Dozens of students from City College of San Francisco (CCSF) were arrested during a protest of their school's loss of accreditation at City Hall, the Huffington Post reported.

The demonstrators from California's biggest school staged a sit in at San Francisco City Hall to protest the Accrediting Commission for Junior Colleges' (ACCJC) decision to shut down CCSF next July for non-compliance with recommended changes.

If the school loses its accreditation, 85,000 students could be left without financial aid and have their college credits voided.

According to KTVU, the sit-in Tuesday night lasted until 11:50 p.m. and resulted in 26 students getting arrested. The students gathered outside Mayor Ed Lee's office after their request to meet with him was denied.

California Community Colleges chancellor Brice W. Harris decided in early July to strip CCSF's Board of Trustees of their authority and instead appointed Robert Agrella. According to the San Francisco Gate, he was entrusted with "special powers" in order to make the quick turnaround.

"I believe that if the college changes direction and begins to attack the Commission, rather than working with it to correct the problems in the institution, it will jeopardize our ability to maintain accreditation," Agrella said.

Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported the ACCJC had received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) that found fault in their investigation of CCSF.

"Right now, we don't know what is happening other than that the letter was issued," Jennifer Aries, a spokeswoman for the college, said at the time. "We're staying focused on meeting the standards and the eligibility requirements. We have to keep our focus."

However, Krista Johns, ACCJC vice president for policy research, said the letter would have no effect on the loss of accreditation.

ED's letter stated the ACCJC did not have a proportionate amount of male and female teachers on the commission and also had a glaring conflict of interest. The husband of ACCJC president Barbara Beno served on the review team. The letter concluded by stating the accreditation committee allowed CCSF to continue in their fault by not providing a detailed report of their shortcomings.

CCSF must answer to the ACCJC by the end of July, 2014 and the ACCJC must answer to ED by that time as well, so it is unclear at the moment how the school's accreditation will be affected.