City College Board of Trustees Learn to ‘Stay in Their Lane’

by John R. Adkins

jradproduction@gmail.com

One year has passed since the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges placed City College on warning status. After reorganizing their roster during the ‘24 elections, the Board of Trustees now has one thing on their mind: holding onto the college’s accreditation.

The ACCJC notified former Chancellor David Martin about the college’s shortcomings on Jan. 16, 2024. The commission required the board to provide a written response before March 2025.

“It's important to acknowledge to the college community that the Board of Trustees is responsible for this accreditation warning,” said newly elected trustee Heather McCarty.

This is the first time the college has had its accreditation threatened since it was reaffirmed in 2017, and trustees are aware they need to be on their best behavior this semester as they draft a response to the ACCJC.

Trustees Old and New Shape Up

On Thursday, Jan. 9, the board held a special meeting to swear in its recently elected and re-elected members. Louis Zamora and Heather McCarty were sworn in for the first time, while Alan Wong and Aliya Chisti recited the already familiar pledge to defend the constitution on City College’s behalf.

Anita Martinez took Wong’s place as the board’s president, and Zamora took Martinez’s former seat as vice president. Zamora and McCarty were sworn in by City Attorney David Chiu and San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar, respectively.

“I want to thank everyone for stepping in to clean up a mess they didn't make,” McCarty said during a trustee meeting on Jan. 16.

Immediately following the swearing-in ceremony, board members reconvened for their “retreat.” The retreat focused on governance and served as another breadcrumb on the trail of evidence for the accrediting commission to follow.

The college’s response, sent to the ACCJC the week of Jan. 27, had to “demonstrate compliance” with three accreditation standards, also referred to as college requirements.

College Requirement 1: States the board needs to consider the “long-range fiscal implications” when making financial decisions.

College Requirement 2: States the board needs to act “in a manner consistent with its policies and bylaws.”

College Requirement 3: States the board “allows the Chancellor to implement and administer board policies without board interference.”

“Taken as a whole, these requirements are all related to governance, so it's hard to know where the evidence for requirements starts and stops,” said Associate Vice Chancellor and Accreditation Liaison Officer Kristin Charles.

Since last semester, the college has kicked into overdrive compiling the evidence now cited in the report, including creating ad hoc policy committees and the budget workshop series.

What Went Wrong?

At the heart of City College's accreditation warning is the board’s resolution to rehire laid-off faculty.

The ACCJC cites former Chancellor Martin’s 2022 decision to enact faculty layoffs as an effort to “maintain financial solvency.”

The resolution, passed by the board on May 18, 2023, ordered the chancellor to rehire laid-off faculty and was widely celebrated by the campus community. However, the accrediting commission was not impressed by the board’s sympathy for teachers and listed the resolution as key evidence of the board president bypassing the chancellor.

“We as trustees have to be very careful now because we can only operate within our lane,” Zamora said.

Zamora explained that while the board can assist in community advocacy, only the chancellor can present courses of action for trustees to vote on.

Both Zamora and McCarty continuously reiterated the importance of their “lane” during interviews.

“When you look at the things the college was put on accreditation warning for, none of it was malicious,” McCarty said. “You can see that the oversteps were made by people who really care about the institution and just didn't totally understand their role and responsibilities.”

Wong, who was president of the board at the time of the resolution, spoke carefully to preserve the philosophy of his actions.

“I think people have different perspectives on how things should be handled, and a lot of it is open for interpretation," Wong said, stating that neither perspective was right or wrong.

Uncharted Seas

The accreditors are scheduled to interview trustees on campus on March 28. After that, they will report their findings directly to the chancellor for review. The commission will then meet at the beginning of June to decide what is next for the college.

“We can put whatever we want to in this report, but the proof is in the pudding. We have to make sure the nine of us have always got our act together,” interim Chancellor Mitch Bailey said to the trustees.

Given the four-year limit on resolving accreditation sanctions, the board anticipates an ongoing process to reaffirm its status as they continue to settle on patterns of good behavior.

“There are things we just can't possibly resolve in this time frame,” Charles said in reference to the impending March deadline for the college’s response.

City College will likely face one of two outcomes this spring: being kept on warning status, or receiving a worse sanction.

“I want to be optimistic, but I do not want to put an image in the college’s mind that we wouldn't be able to meet,” said Bailey. “I do think they would be hard-pressed to do anything beyond the sanction or warning that we already have.”

Bailey acknowledged that the report does not demonstrate 100% completion, highlighting that a plan for City College’s financial sustainability remains to be seen.

Wong said that having a long-term, stable budget is the very thing that keeps him up at night.

“It's going to be really important these next few months what we do because people will be watching us, especially our actions around the budget,” Wong said.

While the college continues to steer through a sea of potential icebergs, the steps the board is taking to demonstrate its good behavior could be the start of a more promising future for the college.

Along with public budget workshops and professional development training to reeducate board members, McCarty praised Bailey’s efforts in filling job vacancies and building a strong team for the administration.

“We have a lot of room to grow, and I think that we are really poised to do that,” said McCarty. “Definitely, lemonade is getting made out of this accreditation warning.”

The fate of City College now rests solely on the shoulders of nine people—eight of whom have now been told repeatedly to know their lane and stay in it.

“One important thing to remember is that City College is accredited; there’s no question about that,” President Martinez said.

Editors note: The Guardsman would like to thank City College’s Mary Grace Esteban, who often oversees the trustee meetings, for sharing the photo gallery.