Placement of Story Gives Unfair Picture

* Your front-page article Sept. 22 (“Accreditation Panel Defers Pierce Renewal”) on the decision to defer renewal of Pierce College’s accreditation by the Accrediting Commission of the Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges raises a number of issues that we wish to address.

We want to assure the students enrolled and the community at large that the academic and occupational courses and programs at Pierce have not been affected by this decision. Pierce remains fully accredited and no student currently enrolled--or enrolled during the two-year deferment--risks loss of transferability or employability.

When the accreditation team notified Pierce of its decision in early June, both the administration and the faculty immediately acted on the team’s recommendations, all of which Pierce had identified ourselves. (Indeed the accreditation team was surprised by the number of self-recommendations we presented.) The two-year timeline given to us by WASC allows for the timely implementation of necessary corrections, contrary to the urgency suggested by your article.

We, as faculty leaders, are wondering why The Times did not report this information to the public in June or July when it was presented at various campus-wide committee meetings, and we question the urgency to place it on your front page Sept. 22. We also find disturbing the interpretive tone of the article, especially on the front page, as contrasted to the more objective tone later. While we recognize that bad news sells newspapers, we are also highly aware that many readers would not have had the time to complete the article and would, therefore, be left with an inaccurate impression of the the accreditation results. Such inaccurate impressions can affect our enrollment and our efforts to respond successfully to the recommendations from the commission.

We thank The Times for its continuing coverage of our campus but hope that its coverage remains objective, timely and appropriate. We also hope to receive front-page coverage of the final results from the commission when we have successfully completed our tasks.

RICHARD FOLLETT

Academic Senate president, Pierce College

Woodland Hills

This letter was also signed by other officers and members of the Academic Senate.

* I read with great dismay that Pierce College’s accreditation renewal is in doubt. (“Pierce Must Act Quickly on Problems,” Oct. 1).

For decades Pierce has been the bridge, between high school and college, high school and the work force, and people desiring to improve their skills and knowledge. The L.A. Times has hit the target in attributing a great portion of the disarray to the L.A. [Community College] District. Although the executive administrators deserve close scrutiny, it has been my observation that most staff and instructors at Pierce are dedicated to ensuring the continuing success of the college.

I graduated from Pierce in 1970 with an AA degree. I went on to become an attorney practicing in Woodland Hills. It has been my privilege to teach business law at Pierce since 1977. I was one of the Valley residents who received a helping hand from Pierce. The community must stand together to ensure the continuing viability of Pierce College.

RICHARD A. LEACH

Woodland Hills