‘Fire the Accreditors’ Is a Bad—and Illegal—Idea
Terry W. Hartle
June 28, 2023
Federal law is clear—the government cannot dictate accreditation standards, Terry W. Hartle writes.
Accreditation is at the heart of American higher education, but it’s rarely in the headlines, and it almost certainly has never been an issue in a presidential campaign. But we live in unpredictable times, when former president (and current presidential candidate) Donald Trump has already trained his fire on accreditation agencies, as has Trump’s most prominent challenger for the GOP nomination, Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Trump recently vowed that he will “fire the radical left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxists, maniacs and lunatics.”
It’s not known what Trump would replace accreditors with. But it is clear that this attack on accreditors is part of a broader assault on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in an effort to appeal to the Republican Party’s populist base. It is just one more way that colleges and universities find themselves uncomfortably on the front lines of the culture wars. Still, Trump is the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and it’s worth taking a closer look at what it would mean to “fire” accreditors.
