Dive Brief:
- Barbara Beno, president of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, testified in court Tuesday that she had language favoring the City College of San Francisco removed from the accreditor’s report on the school.
- The accrediting commission, which is trying to revoke City College’s accreditation, also contradicted its own policies by denying the college additional time to defend itself against newly identified deficiencies, Beno testified.
- Attorneys for the city are trying to prove in San Francisco Superior Court trial that the accreditor broke state law and denied due process to the college, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Dive Insight:
Beno didn’t do her side any favors with her testimony, which the San Francisco Chronicle called “dramatic.” The city attorneys claim that the accrediting commission had political motives for trying to revoke the accreditation: namely, opposition by the college’s students and faculty to state reforms that the commission supported. Attorneys for the commission say there was no political motive and that it is simply holding the college accountable for financial and governance problems. Plus, the commission’s attorneys argue, the accreditor isn’t governed by state law.