Trump Order Upends College Accreditation, Puts DEI Mandates on Notice
WASHINGTON, DC., April 23, 2025 — Declaring that America's "gatekeepers of $100 billion in federal student aid" have drifted from their mission, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to overhaul the college-accreditation system. The order authorizes denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditors that certify low-quality programs or impose "unlawful" DEI mandates; it also enlists the Attorney General to investigate law- and medical-school accreditors whose race-based standards the White House says violate civil-rights law. Citing a 64 percent six-year graduation rate and data showing that nearly a quarter of bachelor's and more than 40 percent of master's degrees carry negative returns on investment, the administration frames reform as a student-protection measure: new accreditors will be recognized to spur competition; institutions must track program-level outcomes "without reference to race, ethnicity, or sex"; accreditors must prioritize intellectual diversity to safeguard academic freedom; an experimental quality-assurance "site" will test innovative pathways; and the Education Department will streamline rules so colleges can switch accreditors and avoid standards "antithetical" to their missions.
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