How An Accreditation War Could Start

HEADLINES

How An Accreditation War Could Start (Chronicle of Higher Education, March 24, 2025) Relying on private, independent accrediting agencies to assure college quality has been the most important tool for preventing the centralized political control of higher education in the United States. Accreditation has helped create a higher education system that is unparalleled in the world. President Trump threatens to wield accreditation as a weapon, something which, if carried out, would muzzle the creativity and innovation that has fueled America’s lead.

Educators and Unions Unite to Challenge Trump's Attempt to Dismantle Department of Ed (AAUP.org, March 24, 2025) A coalition including educators, school districts, and unions filed a legal action against the Trump administration to stop the dismantling of the Department of Education and mass firings that will decimate the crucial services the department provides to every American.

‘Turbulence’ and ‘Confusion’: Groups Raise Alarm over Trump’s Push to Kill the Education Department (Inside Higher Ed, March 21, 2025) Last Thursday’s order provided for the “effective and uninterrupted delivery of [Education Department] services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely,” but it offered few details on how the Trump administration plans to restructure or distribute the agency’s functions. Those include managing and distributing billions in Pell Grants and student loans every year, as well as enforcing civil rights laws related to education on college campuses, among other functions.

Accreditation Is Trump’s ‘Secret Weapon’ (Opinion, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 21, 2025) Critiques of accreditation are not new. Colleges — particularly small, tuition-dependent ones — have long grappled with the costs and administrative burdens of compliance. Reform advocates across the political spectrum have pushed for modernization, arguing that the system is too bureaucratic and slow to adapt. Perhaps the most persistent critique of accreditation is that it prioritizes institutional inputs over actual student outcomes

After Cutting Half Its Staff, Trump Signs an Order Directing the Education Dept. to Close (Chronicle of Higher Education, March 20, 2025) The order comes a little more than a week after McMahon announced that the department was laying off some 1,300 staff members; another 600 employees had already decided to leave. The cuts were deepest in the offices that oversee federal student aid and civil rights protections — two of the department’s functions that are spelled out in law.