Hello and welcome back to Inside Higher Ed’s revamped weekly roundup of all things higher ed policy. I’m your host, Katherine Knott, the news editor at IHE, and this is The Markup (formerly known as After the First 100 Days, which was formerly known as The First 100 Days).
Yes, y’all, we changed the name of our weekly policy update again. Truth be told, the name changes reveal how we conceived of this newsletter. We launched it in week five of President Trump’s first year back in office as a way to help readers keep track of the firehose of changes on the Hill and in the White House. We weren’t sure if it would last. But the news didn’t slow down and you all kept reading, so it was time we gave it a permanent title.
And while we have a new name and logo, the rest of the newsletter will stay the same as we mark up and break down the policy news you need to know. (Get it? OK, I’ll stop with the quips.)
Enough with the housekeeping. Let’s get to the news.
This Week’s Big Story
Accreditation loomed large over D.C. this week as accreditors, college presidents and other stakeholderss gathered for the Council for Higher Education Accreditation’s annual conference. Under Secretary Nicholas Kent had sharp words for those gathered as he pledged to make significant changes to the system that governs which colleges and universities get access to federal student aid.
“I want to start by saying a bold and uncomfortable truth: Accreditation today is no longer a reliable indicator of the gold standard of education,” Kent said, adding that he hopes to work with accreditors on the changes. “As someone once told me, it’s better to be at the table than on the menu—and trust me, we’d much rather have you grabbing a seat than getting served.”
And the Education Department kicked off its effort this week to rewrite the rules for accreditors, announcing another round of negotiated rule making for this spring. The agenda will include making it easier for new accreditors to get federal recognition and requiring the agencies to set data-driven benchmarks for student outcomes. The department also wants to discuss how to use accreditation to boost intellectual diversity and conservative representation among faculty, which raised some concern for advocates and lobbyists.
