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.
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Other accreditors declined to comment.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 11, 2024
“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.
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