The beleaguered New College of California is facing another gloomy report just released from its accrediting agency after first being placed on probation last July. Meanwhile, two trustees of the school, Peter Gabel and Colleen O’Neal, reportedly resigned from the school’s board Jan. 15.
Representatives of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges made a special site visit to the famous liberal arts institution and training ground for social justice activists in November to see what progress the school had made since an array of deficiencies were identified in the July report. During the summer, WASC found a history of administrative “sloppiness and arbitrariness” and identified “clear and egregious violations of institutional integrity, academic integrity.”
WASC is still apparently skeptical that New College can improve its management practices despite having repeatedly allowed the school to remain on probation intermittently for years without stripping its accreditation away entirely.
“The institution has established a pattern over the years of being placed under sanction by the commission, responding with superficial adjustment, and rapidly falling back into past practices.”