The Planning Accreditation Board (PAB), the body that accredits colleges that award bachelor’s and master’s degrees in planning, is making an amendment to the Accreditation Standards this year. Several of these proposed changes affect the way the PAB will look at diversity and inclusion through their accreditation process.

Changing these standards will be detrimental to our profession as it concerns the recruitment and retention of people of color (students and faculty). Having relaxed diversity policies could prove to be counterproductive, especially at institutions that do not value diversity in the first place.

• You can learn more about the proposed changes here.
• You can find the proposed Accreditation Standards document here.

The first 30-day comment period will conclude midnight CT on December 15. Instructions for how to submit comments are on the webpage but you can also submit comments via email at comments@planningaccreditationboard.org.

It’s important that as leaders, we are active participants in the policies that effect the future of our profession. In an effort to help the PAB recognize the importance of redrafting the proposed changes, the APA California Chapter of is encouraging as many people as possible to send feedback. In order to help maximize our impact, we have drafted the template belw for you to utilize when submitting a comment. Please feel free to use the template “as is” or to incorporate your own suggestions. 

To Whom It May Concern:

Please accept this letter as my formal comment on the Planning Accreditation Board’s proposed Accreditation Standards update.

It has come to my attention that the Planning Accreditation Board has proposed changes to the diversity portions of the Student and Faculty sections of the document. These changes, as written, are counterproductive to the mission and goals of our profession as a whole. If these changes were to be adopted, the Planning Accreditation Board would be doing a disservice to the fundamental principles of our professional organization, the American Planning Association, and our AICP Code of Ethics. Also, changing these standards will be detrimental to our profession as it concerns the recruitment and retention of people of color for both students and faculty.

As a planning professional, I demand that the Planning Accreditation Board redraft these sections to be more inclusive of and proactive towards true diversity within our field.

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