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Quote:Continued embrace of DEI may be undoing of college accrediting group
Robert Thornton
Jul 07, 2025


 

There’s a new higher education accrediting body in the works. A senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation says DEI is a factor.

According to the Department of Education, the goal of accreditation is to ensure that institutions of higher education meet acceptable levels of quality using a variety of metrics.

The Texas Tribune says that The Texas A&M System is partnering with other university systems to create a new accrediting body.

The other systems are in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.  The new group is to be called the Commission for Public Higher Education.

There are currently seven regional accrediting commissions. Florida Governor Ron Desantis calls them the "woke accreditation cartels."

The Texas Legislature recently passed a law, which will give schools other options for accreditation.

Sherry Sylvester of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) applauds the move and said the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) responded to the news of the new group.

   
Sylvester 

"They say in their official statement in response to Texas A&M, University of Florida and some other southern schools saying that they were going to establish a new accreditor, 'Oh, if this is about DEI … "

However, she said several years ago, her organization had seen documentation where DEI requirements would one day be necessary for accreditation.

"They support the kinds of cultural pro-DEI and issues that we see on university campuses, top of which is control of the curriculum and the administration, by the faculty.  That's a huge piece of what they require,” Sylvester said.

She said her organization (TPPF) studied accrediting bodies and found that student outcomes — graduation rates, student success, and future earnings -- were not a priority in accreditation requirements.

Quote:DeSantis credited with leading new woke-less direction for higher ed accreditation
Bob Kellogg
Jul 03, 2025

Gov. Ron DeSantis announces the creation of the Commission for Public Education at a June 26 press conference at Florida Atlantic University. 

 

An ambitious plan to form a new regional accreditation body for public college and universities is being praised for wrestling higher education from left-wing idealogues. 

According to The Hill, six U.S. states are forming a new accreditation body called the Commission for Public Education, or CPHE.

The states are Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. More right-leaning red states are expected to join the CPHE in coming months, the article said. 

The story credits Florida and its Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, for spearheading a new direction for higher education. DeSantis took action after he tangled with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges over liberal ideology that focuses on race and gender over academics and future job success. 

When he announced the new CPHE last week, Gov. DeSantis vowed it will “upend the monopoly of the woke accreditation cartels, and it will provide institutions with an alternative that he says focuses on student achievement, rather than the ideological fads…”

David Randall oversees academic research at the National Association of Scholars, where he tracks trends in education. He tells AFN a new direction was necessary to “bust up” what Randall calls the “accreditation cartel” that oversees high ed.  

   
Randall 

"The radical education establishment,” Randall advises, “uses the accreditation organizations as ways to impose diversity, equity and inclusion, and other radical political requirements, to avoid accountability."

Left-wing ideology and its components, such as DEI and critical race theory, have become a main target of Gov. DeSantis. He has said Florida is “where woke goes to die.”

According to the Hill story, campuses that have signed on for the 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.

This is YUGE and it's happening right now. The accreditation cartel is crumbling before your very eyes.

Quote:Landry forms task force to pursue break from traditional university accreditor

Nolan McKendry, The Center Square//July 23, 2025// 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Gov. Jeff Landry signed order creating higher ed reform task force
  
• Louisiana aims to join alternative accreditor CPHE alongside six states
  
• CPHE seeks federal recognition and emphasizes merit over DEI policies
  
• Final recommendations due by January 30, 2026
  

Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order this week creating the Governor’s Task Force on Public Higher Education Reform, joining a growing bloc of Southern states seeking to leave traditional university accreditation systems in favor of a new model focused on “merit-based achievement” and reduced oversight from legacy accreditors.

The order signed on Monday positions Louisiana to join the Commission for Public Higher Education, an alternative accrediting organization launched earlier this year by Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and the Texas A&M University System.

CPHE aims to supplant what critics call an “ideologically driven” accreditation monopoly — particularly the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, which currently accredits most public institutions in the region.

“This task force will ensure Louisiana’s public universities move away from DEI-driven mandates and toward a system rooted in merit-based achievement,” Landry said in a statement, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that conservatives have targeted as political overreach in higher education.

According to the order, CPHE seeks to streamline the accreditation process, emphasize student outcomes, modernize credentialing standards, and explicitly bar accreditors from imposing “divisive ideological content” on universities.

The group also intends to seek federal recognition from the U.S. Department of Education to qualify as a Title IV gatekeeper — meaning its accreditation would determine eligibility for federal student aid.

Landry’s executive order directs the new task force to explore dual accreditation models, assess legal and administrative steps needed to join CPHE, and make formal recommendations ahead of the 2026 legislative session.

Louisiana’s move follows recent federal shifts under the Trump administration. A 2025 executive order signed by former President Donald Trump instructed the Department of Education to allow new accreditors, ease switching between agencies, and tie federal recognition to academic rigor and the protection of intellectual diversity.

The CPHE effort is led in part by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who described the group as a response to accreditors “beholden to woke ideology.”

“Florida has set an example for the country in reclaiming higher education,” DeSantis said earlier this year. “This accreditor will help ensure the Free State of Florida leads the way in higher education for decades to come.”

Louisiana’s task force will include 13 members, including the state’s higher education commissioner, the chairs of Louisiana’s four public university systems, legislative education leaders and three gubernatorial appointees.

Its first meeting must be held by Aug. 31, and a final report is due by Jan. 30, 2026.

The effort comes amid increasing scrutiny of accreditation bodies, which control access to billions in federal student aid and have been accused by conservative leaders of overstepping their oversight role.

Landry’s order argues Louisiana “stands to benefit from early engagement with CPHE” by helping shape its standards and expanding options for accreditation.

Fifty-five percent of states currently accredited by SACSCOC are now represented on the CPHE board.

Quote:Louisiana to join conservative higher education accrediting body 
By: Piper Hutchinson - July 22, 2025 5:57 pm

Montgomery Hall, the chemistry department building, at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, pictured, on May 15, 2025. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)

Louisiana will join six other university systems in the South to form a new alternative accrediting body, spurning long-established standards of higher education, Gov. Jeff Landry announced with an executive order Tuesday. 

In June, state university systems in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas launched the Commission for Public Higher Education. It is seeking expedited approval from the U.S. Department of Education to act as an accreditor, which is tasked with maintaining quality standards for colleges and universities. 

The move comes as conservatives have sparred with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, which evaluates colleges and universities in Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. 

Conservative politicians have taken issue with traditional accreditors at times because of their standards related to diversity, equity and inclusion and because accreditors require safeguards that are intended to limit the influence of external forces, including politicians, in public higher education. 

Landry’s executive order creates a new Task Force on Public Higher Education Reform, which will make recommendations for how to move forward with the new commission. Among the group’s tasks will be creating a plan to pilot dual accreditation, with both the new commission and the Southern Association authorizing Louisiana schools. 

“This task force will ensure Louisiana’s public universities move away from DEI-driven mandates and toward a system rooted in merit-based achievement,” Landry said in a news release. 

“[The Commission for Public Higher Education] 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,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in an announcement of the new accreditor in June. 

Approval from the U.S. Department of Education is required before any school the new commission approves can receive federal financial aid. 

Every member of Louisiana’s new task force has been directly appointed to their job by Landry or his conservative allies in the legislature except one: Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed. 

Besides Reed, the other members are Board of Regents Chairwoman Misti Cordell, University of Louisiana System Board Chairman Mark Romero, LSU System Board Chairman Scott Ballard, Southern University System Board Chairman Tony Clayton, Louisiana Community and Technical College Systems Chairman Tim Hardy, Senate Education Committee Chairman Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Central, and House Education Committee Chairwoman Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie. 

Landry has also appointed his executive counsel, Angelique Freel, or her designee, and Commissioner of Administration Taylor Barras or his designee. The governor will also choose three other members of the task force. 

Landry supported law changes last year that gave him the power to directly appoint the chairs of the state’s five higher education boards, which were previously elected from the boards’ memberships. An earlier version of the law would have allowed Landry to directly hire university system presidents, but the provision was cut amid concerns it could jeopardize accreditation. 

The group must hold its first meeting no later than Aug. 31 and must meet at least once every two months, submitting its recommendations by Jan. 30, 2026.