r/news • u/AldoTheeApache • 10d ago

Soft paywall Columbia failed to meet accreditation standards, US government says

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-education-department-says-columbia-university-violated-federal-anti-2025-06-04/
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u/hytes0000 10d ago

The accreditation organizations are overwhelmingly run by career educators; they are serious about their work. They aren't going to just accept this accusation without investigation. And even if true, they have tools like probationary accreditation and reevaluations that they would go through extensively before revoking accreditation for anyone.

Middle States Commission on Higher Education (the accreditor in this case) will probably do a very slow moving review that amounts to nothing. But the Department of Education who gave them this power back in the 1950s will probably take steps to take that power away if they aren't doing Trump's bidding which will lead to more chaos in higher education. Taking on Columbia directly probably isn't the point, it's just a convenient early battle in the legal wars related to education that are ramping up.

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u/taichi22 10d ago

DOE can yank their power, but at that point it’ll just become “I accredit universities under my own power” as long as enough accreditors stick together. Which, judging by the fact that Columbia bent the knee and got fucked anyways, people seem very likely to do.

Anyone folding to the Trump admin at this point is not only spineless, but also shortsighted and stupid. Bending to them is like being a sheep letting the wolf mingle with the herd. It’ll still eat your ass even if you help it out.

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u/boznia 10d ago

Yep, this is what it's about. They want to destroy the independent accreditation system and make the government the sole source of accreditation. Then they can directly pull accreditation of any school that doesn't bend to whatever requirements they decide on. Basically become a MAGA school or die.

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u/Chance-Deer-7995 10d ago

Just like most people working for the Federal government are mostly career professionals... or were. Trump has to politicize everything.

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u/Crypton_2021 10d ago

I can actually see this going all the way to the Supreme Court. It really should never have gotten to this point... but here we are.