Thanks for the responses. It sounds like I was grandfathered in when the requirement was increased to 180 posts (I know for sure that I accessed CC in 2012 and 2013, after the change). Taking CC offline and then back online must have eliminated that grandfathering.

This is a bit frustrating -- I had CC access for years and never used it, and there's a good chance I'll want to use it later this year -- but it sounds like there's nothing the mods can do. I guess I'll need to make 60-something more posts between new and then.