next, on "kqed newsroom" -- >> state city college. >> city college of san francisco fights to maintain its accreditation and stay open. plus, a visit with the family behind the anderson art collection at stanford university. >> the painting does have something to say to each and every one of us, depending upon us. >> looking at art.

good evening, welcome to "kqed newsroom." the battle for city college of san francisco to maintain its accreditation is heating up. today protesters staged a rally and attended a meeting in downtown sacramento. the fight has mobilized state and federal politicians, fall cu -- and students to keep the largest college in california from closing its doors. >> community is what this is about. >> nearly two years ago, the accrediting committee ordered a number of

but a lawsuit filed will prevent the school from closure in 22 months. >> thanks for joining us. >> thank you. thank you for having me. >> paint a picture for us about what happened today at the state capital. >> we had a semiannual meeting. as you may know, they had put in a decision last year to disaccredit city college as of july 21st 2014. we rallied people from all around the state, maybe half from san francisco, demanding

they rescind last year's decision. our college is in compliance with accreditation standards. we went there making demands of the commission. >> you went into the public hearing portion of this and it was only about 15 minutes for public comments. city college wasn't on the agenda. what did you say in that short time you had? >> it went longer than 15 minutes. about 20 minutes altogether. i personally was trying to talk to the commissioners themselves. it is clear that the problem is the accreditation's leadership. they are out of control. they have made outrageous decisions. i was making an appeal to them, saying to them that they need to clean their own house and this is their opportunity to go down a different path, a more reasonable path, a path that

would not close down a college of 80,000 people because of issues of governance or finance or these kinds of issues. the quality of education has never been an issue in this. they need to stand up and get their and leadership under control. >> as you know, many political officials have gotten involved. nancy pelosi and many others. you're a political science professor. what do you make of the politician of all this? >> i'm actually shocked that the accjc continues to be so intransigent. you think they would be getting the message over and over again that they need to change course, but that has not happened as of yet. thank god for the lawsuit because the college is open. it will remain accredited. there will be a trial scheduled for late october now. the college is open and

accredited. i want everybody to know that. keep coming to city college. you'll get a great education there. >> what impact is it having on teachers? >> the morale of teachers is so low. there's this uncertainty that hangs over the students, faculty, and staff. the community and those who represent the community are going to have to do something about it because it's unimaginable they would close down city college of san francisco. joining us now is the city college spokesperson. we did invite the accrediting

commission to join us, but they declined. where do things stand right now? >> it is a pivotal moment for city college. parties that have been bickering for the last two years, groups have finally come together with a common goal. not just to save city college, but to get the accrediting commission to extend the deadline and let city college finish the work it's been working on for two years. >> when you say groups come together, you mean -- >> faculty, leadership of the state. >> they have a common enemy now. >> right. the accrediting commission is holding firm to the deadline they cannot extend city college

despite the u.s. department of education told me and told the state they may do this. they're allowed to extend the deadline. >> how much more time do you need, because we're hearing you're 95% of the way there? one week, five weeks, two months, how long? >> probably another year gets us over the top, but what we're asking the commission to do -- >> let me stop you there. you're saying you're 95% of the way there. you need another year to go the last five? >> this is a massively changed institution for the better because of the efforts of everyone in the city college community. faculty, staff, administration, great support from the state, city hall, and others. this is the document we submitted to the accreditation committee this week.

103 pages of documentation that adds up to the 95% of the standards that have now been met. >> is it fair to say that the school is better off because of this warning to its accreditation? >> that's not fair to say. some of the serious problems that were identified through this process needed to be fixed. in that process, a host of new problems have been created. for example, the fear that city college would close has precipitated a radical decline in enrollment, which has significant implications for the college finances. there are new issues that have been created by the way the accjc operates. i think it is probably fair if they came and took a look, they might find some new issues to be

solved. >> who are these folks? they're a regional body. who appoints them? who are they accountable to? >> there's 19 of them. they call themselves the peer agency for accrediting. the colleges themselves appoint these members of the commission and they are paid by dues. they are a private agency, but they are overseen by the u.s. department of education. they get no federal money or state money. they are paid by the colleges, which is actual state money. the outspoken president of the commission is barbara who does not vote. she's been adamant about not extending the deadline, not -- she's very policy oriented and she says that this is what -- they're not even going to go back and reevaluate the college. they're relying on a 14-month

old evaluation. >> why are they so resistant? why would they want to shut down an institution? wouldn't they rather see it be healed and the students continue to go there? >> we're dealing with a very peculiar situation that has really cast a cloud, put a cloud over city college. >> how much has the student population dropped by? do you know? >> our high water mark was about 80,000 students. we're below that now. we are in the process of doing very aggressive marketing to get to understand the value and appreciate the value of a city education. >> high water was above 100,000. we may be below 70,000. >> you were elected --

>> i was. >> and yet the board has had its power taken away by the special trustee. >> yeah. >> how can it be invalidated? >> it doesn't feel very american. it doesn't feel right. citizens say i should be playing a role in making decisions for city college and i'm not now. over the last year, they'ir decision-making could have been better. >> is it fair to say -- these problems have existed for many years. you could say decades. >> true. >> what is your impression of how it was allowed to fester for so long? >> there were a great deal of distractions in recent years. the college itself leadership had trouble with the law several

years ago. >> just say briefly what that was. >> there was a problem of money laundering. funds in an election. this was right around 2006 when the accrediting commission was first looking at the college. they are reevaluated every six years. at a time when the commission told the college, look, you need to make these changes, their chancellor in 2006 was occupied with legal problems. >> one of the things that the commission says is that in 2006 they started warning the college it was out of compliance with standards. that is absolutely untrue. city college was a model institution. and at some point between 2006 and 2012, clearly some things went wrong. >> i think it's worth pointing out there have been independent financial evaluations of city

college that do point to extremely poor fiscal controls that had to have been years in the making. they were so out of touch with the way other colleges do things that it's hard to say it was just last minute. >> those were identified by the accreditation commission and the chancellor's office. >> which is a fiscal oversight -- >> fiscal agency. >> not part of what got the college in trouble with acred dig -- accreditation. >> what is the allegation in the lawsuit? >> that the commission didn't follow its own rules and that the cost of pulling the plug, which is what they seem intent to do, will have a devastating effect on 80,000 students, 3,000 people who work there, and a community that depends on city

college for education, training, learning english, things that make san francisco a great community. >> there are also allegations of conflicts of interest, right? >> yes. the president of the commission, her husband served on the evaluation commission in 2012, i believe, that went to check out the college in the first place. you can't have the husband of somebody checking out the college. >> and what is the best case scenario in terms of that lawsuit? how far can it go in undoing what the commission has done? >> what i'll say is the best case scenario is we continue to keep our problems and we keep our accreditation. that's the best case scenario. the lawsuit is helpf fuful in bg us additional time and it speaks to the community all in support

of city college. >> when dthat lawsuit was filed it wasn't -- >> today the commission took an action that appears to have extended or appears to have changed the termination rules for accreditation. we have no idea what that is. we asked for a copy of that document. we didn't get it. we'd like to know because city college, the state chancellors office, had nothing to do with it. we're curious what is going on at the commission itself. >> pretty much in limbo. thank you all very much. good luck. a new bay area art museum will open its doors this fall at stanford university. the anderson collection will showcase american postwar greats

like jackson pollock and mark russo. the works in the area are a gift. >> this is the view that people see when they first walk into your house? >> here's a beautiful painting. >> imagine waking up every morning passing paintings on your way to the kitchen. this has been the life of bay area art collectors harry w. and margaret anderson. they have been collecting art for almost half a century. >> it's called "dead compass." i've never been able to associate the title of this with the work itself.

>> his early works were little amebas. >> the couple owns hundreds of paintings that most of us would only see in books, magazines, or museums. >> here's a klein, which is what we call the snowman. action painting is all done with that big, huge brush stroke. >> you're surrounded by these wonderful works of art. talk about your passion for art. >> a painting has something to say to each and every one of us, depending upon us. >> looking at art. >> that's where the reaction between the painting and the feeling you have, yes, i've got to have it. >> i think we have kind of an eye for looking at nature, for

looking at design, and i think for looking at art. >> they've never had a curator for the collection. >> it built on itself like a tumbleweed. >> the andersons met in college in upstate new york. in 1948, hunk and two friends founded a food service company. the couple married in 1950. they have one daughter, mary patricia, affectionately known as putter. >> it started at the louver, and it kind of enlightened us. >> they started collecting early impressionist work. >> monet and so forth. >> they soon decided to change

direction. >> we became >> they also began collecting other works such as california funk art and postminimalism. >> head? have you ever seen this before in art? the answer is no. and could you have made it? he is known for his head and his hand and thinking about extremely different things. >> one of the keys to the couple's success is their focus on building personal relationships. >> it's a breakthrough painting. most of his paintings are numbered, but he personally gave the title of this "lucifer." >> it took years to get the

previous owner to sell the painting. >> it was only when we had gotten to know him and his wife that he was willing to sell us the work. >> we were interviewed. >> she came out here to see where this was hanging. >> back then the painting was hung in the most unlikely place, in their daughter putter's bedroom. >> this is where i slept with lucifer. he was over my bed for several years. >> did you even know what that was? >> i did not know what that was and neither did any of my girlfriends who spent the night here. >> some of the strongest relationships the andersons built were with the artists themes. one of the treasured momentos is an autograph book that putter keeps in her room. >> clifford still was the first in 1974. frank stella.

>> as the anderson collection grew, art flowed out of their home and into offices. >> how many years has this been here? >> ten years. i've had it every day i come to work. it's been a joy in my life. >> in 2010, the andersons announced their donation of 121 pieces to stanford university. the university began building a dedicated museum. >> obviously this gift to stanford is an enormous addition to our arts initiative here on campus. and it really is a gift not just to stanford, but to the public because it will be available for free to anyone who comes and visits it. >> over the years, the family has gifted significant portions of their collections to places

like the san francisco museum of modern art. he was once their intern. >> they have really focused enormously and brilliantly on california art. some of the greatest painters this state has produced have been avidly collected by the anderson's. pollock may be the most important. it is a tremendous treasure for stanford to have. >> we have these models to show where we're at. this is the entranceway. behind that are all the abstract expressionists and we're ready to go. >> where does this sizable gift leave the andersons? >> we've lived with the art for 40 years and have enjoyed it very much, but it is also our responsibility to try to enhance what i call the human experience. this art belongs to the world.

that should not be denied. >> as for collecting, that's in their blood. >> we're inviting you to come back in another year and you will see an entirely different house and an entirely different studio. it'll be all new art. >> the anderson collection at stanford university is scheduled to open to the public september 21st. admission will be free. hi. >> hi. >> you might have noticed this week we had an election. >> yes, we did. >> there was a lot on the line for labor. locally, we had a big labor story as well. >> i think they hoped to convey they had made sacrifices and they weren't going to be satisfied with a moderate pay increase that were being cancelled out by what they were

contributing to their pensions. whether or not the public will be sympathetic to that is left to question. muni, a lot of people are frustrating with this account. >> the whole region was paralyzed by the bart strike. there were echoes of that in the assembly race. we had a councilman who was trying to mobilize voters on the basis of saying we're not going to have anymore transit strikes. he didn't do so well. he got a lot of money from business, but he didn't come into the top two. >> he was so outspoken about his lack of support for labor and bart strikes in the future. this is a big win for the labor backed candidate. they put a lot of money into this race. they funneled about a $1.5

million. >> a lot of money for an assembly race. >> yes. >> the republican came in first. >> katherine baker. >> she'll run off against tim in november. down the peninsula, in san jose, mayor's race, another big labor issue there. chuck reed has been at logger heads with the police union. there was mayor's race there this week. what happened? >> david won that race over sam. i believe he picked about 25% of the vote. this was important for labor because cortesi positioned him as taking the city in a new direction. this is a direction away from mayor reed's pension reform. >> even though he came in second, he could get a lot of support from the other

candidates who support mayor reed coming up between now and november, right? >> yes, if he's able to coalesce. if he's able to get the votes from those folks, he could very well take over cortesi in november. >> it wasn't a clean sweep for labor. >> it wasn't. a democrat did beat a labor backed candidate. wolf won't be in the run-off. >> still reports of labor's demise greatly exaggerated. >> yes. >> please go to kqednews dot .kr more information. please join us next time.

. on this edition for sunday, june 8th, sergeant bowe bergdahl tells doctors of the tortures by the taliban. one year later, the global impact of edward snowden. onces shackled by his own family, this man returns home. the stigma of meant a illness in somalia.