Effort to overhaul ‘woke’ college accreditation system raises questions. Here’s what it means.

Accreditors wield significant power in the world of higher education. Without accreditation, a school cannot access federal funds. Two Georgia schools — Morris Brown and Paine colleges — suffered after accreditation battles with a Decatur-based accrediting organization. Both gained their accreditation in recent years through another accreditor.

The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized accreditors. Its desire for new ones raises questions. Will it be more lenient for agencies that align with its ideology, entrusting them with billions of federal dollars? Or will the U.S. Department of Education subject them to the same scrutiny existing agencies endure?

In the months leading up to the Atlanta meeting, aspiring accreditors had contact with two individuals — David Barker and Nicholas Kent — who went on to join the department, according to emails and documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through public records requests. Kent now serves as undersecretary for education. Barker, now the assistant secretary for postsecondary education, was among the dozen participants at the Atlanta meeting, according to the agenda.

Experts say that receiving emails doesn’t signal anything untoward, particularly because of the timing; the messages were sent before either was nominated to the department. But the correspondence is raising eyebrows.

“Kent and Barker are the top officials who would weigh in on things like, what should the rules be and how should they be applied? And these (accreditors) are exactly the people that would be subject to those rules,” said Antoinette Flores, who worked at the department during the Biden administration and is now with New America, a left-leaning think tank. “I think it’s too early to tell, but close coordination among them and with some of (the department’s) top officials is worrisome.”

Ellen Keast, press secretary for the education department, told the AJC, “It’s unsurprising that two of the nation’s leading voices on accreditation reform have corresponded with stakeholders in the industry.” Her statement did not address whether the department will look more favorably upon accreditors with whom Kent and Barker had contact.

The CPHE said it expects a “thorough and standard” recognition process. It is doing everything possible to “earn confidence from both the Department and potential applicants across the country,” said Eric Johnson, a CPHE senior adviser.

Last week, the department announced in a press release it wanted to update its accreditation handbook to reduce “bureaucratic requirements.” The current, “antiquated” system, Barker said in the release, has led to higher tuition, administrative bloat and “ideology-driven initiatives.”

Keast said that instead of preparing students to succeed in the workforce, “These agencies force institutions to spend time on things that thwart innovation, like diversity in hiring and faculty participation in governance.”

On Tuesday, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, which advises the department on which accreditors to recognize, will meet in Washington, D.C.

“(The administration) is saying they want more accreditors,” said Bob Shireman, who sits on that advisory committee and is a senior fellow at the progressive Century Foundation. “So I anticipate that (Kent) will repeat that message and maybe say something about how they intend to speed up approval.”

One potential accreditor is the National Association of Academic Excellence. Anthony Bieda, a consultant for the association, was a leader with the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, which had accredited several notorious for-profit schools facing allegations of fraud. The department found there had been a “profound and systemic failure” at ACICS and moved to shut it down in 2016. It was resurrected years later by the first Trump administration, before being shut down again under President Joe Biden.

The NAAE and other new agencies, including the Georgia-related one, have been collaborating since late last year, according to emails, with Bieda writing NAAE “shares the goals CPHE has been formed to pursue.”

NAAE’s connection with the developing agencies has been “supportive and collegial” as they “navigate the recognition journey,” said Cecilia Livengood, NAAE’s chief accreditation officer. She declined to comment on Bieda.

Johnson said it was incorrect to characterize the CPHE as “working with” Bieda, noting that he is not a consultant for the commission.

The collaborating accreditors, including the NAAE, CPHE and the American Academy of Sciences and Letters, have all embraced the controversial concept of “intellectual diversity.” So has Barker and the Trump administration. Critics fear the concept is a partisan ploy to favor conservative ideology on campuses. The department did not say if that ideological alignment would impact the agencies’ approval prospects.

Nasser Paydar, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, said existing accreditors don’t have a problem facing more competition, assuming it’s a level playing field.

“What we don’t want is someone to create a process and not go through the same checks and balances of the department,” Paydar said. “So as long as everyone is treated the same and go through the standards, I think everyone welcomes new accreditors.”