But there’s a reason Republicans are so obsessed with it in their war on American universities, which Vice President JD Vance has characterized as “the enemy.” While campaigning for president, Trump said the accreditation system would be the GOP’s “secret weapon” to “reclaim our once great educational institutions from the radical Left.” And in the lead-up to last year’s presidential election, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., was recorded discussing how a Trump administration — which is now targeting college campuses in a noncredible and authoritarian crackdown — could withhold such accreditation. Basically, it claims Trump’s administration has the power to punish accreditation organizations — “including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition” — if they require colleges to participate in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which the administration falsely categorizes as “unlawful discrimination.” The order specifically instructs the attorney general and the education secretary to similarly investigate whether to pull recognition from accreditors such as the American Bar Association — which accredits law schools — or top accreditors for medical schools over “unlawful” DEI requirements. Notably, the order says one of the new guiding principles for accreditation is that colleges must promote “intellectual diversity amongst faculty in order to advance academic freedom, intellectual inquiry, and student learning.” As MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell highlighted well in a recent episode of “The Last Word,” the ostensibly anti-diversity Trump administration sure loves diversity when it means imposing ideological requirements that could force universities to hire more conservatives.
Author: Ja'han Jones
Published at: 2025-04-28 22:41:27
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