Posted on 12/01/2024 8:01:21 AM PST by george76
Transition team says Trump ‘will deliver’ on promise to fire accreditors ‘that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist maniacs’
Higher education accreditation groups are emphasizing their nonpartisanship and willingness to work with Donald Trump’s in-coming administration after the president-elect promised to fire “radical Left accreditors.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s transition team told The College Fix the Republican leader “will deliver” on his plan for higher education.
“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a recent email.
Responding, university accreditors told The Fix they are committed to nonpartisanship and ready to work with the new administration.
Lawrence Schall, president of the New England Commission on Higher Education, one of the largest accreditation agencies in the U.S., sent The Fix an op-ed he wrote when asked about Trump’s remarks.
“While political shifts undoubtedly impact the sector, institutional accreditors like the New England Commission of Higher Education … have consistently carried out our work across administrations, regardless of political climate, to ensure academic quality and institutional improvement,” Schall wrote in the piece.
“NECHE’s commitment to non-partisanship is central to our mission,” he wrote.
Schall wrote that the commission focuses on “quality assurance,” not “ideology,” and works to ensure students “have access to programs that meet rigorous standards and deliver real value.”
“Our role is not to dictate policy but to ensure that institutions, whether they are responding to workforce demands or advancing academic research, are equipped to fulfill their missions with integrity and excellence,” he wrote.
Nicole Biever, chief of staff for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, provided a statement about Trump’s plan over email.
“The Commission is an independent institutional accreditor that has always worked within the regulatory triad, which includes the United States Department of Education as well as state authorities,” Biever said.
“We will continue to work with these partners during the presidential transition, and we look forward to continuing to share the nuances and complexities of accreditation as we consider changes in federal policy that may be advanced under the Trump administration,” Biever said.
...
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges told The Fix via email that “until we see concrete plans for carrying out his desires, we have nothing on which to comment.”
The Higher Learning Commission also told The Fix it did not “want to speculate about proposals,” but would “continue to work with state and federal agencies” as it always has.
A 2023 video from Trump’s campaign recently resurfaced on social media, drawing attention to his plan for higher education institutions. Since Election Day, the video has been mentioned in a number of news articles, and billionaire Elon Musk shared it on X.
The time has come to reclaim our once great educational institutions from the radical Left, and we will do that,” Trump says in the video.
“The accreditors are supposed to ensure that schools are not ripping off students and taxpayers, but they have failed totally…” he says. “I will fire the radical left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics.”
“We will then accept applications for new accreditors who will impose real standards on colleges once again and once and for all,” Trump says.
Trump’s plan has seen support from some students.
One, Shabbos Kestenbaum, is a plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging Harvard failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. He wrote recently on X that colleges that discriminate against Jewish students should lose their accreditation.
“The DOJ has been MIA when it comes to both pursuing investigations and prosecuting antisemitic crimes on college campuses,” he told The Fix over X.
“It is both feasible and imperative that the DOJ finally be forced, under a Trump administration, to aggressively protect the American People, especially Jewish college students who have routinely faced discrimination and harassment,” Kestenbaum said.
“Furthermore, President Trump recognizes that the American taxpayer should not be subsidizing anti American, antisemitic, and anti western curriculum and classes,” he told The Fix.
Meanwhile, federal Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation that they say will help root out the leftist agenda in higher education institutions.
AnnMarie Graham-Barnes, a spokesperson for the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, pointed The Fix to the “End Woke Higher Education Act” when asked for a comment on Trump’s plan.
The bill, H.R. 3724, ensures that “colleges are not forced to commit to the principles of DEI to receive accreditation,” and “[s]afeguards the freedoms of association and religion on campus,” Graham-Barnes stated via email. It passed the House in September.
Don’t believe these assurances. Reform is needed, undergirded by a statutory ban on DEI.
This reveals that they have a much more comprehensive plan than they have published.
That revelation makes me smile.
“While political shifts undoubtedly impact the sector, institutional accreditors like the New England Commission of Higher Education … have consistently carried out our work across administrations, regardless of political climate, to ensure academic quality and institutional improvement,” Schall wrote in the piece.”
Go ahead pull the other one.
However, I believe what is more urgently needed is a reform of the professional licensing boards such as ABA and AMA. They have become firmly entrenched with radical Leftist members.
Those people lie like breathing, it’s a reflex action.
“The accreditors are supposed to ensure that schools are not ripping off students and taxpayers, but they have failed totally…” he says. “I will fire the radical left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics.”
“We will then accept applications for new accreditors who will impose real standards on colleges once again and once and for all,” Trump says.
But they can commit to DEI voluntarily?
However they can do stupid stuff without my tax dollars.
None of “these assurances” can possibly be true.
People doing stupid stuff voluntarily is always an option.
However they can do stupid stuff without my tax dollars.
******
DEI in college is not just “stupid stuff.” It’s racial discrimination, and it’s just as harmful in a private college as it is a private store or a private place of employment.
Yes it is racial discrimination. But I support the right of people to be idiots. And if a private collage wants to teach that or a private business wants to only hire left handed red heads with blue eyes it is none of my never mind.
Just not with my money. Of course I do not believe any tax money should be going to the colleges in the first place except for military research projects that have a firm end date.
Trump is not always correct.
As a trained WASC accreditation team member I call them liars. They’re no more nonpartisan than Chairman Mao
DEI in college is not just “stupid stuff.” It’s racial discrimination, and it’s just as harmful in a private college as it is a private store or a private place of employment.
..........
Yes it is racial discrimination. But I support the right of people to be idiots. And if a private collage wants to teach that or a private business wants to only hire left handed red heads with blue eyes it is none of my never mind.
***********(
What if your bank wants to close your account because you are a white male or posted a comment opposing DEI, supporting gun ownership, etc.? Are there any limits to libertarianism?
DEI is just affirmative action on steroid with a different name, and haven’t the Supremes already come down against affirmative action?
That DEI hasn’t already been killed based on that alone is beyond me. The Rats are so much better at lawfare.
Hopefully the new AG will finally sue the crap out of the colleges, corporations and agencies that employ DEI.
Not a libertarian. Just someone who believes that people should be left alone.
And if they want to close my account, if they are a private bank, fine. If they are a federal bank, there is a problem.
Are there any limits to the statist desire to control people?
Going to tell them who they must marry and how many kids they can have next?
Where is your line?
Folks,
Generally, when you are on a board you are usually just a figure head. It is not your main employment, and you can’t devote much time, so you generally approve what the underlings tell you and what the rules tell you.
but on occasions there is leadership and new rules. What is guiding this new leadership?
Like your computer, it needs to be rebooted and started over with new leadership.
We are going to have to be part of this new leadership, not sit on the sidelines.
Conservativism is more about a philosophy than a prescription.
https://static.heritage.org/CPP/FP_PS38w.pdf
The federal government needs to stopping issuing new money student loans.
The federal government needs to mind its own Article I, Section 8 business, mainly border security, national defense, invader removal and post roads.
Universities with huge endowments and private companies, guided by the expertise of accrediting organizations, can loan for higher education.
Subject to limits to percentage of incomes above 1800 times the federal minimum wage adjusted by the CPI, a maximum repayment period of 20 years, and degree/credit gained, the IRS can collect repayments for colleges and loan companies for a 3% fee.
I believe most universities and colleges are overpriced purple dinosaurs.
I’m hoping for an educational meteor, a private sector one.
Where Amendment XIV might come to play is state law accreditation requirements - teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers.
In existing educational pathways to such career employment, all forms of discrimination banned by state law should be respected by participating preparatory institutions, to the letter.
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