Sometimes the most consequential threats to higher education arrive disguised as technical changes that few people notice until their effects are already felt. The proposed federal changes to accreditation deserve our attention now, especially with the public-comment deadline of September 21 approaching. The encouraging news is that this is still a moment when faculty, students, administrators, and members of the public can learn what is being proposed and make their voices heard.
Reference
U.S. Department of Education. (2026, August 19). U.S. Department of Education Issues Proposed Rule to Overhaul and Improve America’s Higher Education Accreditation System, https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-issues-proposed-rule-overhaul-and-improve-americas-higher-education-accreditation-system
You Can Help Prevent a Major Disaster for Higher Education
An opportunity for your voice to be heard.
Sep 11, 2026
Imagine you had the ability to go back in time and stop Elon Musk and DOGE minions from wrecking USAID, an established institution providing demonstrable benefits to people around the world, delivering outsized impacts relative to resources spent.
Post-secondary education is confronting a DOGE-like threat, an attempted takeover by right-wing ideologues, using a model crafted by the people who brought you Project 2025. You don’t need a trio of precogs bathing in a milky pool to tell you that these folks are not interested in broad-based democratic representation or a diversity of views in higher ed.
The vehicle through which this is being attempted is institutional accreditation. Accreditation on its face is not interesting. It is time-consuming, bureaucratic, and the kind of thing most college faculty want to avoid so they can do their work of teaching and research.
But accreditation rooted in principles of academic freedom is a necessity for this work to happen free from external interference and partisan political oversight. Currently, there is a very real attack on these principles through an attempt to create new accrediting bodies that will be empowered to erase these rights.
We previously covered this issue through the “Academic Freedom on the Line” podcast with Bob Shireman, an expert on accreditation:
Academic Freedom on the Line Podcast: Accreditation, with Bob Shireman
John Warner and Bob Shireman
·
June 6, 2025
Listen now
We also featured an interview with Matthew Boedy about Ron DeSantis’s creation of the Commission for Public Higher Education, an attempt to create alternative accrediting bodies that will allow institutions to operate without many of the protections currently in place.
A Stealth Threat to Academic Freedom That We Can Stop in Its Tracks
John Warner
·
September 2, 2025
Read full story
This news is worrying, but the good news is that there are established mechanisms for resistance, resistance which comes from individuals expressing their disapproval of these attempts to unmake our public-serving institutions and turn them into vassals of one political party.
On Monday, September 14, at 7 p.m. ET, the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom will be hosting “Accreditation and You,” a webinar to learn about the far right’s attempt to capture higher ed accreditation, what is changing and why it matters, and how you can join in the fight and take action. In this webinar, you will learn how to write and submit effective comments—in advance of an important September 21 deadline—about the federal Department of Education’s dangerous proposed revision of the rules that govern accreditors, get resources (faculty senate resolutions, analysis, information sheets), connect with academic workers in your states and nationally, and help problem solve and plan our campaign.
This is our opportunity to head off an attack that could have generational impacts, if successful. Individual resistance matters. Every voice counts.
Please consider joining us for the event.
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