Overview
- A Federal Register notice launches the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization committee for sessions in April and May to propose rules that ease recognition for new accreditors and curb DEI-based requirements.
- Topics on the table include eliminating DEI criteria in accreditation, prioritizing faculty "intellectual diversity," tightening ties between recognition and student outcomes, and reinforcing agency independence from trade groups.
- Under Secretary Nicholas Kent escalated the critique in a CHEA conference speech, accusing accreditors of protectionism and weak accountability while urging them to adopt ROI-focused reforms or risk being sidelined.
- The department has primed the shift with $14.5 million in FIPSE grants to build alternative accreditors or support institutions seeking to switch, a lifted moratorium on new-agency reviews, and the rollback of 2022 guidance that made switching harder.
- Federal oversight has already pressured elite institutions as officials flagged Columbia and Harvard to their accreditors, with Columbia later agreeing to a $221 million settlement and policy changes, and the department proposing faster accreditor action on civil rights violations.