Latest news with #MSCHE
Mint
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Columbia Receives Warning That Its Accreditation Is at Risk
(Bloomberg) -- Columbia University received a warning that its accreditation may be 'in jeopardy' from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which cited 'insufficient evidence' that the school is in compliance with certain standards like fostering a respectful campus climate. The commission, which evaluates higher education institutions across the US, said Columbia remains accredited while on warning. The organization also cited concerns over Columbia maintaining a safety plan and following government laws and regulations, according to the commission's website. Columbia is confident in its ability to work with MSCHE to address the commission's concerns, according to university spokesperson Virginia Lam Abrams. 'Columbia is deeply committed to combating antisemitism on our campus and we will continue the important work of ensuring that Columbia is an open and inclusive place where students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds feel safe, supported and welcome,' she said in an emailed statement. Schools need accreditation to access crucial federal loans for their students. Accreditation is also important in assuring students, faculty and potential employers that the institution can provide a quality education. Last month, the US Education Department said Columbia no longer met standards for accreditation, citing its leadership's 'deliberate indifference' to the harassment of Jewish students. It asked for MSCHE to ensure the university's compliance with anti-discrimination laws. President Donald Trump has called accreditation his 'secret weapon,' and pledged on the campaign trail to overhaul the system. He said that he would allow for the creation of new accreditors that will impose 'real' standards on colleges, such as eliminating wasteful administrative roles and protecting free speech. The president in April signed an order to reform the agencies, saying they routinely approve universities that are low quality. 'Accreditors have not only failed in this responsibility to students, families, and American taxpayers, but they have also abused their enormous authority,' the order said. He said they 'make the adoption of unlawfully discriminatory practices a formal standard of accreditation.' Six days after the Trump administration called Columbia's accreditation into question, the commission requested additional information from the school regarding its ethics and integrity standards, according to the MSCHE website. There are several steps before any accredited school would lose its designation and an institution has time to rectify concerns before a decision is made. Representatives from MSCHE visited the school's main campus on Manhattan's Upper West Side and its Paris location for on-site evaluations. The commission has requested a monitoring report, due Nov. 3, showing evidence that Columbia has achieved and can keep up compliance with its standards. (Updates story with prior comments President Trump has made on accreditors) More stories like this are available on
CBS News
01-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Columbia University formally notified it's accreditation "may be in jeopardy." Read the letter.
Columbia University was formally notified Monday that its accreditation is at risk. A letter from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education to Columbia's acting president Claire Shipman serves to "warn the institution that its accreditation may be in jeopardy" because of "insufficient evidence that the institution is currently in compliance" with MSCHE's standards on ethics and integrity. This comes on the heels of the Education Department claiming the university had violated antidiscrimination laws, citing antisemitism on campus after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The school remains accredited while it is "on warning." Next steps in the process Columbia has until Nov. 3 to submit a "monitoring report ... demonstrating evidence that the institution has achieved and can sustain ongoing compliance." The MSCHE letter says that report should include specifics on: How the school is creating a climate of respect among students, faculty, staff and administrators across a range of backgrounds and ideas A campus safety plan and how it has been implemented Progress regarding addressing the Department of Education's claim of violating antidiscrimination laws Columbia has an opportunity to challenge MSCHE's claims, and the university can also issue a statement in response. Columbia responds to warning "We are confident in our ability to work with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education to substantively and thoughtfully address the issues cited in the MSCHE notice posted today, including the concerns on campus climate, our campus safety policies and procedures, and our compliance with all applicable laws and regulations," a Columbia University spokesperson said. "Columbia is deeply committed to combating antisemitism on our campus and we will continue the important work of ensuring that Columbia is an open and inclusive place where students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds feel safe, supported and welcome. This is a priority for the University." A college or university's accreditation is important not only for assuring students, staff and employers that the institution can provide a quality education, but also so that the school can access federal loans for students. Read the notice from MSCHE
Al Jazeera
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Columbia University deserves to lose its accreditation
On June 4, the United States Department of Education notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) accrediting agency that its member institution Columbia University deserves to have its accreditation pulled. It accused the university of ostensibly being 'in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws' for supposedly failing 'to meaningfully protect Jewish students against severe and pervasive harassment'. This claim is, of course, wrong. It is a blatant mischaracterisation of the events that have taken place on campus over the last 19 months. Yet, it is also true that during that time Columbia violated the terms of its accreditation: by violently abrogating the academic freedom and viewpoint diversity of antigenocide protesters via institutional sanction and the deployment of police on campus. In this sense, Columbia does deserve to lose its accreditation. MSCHE's accreditation policy, which is standard across the industry, states that an 'accredited institution' must possess and demonstrate both 'a commitment to academic freedom, intellectual freedom, freedom of expression' and 'a climate that fosters respect among students, faculty, staff, and administration from a range of diverse backgrounds, ideas, and perspectives'. It is stunningly evident that since October 7, 2023, Columbia University has egregiously and repeatedly failed to satisfy the MSCHE's fundamental requirements due to its response to antigenocide protests on campus concerning Gaza and Palestine. The violent removal, suspension, and arrest of peaceful student protesters and faculty critics should be understood to constitute a violation of the institution's obligation to protect freedom of expression and academic freedom. On November 10, 2023, Columbia suspended Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) after they organised a peaceful protest for Palestinian rights. The administration justified the suspension by claiming the groups used 'threatening rhetoric and intimidation'. However, media reports, witnesses and university insiders revealed that the suspension was based on an incident involving an unaffiliated individual whose actions were condemned by the organisers and that no formal disciplinary process or appeals process was allowed by the university. It was later uncovered that Columbia administrators had unilaterally altered language in its official policies on student groups just before suspending the SJP and JVP. In January, Katherine Franke, a tenured law professor, retired and said she was 'effectively terminated' by Columbia after facing public and congressional criticism for a media interview criticising students who formerly served in the Israeli army. Similarly, the university has recently acknowledged doling out 'multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocation and expulsions' to dozens of students who participated in 2024 antigenocide protests. One of those expelled, Jewish PhD student Grant Miner, president of the Student Workers of Columbia, noted that all of the students censured by the university 'had been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing'. Perhaps worst of all, Columbia has, on repeated occasions, invited the New York Police Department (NYPD) onto campus to intervene against student expression. On April 30, 2024, according to the university's own report, the NYPD arrested 44 students and individuals with apparent associations with the university. Likewise, in early May this year, about 70 students were arrested after participating in an 'occupation' of the university's library. The NYPD explicitly acknowledged that the presence of its officers on campus was 'at the direct request of Columbia University'. There is little question each of these incidents constitutes blatant stifling of academic freedom and viewpoint diversity. The disproportionate targeting of Arab, Muslim, Palestinian and Jewish students and allies can be viewed as discriminatory, undermining the institution's commitment to equitable treatment and inclusive learning environments, in clear violation of MSCHE's guiding principles on equity, diversity and inclusion. These decisions to suppress protests were made unilaterally by senior administration at Columbia – without input from faculty, students or shared governance bodies – clearly signalling a lack of adherence to MSCHE's accreditation policy standard on governance, leadership and administration. By failing to show 'a commitment to shared governance' with 'administrative decision-making that reflects fairness and transparency', Columbia has failed to meet the standards of accreditation outlined by the MSCHE. But Columbia University is not alone in failing to abide by guiding principles of its accreditation. At Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, Jewish Associate Professor Maura Finkelstein was summarily fired for engaging in social media critiques of Israel's genocide in Gaza. Similarly, at Northwestern University, Assistant Professor Steven Thrasher was subjected to multiple investigations in relation to his support of the student antigenocide encampment on campus and was ultimately denied tenure in a decision he characterised as an effort designed to not just silence him but also to bully him so that 'students, journalists, faculty, staff and activists across campus and throughout the country [may be intimidated] into silencing themselves'. Students too have faced repression across the United States. Indeed, it has been estimated that by July 2024, at least 3,100 students had been arrested for participation in campus antigenocide protests. On November 6, 2023, Brandeis University became the first private university in the US to ban its student chapter of the SJP, for 'conduct that supports Hamas'. In April 2024, Cornell University suspended several students involved in pro-Palestinian encampment protests, citing violations of campus policies. Then in May, police brutalised students with pepper spray at George Washington University while arresting 33 people in the violent clearing-out of its student encampment. At Vanderbilt University, students were arrested and expelled for occupying an administration building. In the most recent news, it has become clear that the University of Michigan has spent at least $800,000 hiring dozens of private investigators to surveil antigenocide student protesters on and off campus in Ann Arbor. These examples are merely a small sample of what has occurred across the US, Canada and Europe since long before October 7, 2023. This is a broader existential crisis in higher education in which the free expression of students is being suppressed at the cost of the values these universities purport to espouse. Despite appearances, this crisis has very little to do with the heavy-handed Trump administration. It is, rather, the self-inflicted consequence of the decisions of university administrators whose allegiances are now first and foremost to donors and corporate stakeholders rather than to their educational missions. If universities are to exist in any plausible and practical sense as institutions devoted to genuine knowledge production and pedagogical development, it is essential that they robustly fulfil accreditation requirements for academic and intellectual freedom, diversity, and fair and transparent administration and governance. There can be no Palestine exception to that. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Hits Columbia With Big New Threat Even After It Caved
Surrender wasn't enough to spare Columbia University from Donald Trump's wrath. The Department of Education issued a new threat against Columbia Wednesday, this time targeting its accreditation. The department alleged that the elite New York City school was 'in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws' for failing to stamp out antisemitism on campus. The DOE's press release revealed that it had notified the organization responsible for ensuring that Columbia is in compliance with accreditation standards of the alleged violation. 'After Hamas' October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University's leadership acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus,' said Linda McMahon, Trump's education secretary. 'This is not only immoral, but also unlawful. Accreditors have an enormous public responsibility as gatekeepers of federal student aid.' The move is an escalation in Trump's war on top universities. Since March, the president's administration has frozen $400 million in federal funding to Columbia. The university acquiesced to Trump's list of demands that month—including a ban on face masks and a vow to harshly protest pro-Palestinian student protesters. Losing accreditation would strip the university of state and federal financial funding, such as Pell Grants for low-income students. It could also inflict damage to Columbia's reputation and make its undergraduates ineligible for many graduate programs. Columbia's accreditor, Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), requires that it follow relevant laws. The Education Department is alleging that the university has violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to 'meaningfully protect Jewish students against severe and pervasive harassment on Columbia's campus.' While the Department of Education plays a role in setting accreditation standards, the organizations that determine whether a university is following them, like the MSCHE, operate independently. The MSCHE told the Daily Beast in a statement that it had received the letter from the Education Department but declined to comment further. Columbia did not immediately return a request for comment. Last week, Trump praised Columbia's deference and said that the school had earned a reprieve from his attacks. 'You know, Columbia has been really—they were very, very bad, what they've done. They're very antisemitic and lots of other things,' he said. 'But they're working with us on finding a solution, and, you know, they're taken off that hot seat.' In the months since Columbia gave into Trump's demands, one of its peers, Harvard University, has fought a fierce legal battle to avoid following suit. Harvard's defiance has earned it an escalating series of punishments—$2.5 billion in frozen funds, a threat against its tax-exempt status, and a push to strip its ability enroll international students. Despite suffering losses in court, Trump has declared that he is winning the war. 'But Harvard wants to fight. They want to show how smart they are, and they're getting their a-- kicked,' the president said. Harvard's president, Alan Garber, has urged other colleges and universities to fight back against Trump. 'I would say that we need to be firm in our commitments to what we stand for,' he told NPR.
Hindustan Times
04-06-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Columbia accreditation at risk: School to lose federal student loans and Pell Grants? Education Dept's big warning
The Education Department said Columbia University no longer appeared to meet accreditation standards, signalling that the school's federal student loans and Pell Grants might be at risk. Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement on Thursday that the university is in violation of anti-discrimination laws over its handling of pro-Palestinian protests. McMahon said that Columbia's leadership 'acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus' after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. 'Accreditors have an enormous public responsibility as gatekeepers of federal student aid. They determine which institutions are eligible for federal student loans and Pell Grants. Just as the Department of Education has an obligation to uphold federal antidiscrimination law, university accreditors have an obligation to ensure member institutions abide by their standards,' she added. The Education Department further stated in a press release that it has notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education that the Trump administration found that the school failed to meaningfully protect students during the protests, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The press release further cited a federal law, which the administration says requires accreditors to notify member institutions if they were in noncompliance and establish a plan to bring them back into compliance. 'If a university fails to come into compliance within a specified period, an accreditor must take appropriate action against its member institution,' the statement said. This comes after President Donald Trump recently said that Columbia 'wants to get to the bottom of the problem'. 'They've acted very well. And there are other institutions too, they're acting, but Harvard is trying to be a big shot," he said at an Oval Office meeting. Accreditation review: MSCHE must investigate Columbia's noncompliance, per 34 C.F.R. § 602.20(a), during its ongoing 2024–25 review. Columbia may need to submit a compliance plan to address Title VI issues. Financial aid risk: Accreditation is tied to federal funding eligibility. While aid for Columbia's 36,000 students (50% rely on it) remains intact, failure to resolve issues could jeopardize Pell Grants and loans. Accreditation loss: If unresolved, MSCHE could revoke accreditation, rendering credits non-transferable and degrees less valuable, affecting employability in fields like finance. Enrollment decline: Safety concerns and uncertainty could reduce enrollment, particularly among international students.
