Dive Brief:
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The U.S. Department of Education’s top ranking higher education official sent letters to two accreditors Monday directing them to eliminate their diversity, equity and inclusion standards that he contended were in violation of civil rights law.
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The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, an agency that accredits some 500 colleges, was one of the accreditors that received a warning from Under Secretary Nicholas Kent. The other was the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education, which accredits physical therapy programs.
- Both accrediting agencies suspended their DEI standards last year. However, Kent said in the letters that he was concerned they hadn’t yet formally rescinded those policies and directed them to each submit two monitoring reports over the next year.
Dive Insight:
In his letters, Kent said the Education Department would continue to recognize the two accreditors but warned that officials could take action against them — including pulling that recognition — if they enforce any of their suspended DEI standards before formally eliminating them. His letters escalate the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI standards at accrediting agencies.
In an executive order last year, President Donald Trump said the Education Department would not recognize accreditors “engaging in unlawful discrimination in violation of Federal law.” He alleged a law school accreditor’s standard for having a diverse student body conflicted with the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down race-conscious admissions.
The Trump administration has interpreted the landmark ruling to extend well beyond admissions, with officials citing it when moving to end the Education Department’s federal grants with race-based criteria.
Kent’s letters echo Trump’s executive order. In them, the under secretary contended that the DEI standards of the two accreditors violate the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bars federally funded programs from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin.
No accrediting agency “may place institutions in such a no-win scenario where an institution must choose between violating federal law or violating the accreditor’s standard,” Kent wrote in both letters.
He likewise cited the 2023 Supreme Court ruling, arguing that it set a precedent barring policies that treat students “differently in an academic setting based upon race.”
The Trump administration has frequently cited Title VI when attempting to curtail DEI initiatives in higher education and K-12 schools — though some of these moves have been struck down by federal courts. That includes the sweeping February 2025 guidance from the Education Department that threatened to pull federal funding from colleges that considered race in any way, such as offering scholarships for minority students.
The American Association of University Professors has also accused the Trump administration of weaponizing Title VI, with a goal of “unmooring the Civil Rights Act from its foundational commitments to addressing structures of discrimination that prevent or limit educational access.”
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education suspended its DEI requirements last year.
“The Title VI analysis seemingly stems from misplaced reliance on language that is not reflective of our immediate steps to suspend any and all criteria within our standards reflecting diversity, equity, and inclusion following President Trump’s Executive Orders,” Heather Perfetti, the agency’s president, said in a Monday statement. “I am surprised because we have demonstrated unequivocally and repeatedly that institutions are expected to follow federal and state law.”
A revised version of the agency’s standards will take effect July 1. The accreditor’s first compliance report is due six months from now, while the second is due in a year, Kent said.
Similarly, the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education suspended its DEI standards last summer. However, its mission on its website in part still states that it seeks to “promote justice, equity, diversity, and inclusivity.”
According to Kent’s letter, CAPTE Chair Kathryn Zalewski, told an advisory committee in December that the accreditor planned to discuss best practices for supporting access to physical therapy education for “all individuals” starting in January. At that time, Zalewski said the board would review a recommendation for revised standards at its meeting this October.
CAPTE did not provide a comment by publication time on Wednesday.
The “contorted logic in the letters is appalling,” Bob Shireman, a higher education expert and member of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, an independent panel that advises Education Department officials on accreditation matters, said in a Wednesday email to Higher Ed Dive.
“The Administration threatens accreditors and they respond by suspending their policies to allow for review, and then the Department treats that as an admission of guilt?” Shireman said. “This feels like an abuse of authority, not to mention an abuse of the process.”
