By Sara Randazzo and Meridith McGraw
President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to shake up the arcane but pivotal world of college accreditation, a move Trump has called his “secret weapon” in his bid to remake higher education.
The order aims to use the accrediting system to combat what Trump views as discriminatory practices and “ideological overreach” on college campuses, the White House said. The order intends to put a greater focus on intellectual diversity among faculty and student success.
It also would make it easier for schools to switch accreditors and for new accreditors to gain federal approval.
“Instead of pushing schools to adopt a divisive DEI ideology, accreditors should be focused on helping schools improve graduation rates and graduates’ performance in the labor market,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
Trump signed a number of other education-related executive orders Wednesday, including ones looking at artificial intelligence and discipline policies in K-12 schools, one supporting historically Black colleges and universities, one on increasing apprenticeships and creating job pipelines, and another reinforcing rules universities must follow when reporting foreign funds.
Accreditors play a role largely unseen to the public but crucial for universities, setting standards that must be met to access federal financial aid. The federal government gave $120.8 billion in loans, grants and work-study funds to more than 9.9 million students in the year ended last September. To earn an accreditor’s seal of approval, higher-education institutions must prove they meet wide-ranging standards covering everything from their mission and admissions policies to the quality of their faculty and programming.
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