Trump Signs Executive Order on Accreditation

Seeking an end to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in accreditation and opportunities for new accreditors to enter the field, President Trump issued an executive order pushing for changes to federal policies on accreditation.

Despite the broad scope of the order, its impact is unclear, given that the Higher Education Act significantly constrains the Department of Education’s authority to force accreditors to adopt changes outside of the accreditation standards set forth in the statute. Nevertheless, the executive order clearly signals that political pressure to alter the current accreditation system will continue.

Under the order, which criticizes the “dysfunctional accreditation system,” the Department is directed to “hold accountable … accreditors who fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate Federal law,” including those that require institutions to “engage in unlawful discrimination” under the guise of DEI. The order also instructs the Department to investigate accreditors of schools of law and medicine to determine whether such violations have occurred.

In addition, the order seeks to increase competition in accreditation by directing, among other things, that the Department resume recognizing new accreditors and to streamline the process by which institutions switch accreditors. The Department is also instructed to “mandate that accreditors require member institutions to use data on program-level student outcomes to improve such outcomes,” inform accreditors of institutions found to have violated federal civil rights laws, and to launch an experimental site to establish new quality assurance pathways.

Finally, the order directs the Department to, consistent with applicable law, take steps to ensure that the accreditation process requires academic programs to be “free from unlawful discrimination,” reduces barriers to innovation, requires institutions to prioritize intellectual diversity among faculty, and prohibits accreditors from engaging in practices that lead to credential inflation or unnecessary costs.

While it is not clear how the Department intends to implement the executive order, at least some of the directives appear to require legislative or regulatory amendments before changes can take effect.

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Jody Feder