Few believed that the Higher Learning Commission’s Institutional Actions Council (IAC) would do anything more than put Pima Community College probation. As expected, in a report dated Jan. 13, the IAC accepted the site-evaluation team’s recommendation that the sanction be lifted.
In January, PCC Chancellor Lambert led a PCC team at a meeting of the IAC Hearing Committee in Chicago. The hearing was held to review the report of the HLC site-evaluation team that visited PCC Sept. 15-17.
The bar was set very low. The Hearing Committee said the College has fully met four HLC standards which the site-visit team listed as “met with concerns.” The four Core Components are:
Core Component 1b: The mission is articulated publicly.
Core Component 1c: The institution understands the relationship between its mission and diversity of society.
Core Component 2c: The governing board of the institution is sufficiently autonomous to make decisions in the best interest of the institution and to assure its integrity.
Core Component 2d: The institution is committed to freedom of expression and the pursuit of truth in teaching and learning.
The HLC site-evaluation team recommended that PCC’s status be changed to “on notice” because many of the changes the College is implementing are too new to demonstrate evidence of sustained success. The designation means the HLC will conduct a focused visit to determine that PCC’s changes are effective. The IAC recommended that the visit occur no later than Oct. 31, 2016; the site evaluation team had recommended the visit occur in March 2016
Per the HLC process, PCC will respond to the IAC report by Feb. 4. The HLC Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet Feb. 26-27. No PCC representatives will be at the meeting.