Bergen Community College president Jose Adames tells faculty members that accreditation warning is only a "bump in the road"
The Bergen Record
November 30, 2011
A warning that Bergen Community College’s accreditation may be in jeopardy is a “bump in the road” having more to do with paperwork than academic quality, the school’s interim president told faculty members Tuesday evening.
“I want to assure you — and you in turn reassure your students — that nothing has changed at BCC,” Jose Adames told more than 300 faculty members who assembled for an emergency meeting. “We will address this challenge.”
Adames called the meeting after the Middle States Commission on Higher Education informed BCC that it had failed to show evidence that assessments of student learning had been used to strengthen teaching, allocate resources and make sure graduates had acquired necessary skills.
The commission, based in Philadelphia, also sought more proof that the college had spelled out strategies for meeting its goals and used data to judge its performance. The problems involved documentation submitted by Bergen as part of a review that the accrediting agency performs every five years.
