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.'
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The executive order reinforces that provision in the House settlement. How does Trump plan to enforce these parameters? Well, that remains a bit murky, but he suggests in the order that members of his cabinet, as well as the Federal Trade Commission, have 30 days to create a plan on the enforcement of such, including potentially withholding federal funding for violators, opening up Title IX investigations, etc. Athlete employment: Trump directs the Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board to 'clarify the status of college athletes' — an obvious gesture toward the ongoing debate over courts potentially deeming college athletes as employees. As stated in the order preamble, Trump is against college athletes becoming employees and is clearly, with this directive, ordering cabinet members and the NLRB — he appoints the board — to rule that college athletes are students. Ironically enough, while many college leaders fight against employment, some of them believe collective bargaining is the only solution for the industry. Limited liability protection: This is another issue the NCAA and conferences have spent millions of dollars and six years lobbying for. They want to be protected from legal challenges so they can enforce their rules over things such as transfers, roster limits, booster pay — many of which have been deemed illegal by courts. Trump clearly disagrees with these court rulings, as he notes in the preamble. The order directs the attorney general and the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission to create policies to protect the 'long-term availability of college athletic scholarship and opportunities' when such is 'unreasonably challenged under antitrust' law. The attorney general and the FTC have 60 days to create such a plan, the order says. What are the immediate impacts of the executive order? The answer here is potentially … nothing. Trump's cabinet members — many of whom are quite busy with other more pressing matters — will need to make policy around these subjects. The specifics of that policy will dictate exactly how pivotal, if at all, this order is. What is a certainty is that whatever policies are created are not law and will likely be subject to legal scrutiny. Congressional action and court rulings are law in this country — not executive orders, legal experts tell Yahoo Sports. Baker even suggested this during his talk Thursday morning. 'You can't fix this stuff from executive order,' he said. 'Our focus for now really needs to be trying to get stuff dealt with through the legislative process.' As it turns out, Wednesday was a historic day for college sports with regard to congressional legislation. An all-encompassing federal college sports bill made its way out of committee for the first time since the NCAA's lobbying efforts began nearly six years ago. The SCORE Act, bipartisan but pro-Republican and NCAA-friendly legislation that many Democrats are against, received the necessary votes to advance out of committees and is eligible for debate on the House floor when members return in September from their traditional summer break. In many ways, the Score Act grants the NCAA and conferences similar protections as Trump's order. Above anything, Trump's executive order may get Congress to more urgently and swiftly push the bill across the goal line. However, if it does advance out of the House, the SCORE Act faces stiff pushback in a divided U.S. Senate, where at least seven Democrats are needed to overcome the filibuster and reach the 60-vote margin for any bill passage. The Senate, though, has been working toward the introduction of its own legislation, led by Sen. Ted Cruz, who, much like Trump, has made college sports regulation a priority. He's been in negotiations now for months with several Democrats, most notably Chris Coons, Richard Blumenthal and Cory Booker. No agreement has been reached despite more than a year of intense talks. Will Trump's executive order change that? It's one of many questions on the topic that remains a mystery.
