating accreditation.

The department also cited lax internal controls to prevent

conflicts of interest, too many administrators (and not enough faculty) on the visiting teams responsible for evaluating City College and not following proper procedures for applying sanctions, such as “show cause.”

Now the commission has one year to correct its behavior or the department could consider terminating its license to operate.

The commission released a statement that expressed disappointment with the decision and stated that it will correct some factual errors when it submits a response to the department this fall.

Additionally, the commission accuses the department of surreptitiously enforcing a new rule that lacks clarity.

“It also appears the department has developed a new requirement that is not included in federal regulations or in the [guidelines],” the letter states and continues that, “directions to accreditors remain vague, and will require clarification.”

A taste of their own medicine

It’s a twist of fate that vindicates what many in the college community having been saying since the commission placed City College on show cause in July 2012—that there’s a problem with how the commission operates and makes decisions.

“We’ve all known that something is very wrong here,” said Alisa Messer, president of the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121. “To have it validated and scrutinized ... has really given people a boost.”

In fact, the Department of Education investigated the commission after the California Federation of Teachers filed a nearly 300-page complaint in April that pointed out the problems in the department’s letter.

Department of Education officials confirmed that the agency has no authority to reverse any decisions made by an accrediting commission, but their decision carries heavy political weight, particularly as the college moves into the review and appeals process.

“CCSF can and likely will appeal the ACCJC decision, and the depart-

The U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges which said it fails to meet certain federal criteria required of all accreditors. The commission has one year to correct their areas of non-compliance.

Here is a summary of the department’s findings:

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The commission violates their own policies. Specifically, there is a lack of diversity on the evaluation teams, which are top heavy with administrators and include an insufficient number of academic representatives. Also, there was a commission staff member on an evaluation team for City College, which is not permitted.

There are inadequate internal controls to prevent conflicts of interest.

The commission’s policies regarding how schools must address recommendations and deficiencies are not clearly defined, which leads to a lack of due process for its member institutions.

Institutions must be given two years to address and correct deficiencies before a sanction is issued. The commission issues sanctions before allowing schools time to correct deficiencies. In the case of City College, the commission noted “serious” issues that will require follow up reports and used the same metric to justify issuing a show cause sanction—this logic conflicts with itself.

Infographic and photo illustrations by Sara Bloomberg/The Guardsman

ment’s letter could become part of their appeal,” the Department of Education wrote in an email to The Guardsman.

Judge, jury and executioner?

Before the Department of Education’s August decision letter, the chances of getting a fair trial for City College seemed bleak.

The commission oversees all aspects of the review and appeals process, which the department doesn’t consider a barrier to due process.

“Federal regulations require that the appeals body not include any members of the original decision-making body that took the adverse action” against City College, the department wrote in an email. “Also, the agency allows the institution to challenge the appointment of one or more appeals body members.”

If the commission staff determines that City College has a valid claim for review, it will appoint a review committee.

However, the commission’s chair—currently Sherrill Amador—has the power to approve or deny the request and City College is responsible for paying for the cost of the review, according to the commission’s “Accreditation Reference Handbook.”

Despite that, many people see

“If our review document joins the attack on the Commission, I believe that the review and appeals process will be unsuccessful.”

--Special Trustee Robert Agrella

the department’s decision letter as strong evidence that the commission simply cannot ignore.

However, faculty are frustrated with interim Chancellor Thelma Scott-Skillman and Special Trustee Robert Agrella for not including them in drafting the request for review.

Neither the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 or the California Federation of Teachers have been contacted by City College administration regarding the request for review, according to an Aug. 15 letter from Messer to both Scott-Skillman and Agrella.

“We are surprised by this occurrence because we have already filed a lengthy complaint

against the ACCJC, and have information concerning the actions of the commission, which is relevant to the college’s request for review,” Messer wrote.

College officials had previously promised to post the request online.

Although requests for comment from The Guardsman were not returned before press time, Agrella apologized in an email to faculty on Aug. 19 for prematurely promising that the documents would be made public and explained that he later learned this was not allowed.

“We cannot share the review documents because we have been clearly informed by the Commission that all parts of the appeal process, including the review, are to be treated as confidential,” Agrella wrote in the email.

However, he also announced that the Department of Education’s letter would not be included in the review—a decision that is sure to upset a lot of people.

His reasoning?

That both the college and the commission consider the faculty’s complaint and the Department of Education’s letter to be “third party communications,” and that using the letter would amount to an attack on the commission that college administrators don’t want ACCREDITATION: PAGE 4

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news Enrollment

Decreasing numbers threaten classes

By Jackson Ly

@lyjacks jly@theguardsman.com

The Guardsman

Percentage difference in enrollment for fall 2013 credit classes, based on the same week last year.

Despite City College remaining open and accredited, enrollment numbers for the fall semester having dropped far below target, likely the consequence of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges’ decision to revoke the school’s accreditation next July.

As of Aug. 8, student enrollment has decreased by 12.7 percent compared to Fall 2012, according to the school’s daily

enrollment reports. Chris Hanzo, executive director of AFT 2121, a local teacher’s union that supports City College, says classes with only five to six students will likely be closed.

“Part-timers would lose their employment, and full-timers would have to make up and teach a class for free in the future,” Hanzo said. “We really do not want to see a lot of class cancellations.”

The English 58A Contemporary Women Writers and Poets class only had six students and was canceled. Those students had to find a replacement class.

“This is a huge deal. Some

of the part-timers in my department are losing their family livelihood and health benefits,” Women’s Studies Department Chair Elisabeth Arruda said.

“They have to [teach] 7.5 units to get health care.”

City College faculty members and staff are using mass media, informing through word-ofmouth, passing out course catalogs on BART and telling counselors to let people know that the college is open and fully accredited.

Messages saying City College is “Open, Accredited, Enroll Now!” appear all over Bay Area billboards and radio stations.

If enrollment decreases further, City College will run the risk of losing state funding, which is based on enrollment numbers.

Hanzo says the college will not face any funding cuts this school year, but if enrollment decreases by 15 percent, then the loss of funding would potentially be over $20 million.

He added that further enrollment decreases would send the college into a “scary spiral downward.”

CCSF Gains Momentum

On Aug. 13 the United States Department of Education ruled

that the commission is out of compliance with federal regulations and is subject to closure within 12 months if issues found are not resolved.

The department agreed with the faculty union’s nearly 300-page complaint that the accreditation commission violated their own due process.

“We believe that the findings of the Department of Education undermine their [ACCJC] whole sanction of City College, so that whole sanction has to be reversed,” Hanzo said. “The accreditation agency didn’t have a legitimate basis to put City College on ‘show cause.’”

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July August June As of Aug. 14, 2013, enrollment in credit classes for the fall 2013 semester is down 10.2%. It dipped as low as 15.6% at the beginning of July. Source: Daily Activity Enrollment Report-Fall 2013 (City College administration)

Infographic by Sara Bloomberg/The Guardsman

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ACCREDITATION: FROM PAGE 3

to make.

“If we were to use these arguments they would become the college’s official position and therefore the college would join in the attack on the Commission,” Agrella wrote. “If our review document joins the attack on the Commission, I believe that the review and appeals process will be unsuccessful.”

Messer disagrees and thinks the college should be able to mention the letter in its request for a review without it being seen as an attack on the commission.

“I think it’s incredibly unfortunate that we have an independent body like the Department of Education confirming that there were serious faults in the commission’s process, and to have Dr. Agrella say that it’s not relevant is a mistake,” Messer said.

Enrollment woes

In the meantime, the college

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administration waged a public relations campaign this summer to combat the confusion and fear caused by the commission’s decision.

Compton Community College suffered a similar fate, and it hemorrhaged students until its accreditation was officially revoked in 2006.

Although a much smaller school than City College—which is the largest community college in California—Compton was down to about 2,000 students when El Camino Community College took over to save it from closure.

Six years later, the numbers were dramatically higher.

“Our Compton center right now has about 10,000 students,” Community Relations Director for El Camino Ann Garten told the SF Bay Guardian in August 2012.

Garten also explained that

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many of the former Compton students most likely dropped out of school altogether.

“We looked at two or three colleges around Compton and none of us had a significant increase in students from the Compton district coming here,” Garten said. “So our president’s concern was, wow, we now have individuals that aren’t going anywhere. We can’t let this happen. We have to step in.”

It’s unlikely that another community college district would be able to absorb City College.

To boost enrollment at City College, faculty members and their students took to social media this summer to promote their own classes and departments.

“Dear Friends, As you know, City College is struggling to meet its enrollment goals. The most valuable and unique classes are also the ones that are likely to get cancelled if we don’t get more

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students,” one appeal on Facebook read.

The S.F. Examiner even published a story about a student who decided to commute to City College from Sacramento this semester to help the school out.

Morale appears to be rising school-wide.

“I really feel like student morale is surprisingly high,” Student Trustee Shanell Williams said. “With this news from [the Department of Education], people are really seeing things in a different light and feeling hopeful that we will see a reversal of the decision by [the accrediting commission].”

At one point, enrollment numbers for credit courses were inching toward reaching 16 percent below last year’s number for the same time period, according to daily enrollment reports.

By the first day of classes, the school gained back more than

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five percentage points, bringing enrollment in credit courses to 10.2 percent below target.

The school receives state funding based on an averaged number of credit hours, known as “full time equivalent students,” or FTES. Figures for non-credit classes weren’t available by press time, but if non-credit classes experienced a similar drop in enrollment, that would indicate the school is serving around 8,500 fewer students this semester, or approximately 76,500 total students.

“It is an act of defiance at this point to take more classes at City College,” Messer said. “It’s a winwin situation. It helps the college, and additional education usually helps the person.”

Gina Scialabba contributed to this report.

THE GUARDSMAN & THEGUARDSMAN.COM | AUG. 21-SEPT. 3, 2013 | 5

Have Your Say:

Student spotlight

culture

Why did you come back to City College?

Bridgid Skiba, over 30 Broadcast Electronic Media Arts “I want to support City College and take classes to help for enrollment. I am with the CCSF coalition, and I record videos and photographs for them. I try to support it in that way. City College has a voice, and we have our voice.”

Dmitri Afa, left, works on the finishing touches of a metal frame during his introduction to welding class as part of the City Build Academy program on July, 23, 2013. Photo by Lulu Orozco/The Guardsman

David Rojo, 26 English

Technical training program faces threat of accreditation crisis

“I am going to transfer to San Francisco State. I had a good year this past year at City College, and I just wanted to return. I like the teachers, the student body. The campus is beautiful, and it seems like everybody wants to be there.”

By Lulu Orozco

@oohlulu news@theguardsman.com

Contributor

Nicholas Peterson, 21 Graphic Communications “I transferred from Minnesota. I was going to the University of Minnesota, and I decided I wanted to transfer here because I love the state and the city. I was a little sketch about it, but from what I heard it is probably gonna go through, and we are going to stay accredited.”

Savannah Ward, 23 Graphic Design “I was planning on coming here anyways. I have a family member that works with someone that was working on this situation and told me I shouldn’t worry about it. I knew this semester was going to be accredited. So if it ended up not being accredited after this, I was just going to figure it out.”

Pedro De Castro, 33 Political Science “I was here last semester, and I had a good experience. I decided to enroll this semester until at least I know what is going to happen. Also because there is no alternative in San Francisco. That’s the truth.”

Photos by Ekevara Kitpowsong. Reporting by Lavinia Pisani.

For many City College students, the thought of needing an alternative plan for continuing their education had never crossed their mind. But with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges’ (ACCJC) decision to revoke City College’s accreditation next July, many students’ are now uncertain about their futures.

“If they told me I wouldn’t be able to get my certificate, I would be devastated,” said Dmitri Afa, a first time student in the City Build advanced construction program.

“If City College would close it would change my direction and everyone who is in my life as well.”

Afa, 34, said the college gave

him a second chance to recognize an opportunity, something the streets never gave him. He plans to use his experience to let young people know that there is a different option.

“I come from a troubled background. [City College] has given me self esteem, confidence and hope,” Afa said.

Though City College’s doors remain open, students must think about what will happen if the school closes next summer.

“I’m certain that in the back of their minds, they have to come up with a backup plan,” said Melissa McPeters, a five-year City Build coordinator.

In a city with one of the highest living costs in the country, “students don’t always have the job skills to make a good living wage,” McPeters said.

She says the City Build program not only teaches students job skills but important life skills

as well. It helps them to be able to take care of themselves and their families, she said.

For some students, plans to build a more promising future for themselves may be compromised.

“I don’t have a plan B. I hope that the accreditation doesn’t commit that abuse,” said Juan Jose Abad, 44, an audio production major.

It’s clear that most students would have to make sacrifices if City College closes. That might include taking an extra day off from work in order to commute to another college, said Bella Ruan, 23, a business major whose hope to transfer to a four-year college might mean attending a different community college altogether.

“We all come from different walks of life, but we are all here with the same goal,” Afa said, referring to his classmates and the many people who have inspired him along the way.

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culture

Movie Review: “World’s End”

Familiar faces bring the usual laughs

By Gina Scialabba

@journalist_gina gscialabba@theguardsman.com

The Guardsman

One night. Six friends. 12 pubs. A whole lot of pints. Oh, and total annihilation. That’s the plot of the new British science fiction comedy, “The World’s End.” The film answers the burning question: Just how far will a person go for a pint—to the end of the world, perhaps? It’s basically a boys’ night out gone very wrong.

Director Edgar Wright and actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost team up again, following their hits “Shaun of the Dead” (2004) and “Hot Fuzz” (2007).

The third and final installment in this film series features the same actors in all the movies, and each movie is a social commentary targeting our obsession with “genre films.”

“Shaun of the Dead” turned the classic zombie brand on its head. “Hot Fuzz” satirized action films.

Here, Pegg and Frost poke fun at apocalyptic, end-of-theworld movies, alien invasions and suburban conformity.

Meet Gary King (Pegg). In 1990 he was the cool kid. He smoked cigarettes, listened to cutting edge U.K. ‘90s pop (Primal Scream, Stone Roses, Suede) and drank lots of beer.

His four friends, Andy (Frost), Steven (Paddy Considine), Oliver (Martin Freeman) and Peter (Eddie Marsan), decide to celebrate the end of school by going on an epic pub crawl to culminate at the aptly named World’s End Pub. Alas, the boys never make it.

Now meet Gary King in 2013. He still smokes cigarettes, still listens to bad U.K. ‘90s pop (Primal Scream, Stone Roses, Suede) and, you guessed it, still drinks lots of beer. Yes, he is a time capsule of a person: never moving forward, always stuck in the past.

The others friends have each left their hometown and are now husbands, fathers, men with careers. Well, all but Gary.

You may be thinking, “British comedy?

I hate British comedy!”

Give it a chance.

The former ringleader is fast approaching 40-years-old and hasn’t changed.

He desperately tries to keep memories of his past glories alive.

It’s sad and almost familiar at the same time. Who doesn’t look back fondly on their youth with rosetinted glasses?

Gary reunites the old gang as they return to their hometown of Newton Haven and try the epic pub crawl. The aim is to finish their drinking challenge, “The Golden Mile,” once and for all.

All of these characters are at some kind of midlife crossroads and are confronted with unresolved matters from their past.

Soon, their homecoming celebration becomes a fight for survival against hordes of aliens, with the alcohol-fueled odyssey turning into a battle for survival.

Suddenly, drinking 12 pints across 12 pubs is the least of their worries.

“World’s End” is a bit more serious than the two previous movies, but still a whole lot of fun. Sure, there are aliens and Stepford-like wives, but the movie also deals with the inevitable idea of growing up and moving

(l to r) Nick Frost as Andy, Eddie Marsan as Peter, Simon Pegg as Gary, Paddy Considine as Steven, and Martin Freeman as Oliver in Edgar Wright’s new comedy THE WORLD’S END, a Focus Features release. Photo by Laurie Sparham / Focus Features

forward, with an “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” twist (both the 1956 and 1978 versions).

If you’ve never seen a Pegg/ Frost tag-team, you are in for a treat. They epitomize the great buddy duos of the past. Think Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy or Matthau and Lemmon, only British and way more culturally relevant today.

You may be thinking, “British comedy. I hate British comedy!”

Give it a chance.

You won’t find Harold and Kumar looking for White Castle, or the boys from “The Hangover” on their drunken misadventures.

Instead, you will find quickwitted, satirical humor with numerous cultural references.

Blink and you may miss one.

Oh, and don’t forget to look for the Cornetto ice cream tribute.

If you go...

Running Time: 109 Minutes

Release Date: Aug. 23, 2014

Genre: Science Fiction/ Comedy

MPAA Rating: R Directed by: Edgar Wright

Stars: Simon Pegg Nick Frost Paddy Considine Martin Freeman

Fact: The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy (“Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz” and “The World’s End”) is connected to a Cornetto ice cream, featuring scenes where a main character purchases a Cornetto flavor. According to its website, “Cornetto consists of a delicious, crispy-baked wafer, coated inside from top to bottom with a chocolate-flavour layer, combined with a delicious ice cream.” “Shaun of the Dead” features a red strawberry for the film’s blood elements. “Hot Fuzz” includes the blue original Cornetto, to signify the police element, and “The World’s End” features green mint chocolate chip flavor in tribute to aliens and science fiction.

THE GUARDSMAN & THEGUARDSMAN.COM | AUG. 21-SEPT. 3, 2013 | 7

Staff editorial

Commission threatens more than just City College with its decision Fall semester is in full swing, but a dark shadow has been cast over the school since the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges made the decision to revoke City College’s accreditation next July.

There has been a strong reaction from faculty, students, staff and the community since City was hit with a “show cause” sanction.

They are all armed with one idea.

The quality of education at City College makes it an institution worth fighting for.

City has over 30 areas of career and technical education.

These programs allow students to receive hands-on training and gain experience in their chosen career, from culinary arts to aircraft-maintenance technology.

It has rich diversity programs from Women’s Studies to Asian American Studies to African American Studies.

These courses allow students to learn about their background and ethnic history.

City College also had the first LGBT Studies department in the country as a part of the diversity department.

The Disabled Students Programs and Services works hard to help the thousands of students with physical and learning disabilities to succeed in continuing their education and training them for their future careers.

The English as a Second

opinion

Cartoon Corner by Anthony Mata

The quality of education at City College makes it an institution worth fighting for.

Language department is the largest department at City College with over 700 course offerings. The department helps ESL students develop their ability to speak, read, write and comprehend English.

Credit classes in the depart-

ment help students succeed in their vocational or certificate program, as well as working toward transferring.

These departments and countless others are what makes City College a vital part of San Francisco.

The question that has been asked is, will City College close?

However, there is a more pertinent question that students, faculty and staff should be asking themselves.

What will happen if City College does close?

It is doubtful that another institution could take over the school that has an enrollment of nearly 80,000 students.

Who will provide affordable education to low-income students looking to build their careers?

Who will provide technical training to students looking to become firefighters, architects or construction managers?

Who will employ faculty and staff who depend on City College for their livelihood?

“I can’t tell you how many people I know who are where they are because of City College,” District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener said at a Save CCSF rally July 9.

The effects will reach across San Francisco if City does close its doors.

Faculty and staff who count on City College may find themselves unemployed next year, and students who don’t have the credits to transfer or can’t make the commute to alternative community colleges will likely drop out altogether.

The future of the school has become full of what-ifs, which makes planning for the future impossible for students, faculty and staff.

Proceed with caution regarding accreditation

By Dalton Amador

@sfbreakingnews damador@theguardsman.com

The Guardsman

The Department of Education’s letter to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior College’s reasonably inspired celebration among City College supporters. In the letter, the department said that it found the commission non-compliant in several areas necessary for federal recognition and gave the commission a year to fix them or have its power revoked.

The decision echoed that of the commission against City

College only a year earlier. Come next July there are three possible outcomes: The commission loses its power and City College stays open regardless of what it does, the commission retains its power but reverses its decision to close City College, or the commission retains its power and City College closes.

Ideally, the first scenario comes to fruition. But the third scenario is just as, if not more, likely to pass.

To remain purposely noncompliant with the commission’s standards would be an enormous gamble. Should the commission keep its federal recognition, City College would close.

Therefore it is in the best inter-

Letters to the editor must be under 250 words and may be edited for content.

Send letters to: editor@theguardsman.com

est of City College to continue on its path to satisfy the commission. Robert Agrella, the special trustee who now holds unilateral control over the Board of Trustees’ powers, should be allowed without opposition to take the actions that he thinks is necessary to convince the commission to reverse its decision.

And it’s important to note that the Department of Education is probably not on City College’s side and agrees with commission’s decision to rescind City College’s accreditation.

In an illuminating piece for the San Francisco Bay Guardian titled “Who Killed City College?”

by Joe Fitzgerald, an anonymous source who Fitzgerald claims was a member of one of ACCJC’s visiting teams said that the commission’s stringent stance comes from

the top.

“The message they’re hearing from (ACCJC President) Barbara Beno is that Washington is demanding, ‘Why are you not being more strict with institutions with deficiencies that have lasted more than two years [and taking action] to revoke their accreditation?,” the source said.

Fitzgerald further explains, “College accreditation agencies can either enforce the administration’s numbers-based plan or be replaced.” Whatever bureaucratically defined deficiencies the commission has, its decisions regarding City College aren’t one of them.

The accrediting commission, being the institution that is, is also well attuned to the particularities of bureaucracy, so it has the ability to make the changes necessary to

Corrections: Find a mistake? Let us know!

Email: editor@theguardsman.com

satisfy the Department of Education. And, unlike City College, there will be no internal opposition against those changes.

This last point is especially important because it points to a cancerous ideology present in the college. The commission threatened to rescind City College’s accreditation were it to fail to sufficiently rectify the deficiencies identified in its report.

Assuming the desired outcome is for City College to keep its accreditation, the goal should undeniably be to do what the commission says to do. But instead many in the college’s rank rose to fight those very actions, led by the ironically named Save CCSF Coalition.

These people need to step down. If the commission keeps its powers, and their opposition successfully deters Agrella’s actions, then City College’s closure will be on them and no one else.

It’s a risk the school cannot afford to make.

THE GUARDSMAN & THEGUARDSMAN.COM | AUG. 21-SEPT. 3, 2013 | 8

sports Feature

Athletic programs shake off accreditation dilemmas

By Alexander Tidd

@sfbreakingnews atidd@theguardsman.com

The Guardsman

When it comes to City College’s highly publicized and lengthy battle to maintain its accreditation status, most student and faculty members’ top concern is likely how it impacts their academic careers. However, the threat of losing accreditation has many other possible far-reaching effects.

City’s athletics department has had to adapt its collective programs to maintain the effectiveness of the college’s various sports teams. While they have encountered some challenges along the way, the athletics staff believes it will continue to put top-flight teams on the field.

“In all honesty, in terms of the quality of athletes, the number of athletes, [the accreditation battle]

sports calendar FOOTBALL

Sept. 6, 7 p.m. @ Diablo Valley College

SOCCER MEN:

Aug. 23, 3 p.m. @ Art Academy University Aug. 30 & 31, Sept. 1, TBA Hartnell Tournament @Hartnell College

WOMEN:

Aug. 26, TBA @ San Francisco State Aug. 29, 8 p.m.

Nike Soccer Community College Classic @Ventura College

VOLLEYBALL Aug. 30, 1:30 p.m

American River Classic Tournament @American River College Sept. 4, 6:30 p.m. vs. West Valley College

“In all honesty, in terms of the quality of athletes, the number of athletes, [the accreditation battle] hasn’t impacted us at all.”

--Head Coach George Rush

hasn’t impacted us at all,” head coach George Rush said.

“But what it did was make it extremely difficult to recruit athletes. All the schools that we compete against and recruit against can say, ‘Don’t go to City College; your classes will never transfer. They’re closing the school.”

Although prospective students and their parents could certainly be justified with concerns over City College’s future, Rush said his football team has continued to bring in top talent from across the country.

“Obviously we had to spend an enormous amount of time not just with the student athletes but with parents because of their concerns for their sons,” Rush said. “I would say the single biggest hurdle has been dealing with those issues and meeting with people face-to-face and telling them what the reality of the situation really was.

Freshman quarterback Alex Bell said he didn’t need any persuasion at all to try out for the team.

“It’s the best junior college football in the country, and [City College] is great on academics,” Bell, who moved from Daytona Beach, Fla. specifically to secure his spot on the Rams offense, said.

“I wasn’t intimidated at all by the accreditation conflict. I’ve been planning to come here since last December.”

Bell said whatever concerns he may have had were alleviated

by Rush’s earnest and thorough description of the situation.

“I feel like Coach Rush wouldn’t put me in a bad position

Illustration by Anthony Mata/The Guardsman

like that,” Bell said. “He’d put me in a position to succeed.”

City College’s women’s volleyball team has also risen to meet the challenging circumstances.

“We have all returning sophomores coming back this year,” said Saga Vae, head coach of the Rams women’s volleyball team. “We have kept consistent in having the faith that our school will remain open. Our department has stayed faithful and all the coaches have shared that mindset.”

The volleyball team has added eight new recruits to its roster.

“The parents questioned whether or not we were staying open, and I assured them that we are guaranteed to be open

through July 2014,” Vae said. “But not only that, I assured them that my girls are going to be taken care of—regardless of what happens.”

Vae’s pragmatic approach has kept his team feeling positive about the upcoming season.

“We are not letting it get to us,” Vae said. “We are just focusing on the upcoming season.”

Freshman volleyball player Gianna Hatchett said that Vae’s realistic and frank recognition of the accreditation battle gives her confidence for the future.

“When I first was thinking about coming out to this school, I really didn’t know that they were having problems with the accreditation,” Hatchett said. “But once I

had my interview with the coaches, they made it clear it wasn’t about the teachers and education.

I felt like they were really straight forward about things.”

One thing is certain—Bell and Hatchett both agree that City College’s athletics programs are among the best.

“If you want to succeed more and push yourself and go out there, I think this is an excellent place to be,” Hatchett said. “It’s definitely an honor to be able to be part of such a large and influential sports program in our nation.

You’re recognized for being an athlete out here.”