How Accreditation Became a Shield for Campus Ideology

For years, universities have embraced accreditation standards that echo their own ideological commitments, especially around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). These standards haven’t felt like external requirements so much as mutual reinforcement—accreditors writing expectations that colleges already agree with and colleges pointing back to those expectations whenever they want to justify a decision. Because of this, it is no surprise that universities are now pushing back against the Trump administration’s effort to end illegal university-accreditation demands for DEI. Last month, Department of Education undersecretary Nicholas Kent sent letters to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and the Commission on...