A regional accrediting commission has placed Pasadena City College on probation after reviewing the way the school is run.

If the administration does not bring PCC into compliance within the next two years, the commission could terminate its accreditation, according to a letter from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

The college must respond by October 2016 to show that its met the commission’s nine recommendations.

PCC President Dr. Rajen Vurdien said the college is working “aggressively” on a solution.

“The college is fully accredited, it’s just that there are some issues we have to take care of,” said Rajen Vurdien, PCC’s new president as of July 1. “It has nothing to do with educational quality, it has to do with governance — with the administrative model.”

ACCJC found flaws in the college’s program review, in its adherence to its own ethics policy, in its planning and in its communication between administrators and staff. Board member Ross Selvidge in a statement stressed that the recommendations focused “primarily on organizational, administrative and decision making processes,” not on student instruction.

“As PCC works on those recommendations, it will continue to offer the kind of pre-eminent community college education for which it is known,” he said.

Some of the recommendations related to low morale at the community college.

In a review of the college’s ethics policy, the commission found a “climate of distrust,” an erosion of “participatory governance” and a “lack of respect” among employees. PCC instituted its ethics policy as part of recommendations made by the accrediting commission in 2009, but a review found “ample evidence that these policies are disregarded and are not enforced.”

A scathing Campus Climate Survey given to the schools’ faculty in 2014 showed most believed the administration did not follow its policies and procedures and that it did not operate with transparency. According to the survey, 35 percent of respondents felt PCC was “very poorly” managed.

Board of Trustees’ President Berlinda Brown attributed the probationary status to a lack of harmony between faculty, students and administrators. The board hired Vurdien, former president of Fullerton College, in part because of his experience in strengthening relationships between professors and the higher-ups, she said. “We have to learn how to work together, that has been the biggest challenge at PCC for awhile, that’s how we got put on probation,” she said. “I’m very optimistic that with our new leadership, we will be able to take care of this in no time.”

Much of the turmoil developed under former President Mark Rocha, who walked away with a $400,000 severance package that a judge later voided. Rocha threatened to sue the college’s board after one member spoke negatively about him in the media. He previously received votes of no confidence from both the faculty and students. He frequently butted heads with the schools’ unions and drew ire from the public because of unpopular decisions, such as his canceling of a winter session.