Trump Picks McMahon as Education Secretary

HEADLINES

Trump Picks McMahon as Education Secretary (Inside Higher Ed, November 13, 2024) President-elect Donald Trump picked Linda McMahon, a business and wrestling executive and major Republican donor, to lead the Education Department, he announced Tuesday night. McMahon, a co-chair of Trump’s transition team who has virtually no experience in education, served as director of the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first term. Trump has pledged to fire accreditors in order to reclaim colleges from the “radical left” and proposed creating a free online university funded by taxes on wealthy private colleges.

Republicans, Back in Charge of Congress, Aim to Increase Higher Ed Accountability (Inside Higher Ed, November 14, 2024) With President-elect Donald Trump in the White House, the table is set for the GOP to make significant progress on a higher ed wish list that includes granting federal aid to nontraditional programs, increasing taxes on wealthy colleges, cracking down on campus antisemitism and busting the current model for accreditation, experts say.

CHEA Participates in the 20th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the Caribbean Area Network for Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education (CANQATE) (CHEA.org, November 15, 2024) Michelle Claville, Ph.D., CHEA Vice President for Research and Policy Analysis, was a distinguished speaker at the 20th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the Caribbean Area Network for Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education (CANQATE), hosted by the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ), a member of CHEA’s International Quality Group (CIQG) and CANQUATE.

Florida Officials Fume Over Sluggish Accreditation Changes (Inside Higher Ed, November 11, 2024) Florida’s Board of Governors alleges the Education Department is delaying the University of North Florida’s accreditor switch, which experts note is a lengthy process. Similar to all of Florida's 40 public institutions, UNF is required by Florida law to change accreditors every 10 years. It’s one of the first institutions to embark on the process—an effort that began in fall 2022.

Protecting Black Students During the Second Trump Presidency (Inside Higher Ed, November 12, 2024) More, not fewer, task forces for the protection of Black collegians are needed on campuses at this time. Administrators must proactively put care-taking protocols and protective procedures in place as immediately as possible. They ought not to wait for hate to show up. Reversals of Biden-Harris Title IX legislative progress, weakening accreditation agencies, and deregulating for-profit institutions will have particularly devastating effects on Black women, a group on which these schools disproportionately prey and trick into taking on massive amounts of loan debt for degrees that fail to deliver occupational returns on investments.

Registration Open – 2025 CHEA/CIQG Annual Conference – “Quality Assurance in an Era of Change: Reflect, Reimagine, Recommit.” – Join us at the 2025 CHEA/CIQG Annual Conference scheduled for January 27-30, 2025, at The Westin Washington D.C. City Center Hotel in Washington, D.C.  This year’s in-person event promises to build on the excitement and successes of last year’s Annual Conference. The theme for the four-day conference is “Quality Assurance in an Era of Change: Reflect, Reimagine, Recommit,” a powerful message that seeks to engage the global CHEA/CIQG community. Register today!