6 Southern public university systems form new accreditation body
The formation of the new Commission for Public Higher Education (CPHE) follows Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's battle with SACS over its standards as he pushed his state's colleges to adopt more conservative approaches to education.
'[The new body] will upend the monopoly of the woke accreditation cartels, and it will provide institutions with an alternative that focuses on student achievement, rather than the ideological fads that have so permeated those accrediting bodies over the years,' DeSantis said at an event at Florida Atlantic University on Thursday. 'We care about student achievement; we care about measurable outcomes; we care about efficiency; we care about pursuing truth; we care about preparing our students to be citizens of our republic.'
'All those things have played second fiddle if they were even given any credence at all under these more prevailing accreditation models,' he added.
DeSantis said leaders of the new body have been working with the Department of Education under the Trump administration to receive expedited federal approval for the new accreditation model to undergo a 'trial run' that will entice more states to join.
'We need these things approved and implemented during President Trump's term of office, because the reality is, if it doesn't get if it doesn't get approved and stick during that time, you can have a president come in next and potentially revoke it, and they could probably do that very quickly,' he said.
'Obviously, we didn't really have the prospects of launching anything like this successfully during the Biden years, but it's a new day and I think this is going to make a big, big difference,' DeSantis continued.
The Education Department didn't respond to The Hill's request for comment on the new body.
Colleges that have already signed on to CPHE accreditation include ones in the Texas A&M University System, State University System of Florida, University System of Georgia, University of North Carolina System, University of South Carolina and University of Tennessee System.
Florida system chancellor Ray Rodrigues, a former Florida state lawmaker who was hired for the higher education role in 2023 by a DeSantis-appointed board, said that the aim is to lift education outcomes.
'The Commission for Public Higher Education will offer an accreditation model that prioritizes academic excellence and student success while removing ideological bias and unnecessary financial burdens,' he said. 'With our current accreditor, SACS, there are nearly 50 four-year, nonprofit colleges and universities that have a four-year graduation rate of 20 percent or less and yet they're still accredited.'
SACS President Belle Wheelan's office didn't immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.
DeSantis predicted other states, particularly conservative states in the South, will also sign on to gain accreditation from the new body.
'SACS has been such a problem and people want to get away from it,' he said. 'They'll see this accreditation consortium is really offering the type of vision that the leadership in those states believe in.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Thai-Cambodia Clashes Enter Second Day as US Calls for Ceasefire
(Bloomberg) -- The armed military conflict between Thailand and Cambodia entered a second day, with troops using rockets and artillery to shell targets along their contested border as the US joined other nations in calling for an immediate ceasefire. Trump Awards $1.26 Billion Contract to Build Biggest Immigrant Detention Center in US The High Costs of Trump's 'Big Beautiful' New Car Loan Deduction Can This Bridge Ease the Troubled US-Canadian Relationship? Salt Lake City Turns Winter Olympic Bid Into Statewide Bond Boom Thailand's government put the death toll from the deadliest clashes in more than a decade at 14, including a soldier. Thai authorities have also said more than two dozen people were injured, some seriously, while Cambodia is yet to report on casualties. The Thai army said Cambodian 'forces conducted sustained bombardment' using heavy weapons, field artillery and rockets through Friday morning, and that it responded appropriately and advised civilians to avoid the conflict zones. Cambodia's defense ministry confirmed shelling overnight and claimed to control the site of three disputed temples, the Khmer Times reported. Read: What's Behind Deadly Thailand-Cambodia Border Clash?: QuickTake The flareup in clashes on Thursday, which included Thai airstrikes on Cambodian military bases using F-16 fighter jets and Phnom Penh's attack on civilian areas in Thailand, followed a months-long border standoff that also pushed Thailand's ruling coalition to the brink of collapse. Thai stocks and baht declined a second day. The baht fell 0.2% to 32.33 per dollar, in line with regional peers, while the benchmark stock index fell as much as 0.6%. The fighting has drawn condemnation from world leaders, with the US saying it was gravely concerned. Read: Cambodia Clash Heaps Pressure on Embattled Thai PM, Boosts Army 'The United States urges an immediate cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians, and a peaceful resolution of the conflict,' State Department deputy spokesman Tommy Pigott told reporters in Washington on Thursday. Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Confessions of a Laptop Farmer: How an American Helped North Korea's Wild Remote Worker Scheme A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Post
29 minutes ago
- New York Post
Trump admin appeals to Supreme Court to allow $783M research-funding cuts over DEI
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to cut hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of research funding in its push to roll back federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The Justice Department argued a federal judge in Massachusetts was wrong to block the National Institutes of Health from making $783 million worth of cuts to align with President Donald Trump's priorities. US District Judge William Young found that the abrupt cancellations ignored long-held government rules and standards. Advertisement The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to cut $783 million of research funding in an effort to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion policies. AP Young, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, also said the cuts amounted to 'racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community.' 'I've never seen government racial discrimination like this,' Young said at a hearing last month. Advertisement An appeals court left the ruling in place. The ruling came in lawsuits filed by 16 attorneys general, public-health advocacy groups and some affected scientists. US District Judge William Young argued against the Trump administration that the proposed cuts amounted to 'racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community.' AP His decision addressed only a fraction of the hundreds of NIH research projects that have been cut. Advertisement The Trump administration's appeal also takes aim at nearly two dozen cases over funding. Solicitor General D. John Sauer pointed to a 5-4 decision on the Supreme Court's emergency docket from April that allowed cuts to teacher training programs to go forward, one of multiple recent victories for the president at the nation's highest court. The order shows that district judges shouldn't be hearing those cases at all, but rather sending them to federal claims court, he argued. 'Those decisions reflect quintessential policy judgments on hotly contested issues that should not be subject to judicial second-guessing. It is hardly irrational for agencies to recognize—as members of this Court have done—that paeans to 'diversity' often conceal invidious racial discrimination,' he wrote.
UPI
30 minutes ago
- UPI
FCC approves Skydance-Paramount $8B merger
1 of 3 | The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday announced it had approved Skydance's acquisition of Paramount Global. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo July 24 (UPI) -- The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday announced its approval of Skydance's $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global, ending months of uncertainty surrounding the deal but inflaming allegations of corruption directed at the Trump administration. The FCC voted 2-1 in favor of Skydance's acquisition of Paramount and all of its subsidiaries, including Paramount Pictures, CBS television, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. Among the commitments Skydance made to the Trump administration was ensuring it will include news and entertainment programming that "will embody a diversity of viewpoints across the political and ideological spectrum" and that CBS News' reporting "will be fair, unbiased and fact-based," according to the FCC. Skydance has also pledged that it will not establish any diversity, equity and inclusion policies -- ideology that seeks to create inclusive environments that the Trump administration has been seeking to remove from both public and private sectors on allegations of discrimination. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr described the merger as a change that will instill public trust in media. "It is time for a change," he said in a statement. "That is why I welcome Skydance's commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network." Though the FCC said Skydance does not have any DEI programs, Carr said the agreement "marks another step forward in the FCC's efforts to eliminate invidious forms of DEI discrimination." Skydance announced the deal in July of last year, but the merger has stalled amid frictions with the Trump administration, as President Donald Trump has sparred with CBS News. Trump sued CBS News while campaigning for re-election in October for $10 billion in a lawsuit many saw as one he wouldn't win over editing of a 60 Minutes interview with his political opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris. He then upped the amount in damages to $20 billion after winning re-election. Earlier this month, Paramount Global reached a $16 million settlement with Trump that Democrats and critics of the Trump administration are calling a bribe and an affront to free speech -- accusations that only intensified after Trump earlier this week said Skydance has pledged $20 million more in advertising, PSAs and "other Similar Programming, for a total $36 MillIon Dollars." Paramount Global told UPI that the $16 million, minus fees and costs, will be allocated to Trump's future presidential library. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the only Democrat of the three commissioners and the only one not appointed by Trump, dissented to the merger, and described Paramount's settlement as "cowardly capitulation" and accused the FCC of losing its independence. In her strongly worded dissent, Gomez warned that this merger will not be the last time the Trump administration threatens the First Amendment. "The Paramount payout and this reckless approval have emboldened those who believe the government can -- and should -- abuse its power to extract financial and ideological concessions, demand favored treatment and secure positive media coverage," she said. "It is a dark chapter in a long and growing record of abuse that threatens press freedom in this country." Democrats were quick to lament their concerns online. "Trump filed a sham lawsuit against CBS, but instead of fighting it CBS' parent company, Paramount, paid Trump $16 million to his future library. So, you got to ask, why did Paramount do that if the suit was quote 'meritless'?" Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a video statement published online. "Well, maybe because they needed Trump to approve their multibillion-dollar merger, which Trump just did. The appearance of this wink-wink deal basically let's every other company and every other billionaire know that Trump is open for business, apparently happy to accept offers in exchange for favors." Warren has called for a full investigation into the deal. Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass, and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., described Thursday as "a dark day for independent journalism" and called the approval of the merger "a stain on the storied history of the Federal Communications Commission. "The FCC's approval of the Paramount-Skydance merger reeks of the worst form of corruption. The timing speaks for itself: Paramount settled with Trump for $36 million on Tuesday and the FCC approved the merger on Wednesday," they said in a joint statement. "The stench of this transaction will linger over the commission for years."
