Fresno City College’s Academic Senate voted not to authorize its president to sign the accreditation follow-up report during its meeting on Sept. 12, in a move that, some say, could jeopardize the college’s accreditation future.

“We run a big risk of not signing that [the follow-up report] and moving that forward,” Dr. Brian Calhoun, a vocal proponent of signing the report, said.

Discussion of the accreditation follow-up report was listed on the agenda as item 8.7 – “Accreditation Report/Response – Review and Vote”.

In the discussion and vote that followed, senators insisted that certain wordings be altered before they could authorize Dr. Claudia Habib, academic senate president, to sign the document.

Habib’s is one of seven signatures required for the approval of the report. Others whose signatures are needed include chancellor of the State Center Community College District, Deborah Blue; H. Ronald Feaver, president, Board of Trustees, Ernie Garcia, president, Classified Senate, FCC; Kelly Fowler, interim VP for Instruction and Accreditation Liaison Officer for the college; Tony Cantú, president and Nathan Alonzo, president of the Associated Students Government.

No one is sure of what the implications of the senate action will be on the college’s accreditation process or the accrediting body.

“It [the document] will go forward, even without the senate’s signature,” Calhoun said. “Big red flag for the accrediting commission… that is an excuse, and I know how these things work, for the accrediting commission to ding us again.”

FCC was placed on ‘warning’ by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) in February for failure to adequately meet up to their standards. The college is required to submit a follow-up report by Oct. 15 detailing the progress it has made in remediating the weaknesses identified by the ACCJC.

However, getting the report in by the Oct. 15 deadline is hampered by the academic senate, consisting of the campus’ faculty, voted that their president, Claudia Habib, should not sign the report.

Some faculty members cited the part of the report that detailed resource allocation, among other policies, as reason for voting not to sign the report, while others, including Calhoun tried unsuccessfully to pass a motion to authorize Habib to sign.

The Academic Senate has two more meetings before Oct 15, the accreditation follow-up report deadline. It remains unclear as to whether the issue will be debated further in the senate, or how the college plans to address the senate’s concerns prior to the due date.

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