The U.S. Department of Education recently unveiled an extensive regulatory agenda, including reshaping accreditation and the agency’s civil rights enforcement. The agency plans to release a proposed rule on accreditation this month that would make it easier for new accrediting bodies to form and for colleges to change accreditors. The rule would also expand accreditor duties to include oversight of campus policies related to free speech and intellectual diversity. The Education Department also expects this month to amend regulations to “streamline the process” for cutting off federal financial aid to colleges that it determines violated civil rights laws and refused to voluntarily come into compliance.
