New College still poorly managed, report saysThe 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.”
The latest report says an attempt to lend professionalism to the school’s money handling and student registration have already partly failed since the July probe was released. A newly hired financial aid officer swiftly resigned after two board trustees attempted to intervene in the Financial Aid Office’s activities. A registrar hired in October has resigned and will now only work part-time. The report says it could take the school up to two years to repair student files, which were badly disorganized.
“The team’s audit of randomly selected transfer student files and 19 transcripts only served to emphasize the enormity of the problems in record-keeping. The site team reviewed six files of students who transferred to NCOC; of these, only two were appropriately organized. The remaining four were filled with loose papers in no particular order; many of the papers that were attached to the file were upside down or backwards.”
In one case, two students completed an entirely different number of units before being awarded the same degree. In another case, two students completed the same number of units, but only one of them was granted a degree.
Since receiving its accreditation in 1976, the school has spent the intervening three decades on warning or outright probation for a variety of problems:
-In 1978, the college violated WASC’s rules on making major changes to academic requirements without prior review from the accrediting agency.
-In 1984, the school was placed on probation “primarily because of numerous curricular concerns.” An attempted change in the requirements for an MA in Humanities was denied.
-In 1985, New College was placed on warning – a softer punishment status – with the promise that it would fix cash problems and continued issues with program curricula.
-The school spent seven whole years between 1988 and 1995 on warning due to concerns school-wide including “governance and administration, faculty, and finances.”
-In 1996, it was placed on warning due to concerns about how the Board of Trustees functioned.
-Between 2002 and 2006, the school was again on warning due to problematic finances and attempts to change curricula. By 2005, little seemed different with the school’s money woes despite years of attempting to correct them. “The commission noted continuing concern about the college’s prospect’s for long-range financial stability” during that period.
The commission was planning a fall 2007 special visit to see if management had improved at all. Instead, it received several “credible and well-documented complaints concerning ethical and related matters” in advance of the visit.
WASC then dispatched a special investigative team, which eventually released a scathing report that led to the reluctant departure of long-time school president Martin Hamilton, whose rancorous tenure often divided the school into two factions of supporters and opponents.
Former San Francisco Sup. Harry Britt, who has taught at the school for years, told the Chron back in late July that New College is run by “a small group of people who are very highly motivated by the white male experience of the 1960s.” He added:
“There is rhetoric about love and community and trust, but in reality, it is an unhealthy situation because of the abusive and unwelcoming power situated at the top.”
Despite Hamilton’s departure, the newest WASC report doesn’t have very many positive things to say about the school’s current leadership.
“The team remains concerned that there is much to be done and, more important, that there is so little foundation to support the massive and complex changes that the institution must undergo and sustain. The highly effective administrative transition team is temporary, the institution is in financial distress, and those who created and perpetuated the institutional disarray continue to be influential.”
The Guardian reported in December that several students across the school had gone months without receiving their financial aid after the federal Department of Education placed the school on heightened scrutiny concluding that administrators may have illegally mishandled scholarships and other aid money. The checks of employees were bouncing, vendors weren’t being paid and the school was losing about $80,000 each month relying on shot-term loans to stay afloat. As of May 2006, we reported, the school owed creditors approximately $6 million, according to its federal nonprofit tax disclosure forms.
Finally, the most recent report questions whether the school should seek an alternative to WASC accreditation if it’s not consistent with the school’s mission. But accreditation is crucial for the school’s financial viability, which relies heavily on student tuition, and subsequently, government-administered loans and grants.
“The fragile state of the financial situation leaves the college with few options to continue operation in the near and long term. All the property is highly mortgaged, leaving little ability to sell and lease back buildings which would, in any case, be a short-term solution to the cash crisis. Continuing to borrow from individuals and bank overdrafts (the report puts the total of overdrafts at $341,886 during 2007) are a further indication of desperation to meet the basic operating obligations.”
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Comments (11)
The past Board of Trustees and administration of New College has effectively destroyed one of the best higher ed projects on the west coast through their negligence and incompetence.
JUST AND SACRED? stop with bumper sticker feel-good bullshit - learn how to run a school or step aside.
Posted by raymond | January 17, 2008 03:54 PM
The administration and the Board of Trustees of New College needs to change fast. Students and alumni/ae are getting together and organizing now, to make this necessity loud and clear. Please see our website at
www.savenewcollege.org
Posted by Brooke Lober | January 18, 2008 10:07 AM
The death watch on New College is getting tiresome—and repetitive. Better to let it die than continue on in this vain. Once it’s buried, we can finally start building something more authentic.
Posted by Jay Taber | January 18, 2008 11:57 AM
The death watch on New College of California is getting tiresome—and repetitive. Better to let it die than continue on in this vain. Once it’s buried, we can finally start building something more authentic.
Posted by spartacus![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 18, 2008 12:06 PM
Looking over the San Francisco Superior Court docket, by my count there are five lawsuits either pending or continuing against New College. Another that was settled in December is returning to the court to enforce the settlement. Apparently, even a successful judgment against the school is no guarantee that payment of damages will be made. With the bankruptcy scenario fast approaching, it looks like those U.S. Department of Education escrow funds will be tapped sooner than I thought.
If I were considering filing a personal or class-action suit against the school or the trustees, I wouldn’t dither in getting my claim before a court.
Posted by Jay Taber | January 18, 2008 05:43 PM
Better learn how to spell "vein" especially when repeatedly posting against repetitiveness.
Posted by Nellie Nelson | January 18, 2008 09:44 PM
From http://www.newcollege.edu/board_message/
1.19.2008
A Message from the New College of California
Board of Trustees
As many of you may now know, Peter Gabel and Colleen O'Neal have resigned from the New College Board of Trustees after many years of service. On behalf of the Board, I send along sincerest thanks and deep gratitude in recognition of the dedication, service, wise counsel, spirit, and other vital contributions offered by Colleen and Peter to New College over the years and of current efforts to gain financial and other public support to assure the College's survival and recovery. With the intensity of their commitment, Peter and Colleen performed outstanding work for the College, often under difficult conditions; we worked cooperatively and with mutual respect during their tenure as Board members. We thank them, and we look forward to upcoming occasions to join together to celebrate the College's past and future accomplishments in continuing pursuit of a just, sacred, and sustainable world.
Tedd Corman
Acting Chair, New College of California Board of Trustees
Posted by Ian | January 19, 2008 10:43 AM
From http://www.newcollege.edu/board_message/
1.19.08
A Message from the New College of California
Board of Trustees
As many of you may now know, Peter Gabel and Colleen O'Neal have resigned from the New College Board of Trustees after many years of service. On behalf of the Board, I send along sincerest thanks and deep gratitude in recognition of the dedication, service, wise counsel, spirit, and other vital contributions offered by Colleen and Peter to New College over the years and of current efforts to gain financial and other public support to assure the College's survival and recovery. With the intensity of their commitment, Peter and Colleen performed outstanding work for the College, often under difficult conditions; we worked cooperatively and with mutual respect during their tenure as Board members. We thank them, and we look forward to upcoming occasions to join together to celebrate the College's past and future accomplishments in continuing pursuit of a just, sacred, and sustainable world.
Tedd Corman
Acting Chair, New College of California Board of Trustees
Posted by Ian Elwood | January 19, 2008 10:50 AM
Right, Corman, drunk on power and delusions of grandeur, trustees Gabel and O'Neal run the school in the ditch, and now that it is irreparably totaled, a symbolic group hug will fix everything. The only question is, When are Corman and the rest of the notoriously untrustworthy trustees going to resign?
Posted by Jay Taber | January 19, 2008 11:17 AM
I've seen the school go through problem after problem, but still, I feel like it's the end of Camelot, despite all of the behind closed doors payoffs and the misspent student tuition and the unbelievable arrogance of the leadership, as the other writer inferred it still is one of the greatest progressive higher education schools still existing. We want to save it. Calling all radicals, progreessives, visionaries and non-profits, we need your help. Write me or visit savenewcollege.org
Posted by Mark Gould | January 19, 2008 06:56 PM
For those of us who are enrolled for the next semester it's not so easy as it is for others to pronounce New College dead and go our merry way. Last semester was hell as the tension and uncertainty was palpable. With classes delayed, board members resigning, a new president announced and student work/study checks unpaid, it doesn't seem like it's going to get any easier. However, the fact that we registered and committed our financial aid to continuing with New College this semester speaks volumes as to our commitment to the institution. What would help most right now is for the new president to communicate with students and faculty whether classes will continue as normal or if New College will be forced to go into "teach out" mode so that we can complete our degrees before they close the doors. The rest is just more noise and posturing to me.
Posted by Kevin Pina | January 23, 2008 08:31 PM