California's largest school could lose its accreditation, leaving many students with useless credits, on July 31, 2014, the Huffington Post reported.
City College of San Francisco (CCSF) students, faculty and California lawmakers are planning to protest the school's loss of accreditation. The school has until July 31 to file an appeal.
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) said it had made 14 recommended changes for CCSF, Bloomberg reported, but the school only responded to two.
"City College can appeal the decision and work over the next year to address the remaining deficiencies identified by the commission," California Community Colleges chancellor Brice W. Harris said. "It is very important to note that City College is still open and accredited and will accept new students for the fall term."
On Tuesday nearly 200 marched in protest of the ACCJC's decision.
"The actions of the ACCJC - an organization accountable to no one - have unnecessarily put at risk the livelihoods of the nearly 2,500 hard-working men and women at the college," Tim Paulson of the San Francisco Central Labor Council said in a statement. "What's more, their move to deny CCSF accreditation has imperiled the future of San Francisco's working people, who rely heavily on a CCSF education for workforce training, language learning, and a pathway to better futures for themselves and their communities."
If the school loses accreditation, 85,000 students will be left without federal financial aid and their transfer credits could potentially be voided.
ACCJC president Barbara Beno told the Huffington Post that their decision was not final and that a turnaround for CCSF is possible.
"Recent action by the state Chancellor's Office may help the college change its approach and be able to meet the same standards as 133 other institutions in the Western Region," Beno said. "The protestors need to join the many people at City College working towards this end."
According to the San Francisco Gate, Harris has stripped authority from CCSF's board of trustees in an effort to quickly turn the school around. In their place, he has appointed Robert Agrella as a "special trustee with extraordinary powers" to handle the school's finances without being able to drop any labor contracts.
"I envision taking action in a much more rapid manner," Harris said. "The decisions have been very, very slow. ... There are broken systems that need to be corrected, and there's a need to bring different people in."
Harris continued, saying his decision "is designed to save City College, not preside over its closure."
