California Community College Leaders Vote to Oust Accreditor

The majority of community college presidents in California voted yesterday to pull the colleges away from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, while also working to reform the agency.

The presidents were presented with three options: sticking with the current accreditor, supporting "fundamental changes made to our accreditation processes and structures," or making their own suggestions.

California's community colleges have been on the path to either reform the controversial and unpopular ACCJC or find a new accreditor since the agency sanctioned City College of San Francisco in 2012.

"While a number of individual college presidents had already gone on record regarding the need to move to a new accreditor, this vote shows that a remarkable, unprecedented consensus has now emerged," said Joshua Pechthalt, president of California Federation of Teachers, in a written statement. "The presidents' vote confirms what the Chancellor's Accreditation Task Force revealed last year: the ACCJC is no longer widely accepted in its community and does not meet the needs of California public higher education."