DVC President Judy Walters met Tuesday with a somber Faculty Senate to map out a plan and timeline to keep the college from losing its accreditation.

“We’re going to have to work with each other in a different way than we ever have here at DVC,” she said.

Walters vowed the college would keep its accreditation.

“I want students to know we are accredited and will remain accredited through this process.” she said.

Walters broke the news Feb. 6 that the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges had declared the college must “show cause” why its accreditation shouldn’t be terminated.

Calling the ruling a “shocking sanction,” Walters said the college had until Oct.15 to present a report showing it had remedied the seven deficiencies named in the commission’s findings.

Four of the seven were from a 2002 accreditation report.

If DVC can demonstrate the problems have been fixed, the sanction will be lifted. If not, the college would have one more year to fix the problems.

Loss of accreditation could impact students’ financial aid and the transferability of DVC courses to four-year schools, said Bruce Koller, faculty co-chair of the school’s 2008 accreditation report.

“I was not expecting any sanction, let alone one so strong,” Koller said in an email interview. “I certainly didn’t think this was even a remote possibility.”

Others also expressed surprise the commission dropped DVC directly to “show cause,” bypassing the less serious sanctions of “warning” and “probation.”

But according to Jack Pond, a commission vice president, the status should be no surprise.

“(Accreditation) is not a ladder,” Pond said. “(Status) can go straight up or straight down.”

Still reeling from the news, a small group met over the weekend to address what needs to be done.

“We went through the document to make sure we have a common understanding of all the things the commission wants us to work on,” said Laurie Lema, president of the Faculty Senate. “We grouped things into major categories to get a handle on it.”

Lema emphasized the issues needing correction are administrative, not academic.

Many faculty members are confident DVC will remain accredited.

“DVC is not going to lose its accreditation,” said biology instructor Catherine Machalinski. “If you look at the problems, they’re fixable.”

Most students were still unaware of the report this week.

Rubi Cuevas, 22, was particularly upset by the news, since she recently transferred from the College of the Sequoias.

“I just came from a community college in the central valley that just went through the same thing,” Cuevas said. “It’s scary.”