Alioto Central Character In Foundation Investigation

Alioto Central Character In Foundation Investigation

By: Albert Fulcher, Senior Staff Writer

Published: Thursday, March 22nd, 2012 at 11:16 pm

An independent investigation of the Southwestern College Educational Foundation has lifted the curtains on two years of secretive operations by a former vice president, including a mysterious 2010 that mixed fund raising for scholarships with multimillion dollar construction contracts, extravagant gifts and campaign contributions while banning all news media and cameras.

 

Forensic auditor Scott Seo compiled a 33-page report released to the public by the governing board this week. Much of the carefully-worded report centers on the activities of Nicholas Alioto, SWC’s former vice president of business affairs. Alioto was cited for “inappropriate” activities during his involvement in the planning and management of the 2010 “Havana Nights” gala at the Loews Coronado Resort, including multiple instances of conflict of interest. Alioto solicited sizable donations from future Proposition R contractors and other construction firms who had made bids for contracts.

“It was inappropriate for the Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs to serve in such a direct fundraising capacity for the 2010 Gala, especially considering his responsibilities in the Proposition R contractor selection process,” wrote Seo. “Some of the maximum sponsorships and significant auction prizes were awarded by Proposition R contractors who were already or would eventually be awarded contracts.”

Seo’s investigation had a long list of “concerns” and “inappropriate” behaviors related to Alioto. Among them: nearly $15,000 in uncollected pledges, poor accounting practices, appearances of possible influence peddling, conflicts of interest, lax internal controls, inappropriate involvement of companies bidding for construction and architectural contracts, overpayment of vendors and use of Proposition R funds to pay for Foundation activities.

“It is not unreasonable to suggest that a potential donor could have been compelled to make a donation based on a solicitation from Mr. Alioto if his/her firm was currently or could potentially be considered for a contract that was under control of Mr. Alioto and his responsibility as the Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs,” read the report.

Alioto was able to insinuate his way into Foundation affairs follow a spring 2008 reorganization of the college by former superintendent Raj K. Chopra and approved by a previous governing board. Chopra fired or transferred Foundation staff, including its director, and transferred control of the Foundation to his office. Gutted, the Foundation lay dormant for nearly two years. Chopra cancelled two of the organization’s annual galas and conducted little visible fund raising.

In 2010, with Proposition R contracts out to bid and a contentious governing board election looming in November, Chopra ordered the gala resurrected. The March event at the Loews Coronado was attended by several contractors involved in the San Diego Country District Attorney investigation, including Seville Construction, Echo Pacific and BCA Architects. Other contractors also bidding for Proposition R funds were solicited for contributions by Alioto. Echo Pacific was the winning bidder for a weekend of wine tasting and golf with Alioto at a Napa resort hotel. Representatives of Echo Pacific joined Alioto on the getaway and three weeks later were awarded a $4 million contract from Alioto which was approved by the board. Incumbent board members Terry Valladolid and Yolanda Salcido later received large campaign contributions from Echo Pacific. Valladolid and Salcido were staunch supporters of Chopra and Alioto.

Alioto’s home was raided by the San Diego County District Attorney in December along with those of Echo Pacific’s Henry Amigable, former SWC director of facilities John Wilson, and four Sweetwater Union High School District trustees. Amigable and three of the trustees have been charged with multiple felonies for bribery and influence peddling. Alioto and Wilson have yet to be charged. Investigators reported they were unable to find Chopra, who may have fled the country. The U.S. State Department has a mutual legal assistance agreement in place with India, Chopra’s native country. San Diego County District Attorney spokespersons were asked if Chopra could face extradition if charged with felonies, but they did not reply before deadline.

Seo, in his report, said he examined several aspects of Alioto’s involvement with the Foundation, including:

Uncollected pledges in excess of $15,000. When an independent auditor requested documents in an attempt to reconcile the discrepancy, Alioto was uncooperative and took nearly four months to respond. Seo wrote that there were also $3,000 in uncollected sponsorships and a $1,047 overpayment to one unidentified vendor.

Fellow Circle sponsorships. Seo wrote that “many of the firms who were awarded Proposition R contracts also contributed…maximum sponsorships” of $15,000. In total, Seo reported, more than $190,000 was pledged for these sponsorships. “To the extent that contributions were made in response to aggressive solicitations made by SWC officials who were in positions of awarding Proposition R contracts would have been inappropriate,” Seo concluded.

Alioto’s involvement. Seo said that Alioto’s active participation in the gala “could have the appearance of a potential conflict.” Seville Construction also participated in the planning of the gala and the 2010 Foundation golf tournament “with the full knowledge and possible direction of Alioto,” Seo concluded. “To the extent that Seville was compensated for these activities from Proposition R funds under their contract with SWC would be inappropriate,” wrote Seo.

Insufficient internal control. Seo agreed with the Foundations auditor that internal controls were lax following Chopra’s dismissal and reassignment of Foundation staff. Governing board member Dr. Jean Roesch, a staunch Chopra supporter, was the board’s liaison to the Foundation in 2010.

Angela Amigable. Seo expressed concern that Alioto hired Henry Amigable’s wife, Angela, to work on the gala and paid her $3,000 without a contract or agreement between her and the Foundation.

Seo concluded that Foundation operations improved substantially for the 2011 gala. Chopra resigned following the November 2010 election. The new board majority of Norma Hernandez, Tim Nader and Nick Aguilar directed Interim Superintendent Denise Whittaker to restore Foundation staff and remove Alioto from Foundation affairs. Alioto resigned in February 2011. Hernandez became the board’s Foundation liaison. Seo said the 2011 gala corrected the problems and was “well-organized and well-managed.”

http://www.theswcsun.com/2012/03/22/alioto-central-character-in-foundation-investigation/

Unsigned: College Needs To Remain Transparent

Carlos Magana/Artist

By: Sun Editorial Board

Published: Tuesday, February 28th, 2012 at 3:13 am

Southwestern College’s season in Hell is over, but the door of Hades has been left cracked open. Three new trustees are working feverishly to close it once and for all.
Norma Hernandez, Tim Nader and Humberto Peraza have the courage and vision to end SWC’s suffering and steer the college into an age of rebirth. Part of their wisdom is their understanding that the college has to come clean and put all of the misdeeds of the past out into the light before SWC can really be free.
Our college suffered on all levels – academically, administratively, publicly and politically – when SWC’s previous administration chose to erect walls of secrecy and chicanery. Backed by a dysfunctional 4-1 governing board majority, the prior administration’s lack of transparency and blatant secrecy from 2007 – 2010 disgusted the entire community, leading to a toxic atmosphere that has proved epically destructive.
Raj K. Chopra, Nicholas Alioto and the board led by Yolanda Salcido brought the college to the brink of being shut down by its accreditation body. Little did we know they would also lead us into the biggest corruption scandal in San Diego County history.
Captured by Chopra, SWC’s annual golf tournament and Educational Foundation fundraisers became vehicles for money laundering and influence peddling. Instead of filling scholarship funds, these once-cherished events filled campaign warchests. With no regard for the Brown Act or the American value of open government, the board and administration hid documents and punished inquisitive faculty. “Transparency” and “openness” vanished from the college’s vocabulary.
This clampdown left people questioning the closed-door actions of the administration and board, forcing the public and the media into antagonistic positions to uncover the truth. Increasingly desperate efforts to hide that truth led to the incumbents’ defeat at the ballot box and the resignation of more than a dozen administrators.
Hernandez, Nader and Peraza brought a passion for education that the former governing board sadly lacked. They have also been champions of transparency and openness. They meet often and keep the public, students and press informed.
This house-cleaning board majority will need to consistently remind nervous employees that the old way of doing business is over. There will be none of the reflexive administrative circling of the wagons or other defensive behavior. Record requests will be honored. Investigations will be made public. Questions will be answered forthrightly. Administrators will treat faculty, students and media as allies and stakeholders, not enemies to deflect and deceive.
People who act guilty in this time of search warrants and indictments will be presumed guilty and part of the problem rather than part of the solution. It is important for all college trustees and employees to remember that we are being closely watched, and that our behaviors and actions will have heightened meaning. Stay on the side of the angels.
Right now, the district attorney is in the middle of a huge investigation into past and present board members of the Sweetwater Union High School District and its former superintendent. Three are connected to our college. Arlie Ricasa, SWC’s director of student development and health services, is currently on administrative leave. Greg Sandoval, the former acting superintendent/president, and Henry Amigable, who oversaw Proposition R construction in 2009 and 2010, have been charged with multiple felonies.
Questions abound. “Who’s next?” Former V.P. Alioto and former facilities director John Wilson are likely candidates. Other contenders for headlines are Salcido, former SWC superintendent Chopra, and Dan Hom, president of Focuscom, a PR firm in league with Alioto, Wilson and Amigable.
San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis released the dogs on Sweetwater and she has a few more in the pen, warming up for Southwestern College.
When it came to the D.A.’s 2011 investigation, the new governing board had three choices: work with the D.A.’s office, work against it, or to simply let the investigation happen by taking as little action as possible. Hernandez, Nader, Peraza and former trustee Nick Aguilar opted smartly to work with them, opening SWC’s doors and books, and promising them the first results of an internal review of the college’s finances that has been underway for most of a year. This is the high road, and it sends a powerful message to the community that this college will no longer hide misdeeds and unethical activities.
It is up to the courts to determine guilt or innocence, but the evidence collected so far is shocking. Voters who tossed out two ineffective trustees at Southwestern in 2010 are getting out their brooms to sweep out Sweetwater corruption this November.
For our new leaders, this is the point of no return. It falls upon them to make certain that the promises of truth and openness are actually reflected by the actions and deeds of the administration. It also falls upon them to not let the fear of bad press and shocking headlines overshadow the promise made to be fully transparent.
Nelson Mandela knew that South Africa had to come clean before it could heal. Southwestern College is in the same place. Hernandez, Nader and Peraza understand that. Here’s hoping our new administrators get it, too.

Winning The Race Of Her Life

http://www.theswcsun.com/2011/12/12/winning-the-race-of-her-life/

Winning The Race Of Her Life

By: Albert Fulcher, Ernesto Rivera and Serina Duarte

Published: Monday, December 12th, 2011 at 9:40 pm

A FORTNIGHT AND ODD DAYS — Ayded Reyes was nearly deported, spent five days in INS detention, then won the PCC cross country championship and took fifth in state despite being tripped at the starting line. Photo by Serina Duarte

Speedy cross-country champion Ayded Reyes is usually the fastest person around, but one evening fate caught up to her. So did the INS.
After her boyfriend was pulled over on a routine traffic stop by two Harbor Police officers in Chicano Park, she was unable to prove U.S. citizenship. Even though she was the innocent passenger in the car, the Border Patrol was summoned. Reyes found herself sitting alone in INS detention cells for four days, uncertain of what her once-bright future might hold.
“I came here when I was a baby,” said Reyes, who was born in Mexico City. “I was brought here by my parents. I had no control over that.”
Reyes said four days in detention cells was a horrifying experience and she wonders how many students like her have gone through a similar ordeal, lost and deported to a country they never knew. She said this is the reason she is willing to tell her story — to help those who do not have the same support that saved her from immediate deportation.
“It was nerve-wracking,” said Reyes. “I cried like I’ve never cried before. I’m usually a lot stronger but this was just…”
Reyes said she was very uncomfortable with the sudden attention she has received from the news media, but as bad as it made her feel to talk about her ordeal she knew she had to.
“I started talking because I want to bring awareness to how horrible the conditions are for all the other people that have to go through this,” she said. “It’s too personal and I don’t know if I want everyone to know. It’s something I went through that was really hard. I’ve never been treated that way or put through such bad conditions.”
Taken initially to the Imperial Beach holding facility, Reyes said INS agents began trying to get her to sign paperwork saying she wanted to go back to “her country” immediately. She said she remembered a warning from a high school Spanish teacher to not sign anything under pressure by the Border Patrol or INS. Her teacher taught her that everyone in America has human rights, including the right to due process.
“The first thing they gave me was this paper in Spanish, even though I was speaking to them in English,” said Reyes. “When I asked for paperwork in English and told them I was going to college the officers didn’t believe me. They were making fun of me. I’m an immigrant, but I’m not dumb.”
Reyes refused to sign the paper, which made the agents unhappy. Reyes stood her ground.
“I’m not going (to Mexico),” said Reyes. “I have family, but I do not know anyone there. I kept wondering what I was going to do over there, where I would go. Tijuana is a very dangerous place to be now.”
Reyes said the pressure and the stress made her just want to sign the papers, but she knew better. She said the most important message she wants to get out to the public is the horrible conditions in immigration detention centers and the mistreatment of detainees.
“What about all the other people that don’t know they have the right to go to court?” she said. “What about the way they’re treated? It’s not right.”
While sitting in holding facilities, Reyes said many questions went through her mind and she felt completely isolated. She wondered what would happen next, what she needed to do and did not understand why she was being treated so badly.
“I’ve worked so hard (to earn a university scholarship) and now I can just lose it all,” she said. “The reason my parents came here was to succeed and when you see that you can just lose everything in a minute — it’s horrible.”
Reyes was shuffled from detention facilities in San Ysidro, Chula Vista and Imperial Beach. She said in between transfers she was held in a small holding facility. She said the conditions were hideous and does not understand why they make people go through what she described as a nightmare.
“There’s no bed, you sleep on the floor,” said Reyes. “There were three of us in there. We only had one really thin blanket each and the air conditioner was on high. There’s a sink on top of the toilet and you are supposed to drink out of the sink with no cups, you have to slurp.”
Reyes said no one knows what people go through at these facilities until someone who has been there can go out and tell everyone. She said the Chula Vista detention facility was a little better, she at least got to take a shower. Guards, however, demonstrated a sadistic streak and subjected detainees to sleep deprivation and other tactics from prisoner of war or concentration camps.
“It’s horrible, you don’t even see the sunlight,” said Reyes. “At night when you were sleeping they would knock on your window just to wake you up. For no reason. There are little things like that that are just not right.”
Reyes said she wonders about all the people sent off to foreign places that were never their home.
“All those people probably had it worse than me,” said Reyes. “It just makes me wonder. You don’t know how they were treated and how they were sent back. It’s sad. I don’t think it is right. They’re humans.”
Reyes said her four-day incarceration felt like months. But she said she had to compete that week and wanted to be there for the team. Determined to do well at the Pacific Coast Conference Championship, she immediately focused on training and homework after her release. She did not want to break the Southwestern College streak of winning the conference over the past 11 years and said, “This is not going to stop me.”
“It felt great to have something positive in my life,” said Reyes. “ I was a little nervous because I hadn’t run in two weeks. But I fought with all my heart and ran my heart out. I just kept telling myself I have got to do this.”
In a storybook finish, Reyes won the PCC Championship going away. SWC’s championship skein lived on. Reyes was the favorite to win the California championship a week later in Fresno. Her heroic accomplishment could not have happened without the support she received from people she had never met.
“I didn’t know how close I was to being deported until Saturday, when coach told me,” said Reyes. “While in detention I didn’t even know what was going on. I actually thought they weren’t doing anything for me, but a lot of things were going on I wasn’t even aware of.”
Cross-country coach Dr. Duro Agbede said he was contacted by Reyes’ parents on Friday and informed that she had been picked up by Immigration.
“When I got the call from her parents I was shocked,” he said.
Agbede said that Reyes has been in this country all her life and her arrest caused many people to stand up for her.
“It’s not just her being a star student,” said Agbede. “It’s that she’s a student at this college and every student from this college has a lot to offer to this country.”
Agbede said he was blank after receiving the call, wondering what he could possibly do to help Reyes. He first contacted Professor of Journalism Max Branscomb and Professor of History Laura Ryan. Branscomb immediately contacted a human rights law firm recommended by Governing Board Vice President Norma Hernandez to block an immediate deportation.
“Immediately Laura and Governing Board President Tim Nader got involved,” said Agbede. “We were on the phone all day Saturday. From that Friday, especially that Saturday, which was the critical time. I was on the phone back and forth, back and forth with Mr. Nader. It was tough, it was really tough. I really have to thank him.”
Nader said he first heard about Reyes’s situation when he was approached by Ryan while attending an SWC Chicano/Latino function. He said he put Ryan and Agbede in touch with Congressman Bob Filner’s staff and also contacted an immigration lawyer that is very committed to this type of situation.
“As a lawyer myself, I believe it is best to get the best representation in this type of case,” said Nader. “It is very important that you have good representation in this.”
Nader said he made several phone calls to faculty, federal authorities, Filner and the detention facilities to let them know how concerned the entire college community was in the possibility of losing a star student.
“She is like the poster child for the many students that face this problem,” he said. “She is one of the best students that represents the college and deserves the right to fair representation.”
Nader said it was a collaborative effort by many people on campus that helped get Reyes out of the detention facility and he was happy to do “what little” he could do to help the process.
“When I spoke to the INS authorities, they said they were receiving many phone calls from people expressing that Reyes should be released,” he said.
Nader said the family had called an immigration lawyer, but the fees were well beyond their financial abilities for a sustained legal fight.
“I tried to put them in touch with resources that I know that are affordable or free,” said Nader. “I am not sure whether they found the help they needed there, but felt it was important that she received good representation at a cost the family could afford.”
Agbede said Saturday was a critical day because Filner’s office contacted him and told him Reyes was being prepared for immediate deportation.
“That was the critical period and luckily I was able to contact, for the first time, the supervisor from where Ayded was being held in detention,” said Agbede. “I explained to the supervisor the people already aware of Ayded’s situation. They needed to know that she was not alone. I was direct and I was forceful in making him understand that this is the type of girl you have.”
SWC Governing Board Trustee Humberto Peraza said he was taken aback when he heard about the Reyes saga and immediately contacted Filner and his staff for help. Reyes’ situation really touched a lot of people, he said he wanted to do as much as he could to help. Peraza, a former member of Filner’s staff, said it was the combined help of everyone who got involved that got her out.
“She is an amazing young woman,” said Peraza. “She is a great student and athlete and she is an American just as much as any citizen of this country.”
Peraza, a former high school cross-country runner, said he knew how hard it is to sit for a week, then compete. He said he was amazed at how quickly Reyes bounced back.
“It is astounding to me, after the stress and fear she went through that she went straight to competition and came out victorious,” he said. “I am so proud of her.”
Peraza said he is working with Filner and Reyes to do private legislation because he believes it really affects an individual that is going through this process. A U.S. Senator is also interested in the Reyes case.
Agbede said the contact with INS intensified once he learned Reyes had been moved to the San Ysidro detention center.
“Once they’re moved to San Ysidro it’s straight across the border,” said Agbede. “After that discussion Ayded was moved back to Chula Vista.”
The fight from Agbede, Nader, Peraza and Filner paid off.
“By Monday, I called the congressman’s office,” said Agbede. “They requested me to contact Ayded’s parents and send them down to the INS office and pick her up and by then Mr. Peraza sent an e-mail to everybody that Ayded would be out in two hours.”
Reyes said she is very thankful for the people that helped her through this ordeal.
“I thought I was going to get bailed out by my mother,” said Reyes. “But thanks to Bob Filner I was bailed out on Monday.
Agbede said Reyes said is an extremely talented student and athlete.
“The most important thing is that here is a girl who will definitely go to a university on a full scholarship,” said Agbede. “She has had an outstanding performance including winning the 2011 Pacific Coast Conference Championship and still remains among the best female distant runners in the state.”
Agbede said that Reyes’ PCC title enhances her opportunities for a full scholarship.
“If she didn’t run in the Pacific Coast Conference (finals) she would not have had the opportunity to run for regional and state,” said Agbede. “Winning the conference championship places her at a higher rate of a full scholarship. Without that, it would’ve been a hard sell because we would have basing her performance on the previous year and athletics is what have you done for me lately? Where are you now?”
Agbede said that Reyes’ timely release was pertinent.
Reyes said her parents and sisters are her strongest support, and this experience has brought them all much closer together. She faces a court date on March 1, 2012 and has a pro bono lawyer building her a case to help her stay in the U.S. She said she is unsure what is in store, but she is going to fight hard for the future she has worked so hard for.
Agbede said in the end he was filled with happiness and relief`.
“The joy was that someone who had been through this situation and with this kind of stress was able to let everything out and give the best performance of her collegiate career,” said Agbede. “It was very, very brutal competition.”
Agbede said Reyes feels all students in a similar situation should be educated on their rights.
“There should be a way to reach out the students in her situation and explain their legal rights to them,” he said. “Everybody in this country, whether they’re a citizen or not, has rights. Not only as an American but as human beings, fundamental human rights.”
SWC should provide all AB 540 students with information about their rights in case situations like these occur, Agbede said.
“Either through orientation, through counseling or through the international student department,” he said. “Letting them know that in case this happens, these are your rights, this is what you can do, this is important.”
Agbede said detainees are greatly pressured to sign a document approving their deportation before they have an opportunity to seek representation.
“Once they are taken they’re extremely fearful,” he said. “When you are in detention you can not be contacted by anyone.”
Agbede said Reyes was lucky because she was able to get assistance and believes everyone should be able to have that.
“Ayded wouldn’t be in this situation if she had no one to call,” said Agbede. “A student should know if they have this kind of problem they have someone to contact that can be of assistance and have their rights protected.”
Agbede said a lot of people helped Reyes.
“The credit goes to everybody. All the people that made this possible,” said Agbede. “I’d sincerely like to express my thanks to everybody. Particularly, Ms. Laura (Ryan), Mr. Branscomb, our board president and Mr. Peraza.”
Reyes has been offered scholarships by several universities, including Ivy League schools.
“There are a lot of reasons for me to stay here, I have a lot to lose,” she said. “Right now I just want to go to a good university and one that has a good biology program. I study here and I’m going to get a full scholarship, so I’m not even going to put the government in debt with loans. I’m doing this by myself and I have worked very hard for this.”

Southwestern College Off Probation, Regains Accreditation Status

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Southwestern College Off Probation, Regains Accreditation Status

The ruling lifts a cloud of uncertainty about Southwestern’s ability to function that has lingered over the college since Feb. 2010.

By Albert Fulcher | Email the author | June 30, 2011

After two years of a tumultuous campus climate, declining reputation and a complete overhaul of top administrators, Southwestern College, the South Bay’s only public institution of higher learning, leaped forward much faster than anticipated and regained full accreditation.

On Wednesday the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (AACJC) announced the removal of all ten sanctions against the college after a visit to the campus in March.

None of the ten deficiencies that put Southwestern, in Chula Vista, on probation in February 2010 related to the college’s ability to teach or student’s ability to learn, but pointed directly towards the operation of the school’s Governing Board and program review.

Imperial Beach and Coronado are home to many Southwestern College students, faculty and staff. Elizabeth Smith, a professor in the School of Language and Literature who lives in Imperial Beach, said it’s inspiring to see all of the hard work pay off.

“We’re lucky and grateful that Tim Nader, Norma Hernandez and Denise Whittaker stepped forward when we needed them,” she said.
“We have all kinds of knowledgeable and hardworking people at Southwestern. They made it possible for us to do what we’ve always been able to do. It’s a relief to be able to get back to just focusing on doing our jobs,” Smith said.

She said it was tempting to give up in the face of the former board who were entrenched, powerful and financially well-equipped.

Then, she said, it was common to see efforts to solve the college’s problems undermined and disrespected, but once those people were out of the way, others worked diligently and collaborated to address the accreditation issues.

Interim Superintendent Denise Whittaker said after the AACJC’s visit earlier this year that she was confident Southwestern would met all requirements.

She thought the college should regain its accreditation status, but would not have been surprised if the commission decided to keep the college on probation until after the October 2011 site visit and follow-up evaluation in January 2012.

On June 10, Whittaker personally met with the accreditation team to plead for the college’s probationary status and didn’t expect a decision until July 5. The early announcement surprised the college community.

“I am excited to report that the Commission has taken action to remove probation and reaffirm accreditation,” she said, noting that the college community’s hard work and efforts merited this “grand accomplishment.”

Governing Board Member Nick Aguilar said regaining accreditation was a tremendous feat for the college and that hiring Whittaker was the most important decision they made.

He said her leadership style brought back a standard of respect and collegiality to Southwestern. He said the “highest degree” of effort from all college constituents was a testament to the college community as a whole and proved the foundation of teaching and learning had always remained, even in adverse conditions under the prior administration.

“Whittaker contributed her leadership skills generously to get the job done in a credible, sensible way, backed up with evidence,” he said.
In the AACJC letter to Whittaker, President Barbara A. Beno said the Commission expects the Midterm Report due Oct. 15, 2012 to provide evidence that the college has sustained its program review, planning activities and new Governing Board policies. It noted, “Southwestern College has made many recent improvements to institutional practices to resolve accreditation deficiencies.”

The commission Follow-up Team Report said, “The team was encouraged by the significant progress the college has made on (their) recommendations.”

Fully accredited since 1964, Southwestern provides more than 300 associate degrees and certificate programs.

The deadline for new students to register for fall 2011 classes is July 11.

To read the AACJC’s letter and 10 recommendations, see the media box.

Related Topics: AACJC, Accreditation, Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges,Coronado, Denise Whittaker, Imperial Beach, Nick Aguilar, Swc, WASC, and southwestern college

Has the probationary status of Southwestern College affected your trust in the institution? Have you avoided Southwestern for this reason? Do you work or attend Southwestern? Tell us in the comments.