Ralph Wolff, Executive Director of WASC was invited to an ICAS meeting and participated in a discussion of this issue.
This is what the CEO group is working on. I do not know if it ever went to ICAS or not, but it has been a large part of our efforts for the past year.
Whereas, National trends suggest that the future of postsecondary accountability in the United States will require the formation of goals, objectives and outcomes at every level of the institution for internal planning, for accreditation reviews, and for reporting purposes that involve local, state, and federal oversight;
Whereas, National trends regarding the future of postsecondary accountability appear intent on an ill-advised narrowing of the roles of participatory governance as related to faculty oversight of academic and professional matters;
Whereas, Representative governance systems of California Community College, California State University, and University of California in their oversight of the complex educational needs of approximately 25% of all postsecondary students in the United States demonstrate the high value of faculty oversight for all academic and professional matters; and
Whereas, The Western Association of Schools (WASC) and Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), unlike other regional accreditors in the United States, provide separate accreditation standards for community colleges and universities and thereby ignore the potential of working with California's entire postsecondary triad of governance systems (including faculty senates, management groups, California Community College System Office) in the creation of a truly representative intersegmental approach to accreditation that would favor improved articulation, transfer, and student success overall;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges encourage its partners at the Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates (ICAS) to propose to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) that they work with California's three systems of public higher education to develop and implement one postsecondary standard of accreditation in California.MSC Disposition: ICAS, Local Senates