The Agenda Behind Accreditation 'Reform'

HEADLINES

The Agenda Behind Accreditation ‘Reform’ (Inside Higher Ed, [Opinion], May 28, 2025) Accreditation does need reform, but the Trump administration seeks to weaponize it to push an impoverished vision for higher ed. I do agree with the Trump administration that there are opportunities to reform and improve accreditation—it could be more efficient, less expensive, less prescriptive, more transparent, and more focused on student learning. But I disagree vehemently with the Trump administration’s efforts to turn accreditation into a bludgeon to enforce its political agenda.

Embracing the Arc of Time (Inside Higher Ed, May 22, 2025) Time is the greatest asset available to colleges and universities, but it is also the most misplayed. Today’s critics of higher education issue the indictment that patterns of organization are holding the enterprise back. Higher Education advocates for interventions that will change higher education as we know it.  Add to this the sheer breadth of the national higher education enterprise. They are also guided by one of 19 recognized institutional accreditors and approximately 70 programmatic accreditors, according to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

ABA Plan to Boost Law Students' Hands-on Experience Spurs Criticism about Accreditor Overreach (Reuters, May 22, 2025) The American Bar Association's proposal to double the number of hands-on learning credits that law students must complete to graduate has sparked criticism that the accrediting organization is going too far in controlling the curriculum for legal education.

Universities Targeted in Civil Rights Fraud Initiative (University World News, May 21, 2025) The Trump administration intensified its pressure on universities with the United States Department of Justice announcement on Monday of the establishment of a Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which will use the False Claims Act to investigate and pursue claims against any recipient of federal funds that knowingly violates federal civil rights. A statement – signed by the American Council on Education, the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the American Association of University Professors and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, among others – accuses the government of holding competitively awarded research grants hostage “for political reasons” and appealed to the government to work with rather than against colleges and universities.

A Major College Accreditor Pauses Its DEI Requirements Amid Pressure from Trump (Chronicle of Higher Ed, May 21, 2025) One of the largest accrediting organizations has put a hold on requiring its member colleges to demonstrate commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The WASC Senior College and University Commission, which accredits colleges mostly in California and Hawaii, announced late Tuesday that it was enacting a temporary “stay” on requirements that reference diversity efforts.