The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges announced Feb. 2, after an extensive evaluation, Southwestern College is on academic probation. The San Diego Union Tribune first reported that the Accrediting Commission came to their decision after interviewing more than 90 teachers, administration, staff and students.

Southwestern College has already been under scrutiny for cutting a large number of classes this semester to help solve the budget crisis that many community colleges like Mesa face today.

“I’m not surprised at all that they are on probation,” said 21-year-old fashion major Jessica Bristow, who now attends Mesa. “Ever since last semester, it has been such a hostile environment [because] the teachers and students [are] having so many issues with the board.”

Over the years, issues like a hostile working environment between the school’s president, Raj Chopra, and faculty has grown immensely. Many students and faculty have called for resignation of Chopra, blaming him for most of the schools issues.

According to SignOnSanDiego, issues like administration resignation over sexual harassment allegations, instructor suspension without pay for participating in a student rally, lawsuits pending against the school and the elimination of 400 courses this spring have contributed to the current probation.

For the past couple of months, Southwestern has been in the negative spotlight for decisions made by Chopra. The Accrediting Committee gave the school until Oct. 2011 to solve the issues affecting the school or they will lose their accreditation.

After the announcement Chopra was quoted as saying they are “taking care of the issue.”

Hector Flores, a 22-year-old business major, is one of many students who came to Mesa because he experienced difficulties getting classes at Southwestern.

“I came to Mesa because I could not find any classes at Southwestern that I needed,” said Flores. “I registered on time like I was supposed to, but it wasn’t soon enough. Starting a new school was my only option.”

A concern for some students who currently attend, or had attended, Southwestern is the possibility that credits already earned will be unaccredited, causing setbacks in future plans of transferring or the earning of an Associate’s Degree.

A recent update on Southwestern’s website reads: “Please rest assured that a probation status does NOT affect students’ current transfer credits/eligibility, degrees/certificates, academic programs, financial aid, and other student services.”

Although Southwestern College’s probation may not come as a shock with all the controversy surrounding the college, it still leaves many questions as to what led to the probation. It seems that students who have recently transferred out of Southwestern may have made the move just in the nick of time.