. >> so, this is a state set standard or is it the acc/jc set standard? >> there is the accreditation community that the board of junior colleges. the larger organization is the western association of schools and colleges. so, there is the commission for the senior colleges and universities. there is the commission that deals with elementary, middle school, and high schools. and this is the one for junior and community colleges. >> so, as far as like our department of education for the state of california, that doesn't have necessarily a role that is played in terms of how standards are set -- [multiple voices] >> there needs to be alignment, of course, with whatever the federal regulations are, state regulations. >> so, is that for the acc/jc role of accountability with -- directly with state or federal level? >> they are reviewed by the u.s. department of education and there's another body called the council higher education -- council of higher education of accreditation. it's called chia. >> thank you. >> and i can send more formal information on that

where is the accountability by the acc/jc, who is it accountable to? >> they're accountable to the u.s. department of education. >> and -- >> and again, it's a peer. it is not a private organization. they're elected members. they are representing all the institutions in california. >> so, you know, i've heard that they get some funding from some foundations. do you know whether or not that's the case? >> i don't. >> do you think that would be relevant to know how objective they are? >> my job is to focus on meeting the accreditation standards so that we retain our education and this institution. i know everybody here in the room understands the vital importance that it has for the city and community. and accreditation is the public assurance that we meet a standard that all institutions are held to. and that is our goal. that's my goal and role. and, again, vice harris came and he spoke to the leadership of our institution. he spoke with -- it was a group meeting. it included academic senate leadership, classified senate leadership, afp 21 21, aeiu [sp

, of course, with whatever the federal regulations are, state regulations. >> so, is that for the acc/jc role of accountability with -- directly with state or federal level? >> they are reviewed by the u.s. department of education and there's another body called the council higher education -- council of higher education of accreditation. it's called chia. >> thank you. >> and i can send more formal information on that as well. the commissioners of the accrediting commission are faculty members from other institutions. there are 19 commissioners. there are some that represents -- there are three members that represent public interests. there are administrators, some other member institutions, and then people representing other educational entities. they go through a nomination process and it's the chief executive officer, the chancellors and presidents who elect the commissioners. and, again, it's a peer review process. the commission is basically servicing all of its member institutions in this peer review process. evaluation teams are also composed of faculty members, administrators, e

are other colleges that have not met those needs, then they're going to have to contend with the acc/jc as well. our focus is to get city college out of the situation in a very short period of time and to really encourage our kids to stay in school. >> i just want to interject real quick. i know this is an extremely important topic for all of us and we all have our passions are running really high. we have to maintain a certain level of decorum and respect. so, if we have a difference of opinion it's okay, but i guarantee everyone in this chamber will have at least two minutes to share their differing views. so, please don't yell out or heckle or be disrespectful to all the speakers. and i will promise to protect your right to speak when it's your turn to speak. >> thank you. >> and related to president's admonition to people in the audience, what can people in labor and community do to support the efforts of the mayor? >> so, we are again really focused on the enrollment piece. we want to assure students that are enrolled that we are accredited -- that the college is accredited and tha

it seems like an area of change that is needed, probably addressed in acc/jc report, wondering if the mayor has -- is looking at the outcomes for students of color like that and that's something that the mayor would like to be able to steer. >> right. so, in terms of the achievement gap, i mean, that's not the area that the mayor wants to focus on. i mean, that's what the college and organization -- institutions like sfusd need to pay close attention to. so, again, we're not going to be as the mayor's office focusing on how do we close the achievement gap, how do we make sure our kids are ready. although we do support many of our programs and dcyf has invested significant dollars and we have a $3 million grant with the gate foundation to develop success which actually aligns a lot of our work together. and through that work we are actually able to have priority placement for sfusd students so our students that were coming into city college weren't at city college for five or six years and then dropping off. it also allowed us to register students right away with kids that were thinkin

there is a question of what's the economic impact if we had -- if we were to lose city college as the acc, jc recommended, what would be the huge loss to work force development programs and the economic base of our city or pulling in workers from outside versus pulling up people from our communities and educating them and preparing them for a work force for today. so, i guess those are some questions, working with others to make sure we have a budget and legislative report on those impacts. and hopefully with all the different tools and working together we can do our best to even improve city college to make it more relevant and empowering to the residents that depend on it every day. as we built the safe city college coalition and campaign over the past year, i think the slogan that i'm city college resonates with me. every one of us has -- if not we ourselves, have been students, we have family members and others that depend on this critical institution. so, i'm really please that had we'll have many people testifying on this today. (applause) >> thank you. thank you, colleagues. i apprecia