Trump signs order setting new rules for college accreditation process

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday aimed at overhauling the college accreditation process.

Under the order, the Secretary of Education will hold accreditors "accountable," including by suspending or terminating their credentials in cases of "poor performance or violations of federal civil rights law."

The order alleges that accreditors have approved schools that result in low graduation rates and cases of negative return on investment for college degrees.

The order also says accreditors have "remained improperly focused on compelling adoption of discriminatory ideology, rather than on student outcomes. Some accreditors make the adoption of unlawfully discriminatory practices a formal standard of accreditation, and therefore a condition of accessing Federal aid, through “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “DEI”-based standards.

The Department of Education will bring more competition to accreditation and make it easier for schools to switch to new accreditors "to ensure institutions are not forced to comply with standards that are antithetical to institutional values and mission."

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The order is the latest move by the Trump administration to exert more influence on higher education.

The administration earlier this month froze more than $2 billion in grants to Harvard University, alleging violations of civil rights laws.

Harvard has sued the administration on First Amendment grounds.

Other education-related orders signed Wednesday include measures to hold universities to stricter standards of disclosing foreign funding and a revision of certain equity-based school discipline practices, which the White House alleges are "discriminatory and unlawful."