The Telescope

Issue Date: 10/13/08

MiraCosta put on probation

By Maggie Avants

MiraCosta College is on academic probation and it has some students worried.

Kim Pinkerton, a former MiraCosta student who was registered for the fall semester, said she felt it was in her best interest to withdraw from MiraCosta and is now attending Palomar.

"It was a mess, but I got most of the classes I needed," Pinkerton said.

MiraCosta was placed on warning status by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges in January 2008. In a letter dated Jan. 31, 2008, ACCJC explained they had acted to issue a warning to the school until they corrected deficiencies in recommended areas

MiraCosta and Palomar administrators said a warning from the state's accreditation system will not affect the value of a student's degree.

Palomar College President Robert Deegan said the situation at MiraCosta is not something that students should worry about.

He explained that each college goes through a self-study every six years, followed by a site visit. Palomar is currently preparing for its site visit in March 2009. The last time Palomar went through the process was in 2003.

"They were placed on a warning status," Deegan said of MiraCosta. "It's very common. Out of 18 schools that recently went through site visits, only four of them came out without a warning."

He knows of only one college, Compton College, that lost its accreditation, and they were subsequently taken under the wing of the El Camino Community College District.

"None of those [Compton] students ever lost any of their credits," Deegan said.

MiraCosta's problems began in December 2005, according to a 2007 Special Visit Evaluation Report by a four-person visiting team from ACCJC.

According to the report, the visit was prompted by 17 months of "significant tension and turmoil" at the college due to the investigation of four college employees who were placed on leave for allegedly selling palm trees from the school's horticulture department for personal profit.

"We have had some turmoil on campus, and it has been covered by the press," said Bonnie Hall, director of marketing and communication at MiraCosta College.

The report stated that the college's administration was divided on the handling of the investigation, which resulted in a no-confidence vote in the college's president and board of trustees, and that campus surveys showed that "morale was at an all time low."

Continued...

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