City College of San Francisco must remain open for the tens of thousands of students and community members who depend on it to pursue their educational aspirations. The Move City College Forward campaign, launched by CAA last year, now has nearly 10,000 supporters who have signed our petition letter stating our core principles that include putting learning first and valuing every single student.

There have been major steps taken to keep City College moving in the right direction but much more must be done.

A Positive Sign From the Courts

There are several lawsuits against the Accreditation Commission whose actions threaten the ability of City College to remain open. At a San Francisco Superior Court hearing in December, a partial injunction was won by City Attorney Dennis Herrera, which means that City College cannot lose its accreditation until certain lawsuits are complete. This is a positive sign as it legitimizes the need to ask tough questions about the way the Accreditation Commission has done its work while also potentially giving City College more time to address its issues.  A host of elected officials, including Representative Nancy Pelosi, prominent members of Congress, and the State Legislature are now calling for more scrutiny into Accreditation Commission practices.

Funding to Stabilize City College

In February, California State Senator Mark Leno announced legislation that would stabilize funding at City College of San Francisco. After years of budget cuts, the media surrounding the accreditation crisis at City College has caused student enrollment and future funding tied to it to drop into a death spiral.  Though the Leno legislation will not increase funds to City College, it simply creates a three-year grace period that will allow City College to stabilize its enrollment and the associated funding. With the support of City College administration and faculty, local elected officials from across political camps must rally to ensure this legislation gets passed and then signed by the Governor.  The Move City College Forward campaign will need your help to get every local and state elected official working on behalf of this legislation.

Appealing the Accreditation Ruling

City College administration and faculty have made tremendous progress to address the concerns of the Accreditation Commission. It is time for the Commission to acknowledge this progress and see that whatever their intentions may have been, they are now doing more harm than good. City College is entering into the formal appeal process with the Accreditation Commission and this and related requests to the Commission must be received favorably. If the Accreditation Commission truly cares about higher education, it time for them to start working with City College instead of against it.

We invite you to join the Move City College Forward campaign and keep our community college accessible with educational opportunities to all.