Executive Order on Accreditation

Executive Order REFORMING ACCREDITATION TO STRENGTHEN HIGHER EDUCATION

The Executive Order directs the Secretary of Education, “through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition,” those agencies that violate Federal Law.  Much like the Dear Colleague letter from 2/14/25, which was all but rescinded in its Clarification on 2/28/25, this Order uses inflammatory language and mis-characterizations as tactic to have accreditors and higher education institutions change their mission, values, and strategies.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Clause

There is no reason to believe  that institutions have engaged in “including unlawful “diversity, equity, and inclusion” requirements "under the guise of accreditation standards.”   

Disaggregated Data Clause

The Order mandates “that accreditors require member institutions to use data on program-level student outcomes to improve such outcomes, without reference to race, ethnicity, or sex.”  This clause does not prohibit such data being used at the institutional level.

Intellectual Diversity Clause

However, the directive that “requires that institutions support and appropriately prioritize intellectual diversity amongst faculty in order to advance academic freedom, intellectual inquiry, and student learning” rests on false assumptions that higher education faculty bring political beliefs in the classroom, which manifold research studies have shown to be false; AAUP has made statements against; and our own Academic Freedom tenants prohibit.  Moreover, accreditation standards requiring faculty evaluation (or some sort of quality assurance) ensure that should faculty members.

Accountability Clauses

Section 3 includes a number of directives that most institutions already embrace, to include “provid[ing] high quality programs” and removing barriers in order to “advance credential and degree completion.”