President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that will overhaul the college accreditation process in an attempt to fight left-wing “overreach” on campuses.
The order makes it easier for universities to change accreditors and for new accreditors to gain federal recognition. Trump views a restructuring of the accrediting system as his “secret weapon” to counter “ideological overreach” in higher education, administration officials told the Wall Street Journal.
To earn accreditation—and access to federal funds—institutions must meet wide-ranging standards, including academic quality, admissions policies, and financial stability.
Trump and other Republicans have said that the process operates like a cartel—suppressing competition and shielding underperforming institutions, according to the Journal. While the federal government awarded over $120 billion in loans, grants, and work-study funds to students at accredited schools in the last academic year, colleges with low graduation and job placement rates rarely lose their accreditation.
The Wednesday order is part of the Trump administration’s broader campaign to reshape higher education.
The administration has revoked federal funding to several elite universities over years-long anti-Semitic activism on campus and their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. The frozen funds include $2.2 billion to Harvard University and $1 billion to Cornell University, as well as hundreds of millions to Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton University.
According to CNN, Wednesday’s order also asks the secretary of education to “hold higher education accreditors accountable including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination for poor performance or violations to the federal Civil Rights Act,” a White House official said.
It also “directs the attorney general and the secretary of education to investigate and terminate unlawful discrimination by American higher education institutions, including law schools and medical schools,” according to the official.
“Revoking accreditation is an existential threat for these universities,” Andrew Gillen, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, told the Journal. “If you lose Pell grants and lose student loans, for most colleges that means you’re done.”
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Author: Matthew Xiao
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