Trump Signs Order Directing Investigations Into University Accreditors

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday evening directing the United States Department of Education to overhaul the federal higher education accreditation system — with a specific mandate to eliminate the consideration of diversity, equity, and inclusion in accreditation processes.

The order calls for federal agencies to investigate and potentially strip recognition from accrediting bodies that promote DEI-related policies, which Trump slammed in the order as examples of “discriminatory ideology.”

“Accreditors have not only failed in this responsibility to students, families, and American taxpayers, but they have also abused their enormous authority,” Trump wrote in the order.

Accreditation is the process through which colleges and universities become eligible to access federal student aid and research funding — a status that Harvard’s top critics in Washington have repeatedly threatened to revoke for the University over its handling of campus antisemitism.

In October 2024, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) threatened that if Trump returned to the White House, Republicans would not be afraid of stripping Harvard of its accreditation, an outcome that the Wednesday order now makes more likely.

“Your accreditation is on the line,” Scalise said in a private meeting between him and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group. “You’re not playing games any more or else you’re not a school any more.”

While Trump’s Wednesday order does not directly name Harvard, it comes amid the White House’s intensifying salvo against the University. Just more than a week ago, the Trump administration slashed $2.2 billion in federal grants and contracts to Harvard — and on Monday, Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 responded with a lawsuit.

The order is also the latest in the White House’s broader effort to dismantle DEI initiatives. Just one day into his second term, Trump signed an order challenging DEI programming at federally funded colleges and universities, including Harvard.

The Wednesday order empowers U.S. Secretary of Education Linda M. McMahon to investigate accrediting agencies and, where warranted, deny, suspend, or revoke their federal recognition. It also directs U.S. Attorney General Pam J. Bondi and McMahon to examine the use of DEI criteria by accrediting agencies and federally funded law and medical schools.

Trump’s order singled out two accrediting organizations: the American Bar Association’s Council, which accredits nearly 200 schools offering J.D. programs, including the Harvard Law School, and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which accredits nearly 160 schools in the U.S. offering M.D. programs, including the Harvard Medical School.

LCME, which last reviewed HMS in 2019, is set to reaccredite the school during the 2026-27 academic year.

Spokespeople for HMS, HLS, and the University did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the order.

There are approximately 60 accrediting agencies that are recognized by the Department of Education — a group that Trump alleged had failed to determine which institutions “provide a quality education” by adopting diversity-related criteria.

“The standards for training tomorrow’s doctors should focus solely on providing the highest quality care, and certainly not on requiring unlawful discrimination,” Trump wrote.

In the order, Trump suggested that the growing adoption of DEI among accreditors was responsible for credential inflation, rising tuition, and declining student outcomes — citing a national undergraduate six-year graduation rate of 64 percent and high levels of student debt from degrees with “very modest earning potential.”

“Accreditors routinely approve institutions that are low-quality by the most important measures,” he wrote.

Under the new order, accreditors are directed to prioritize academic quality, student outcomes, and intellectual diversity, without referencing race, ethnicity, or sex. The order also seeks to reduce compliance burdens that drive up costs and to require the use of program-level data on graduate earnings and debt.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.

—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.