Trump signs executive order to influence college accreditation process
CBS2 days
Trump Orders Major Overhaul of College Accreditation System
Above: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 23, 2025. Image copyright: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Spin
Right narrative
The current accreditation system has failed to ensure quality education while pushing universities toward ideological conformity through discriminatory DEI requirements, resulting in poor student outcomes and wasted taxpayer money. These reforms will restore merit-based standards and create a more competitive marketplace focused on actual results rather than woke ideology.
Left narrative
The executive orders represent an unprecedented federal intrusion into academic independence that undermines a system that has made American universities the best in the world. The administration is using accreditation as a political weapon to impose its own ideology on higher education and strip institutions of their autonomy, reflecting authoritarian overreach.