Woodland Hills : Pierce Tries to Calm Accreditation Fear

Since the revelation that Pierce College’s accreditation has been withheld, school officials say they have been scrambling to calm students’ fears that the facility will close and their credits will be worthless.

A special meeting has been set for Oct. 23 at noon in the Campus Center Lounge to clear up misunderstandings about what it all means, said Richard Follett, president of the school’s Academic Senate.

“Our present accreditation is still in place,” he said. “We have not been placed on a warning or on probation. We have a deferment of an accreditation renewal, which gives the college two more years to comply with the [accreditation] commission’s recommendations.”

Furthermore, he said, “no public college in the state of California has ever lost its accreditation.”

The Times reported in September that the Accreditation Commission for Community and Junior Colleges had privately warned Pierce that continuing financial, enrollment and leadership programs threaten its accreditation.

School officials say they have made significant progress in responding to the commission’s recommendations.

Colleges must be re-accredited every six years.

If accreditation is revoked, students could lose eligibility for financial aid and four-year institutions could deny them admittance.

According to a spokesman for the accreditation panel, its recent action stops far short of anything so drastic.