WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has ordered acute scrutiny of American universities and accreditors who oversee them, part of his escalating campaign to end what he calls them. From the heart “A diversity initiatives in education.
In a series of executive actions signed on Wednesday, Trump targets the university and sees him as the liberal enemy of his political agenda. One order called for stricter enforcement of federal laws requiring universities to disclose financial relations with foreign sources, while another called for reform of accreditation bodies to determine whether universities can accept federal financial aid awarded to students.
The university’s economic ties with foreign sources have long been concern among Republicans. In particular, relations between China and other countries with hostile ties to the US became a priority during Trump’s first term, re-emerging last week as the White House grasped its leverage. The escalation of the battle with Harvard University.
The White House said it needs to take action as it routinely violates federal disclosure laws that have been enacted unevenly since it passed in the 1980s. The law, known as Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, requires universities to disclose foreign gifts and contracts worth more than $250,000.
In the executive order, Trump calls on the education department and the Attorney General to step up enforcement of the law and take action against universities that violate them. Federal money.
The Trump administration intends to “end the secrets surrounding foreign funding in American educational institutions” and protects it from “foreign exploitation,” the order said.
It was praised by Republicans, including Rep. Tim Wahlberg of Michigan. He accused China of exploiting academic relations, stealing research and “instructing students.”
Another order aims to accredit the organizations that establish standards bodies that universities must meet in order to accept federal financial aid from students. Trump campaigned on the promise to overhaul the industry by saying he was “controlled by Marxist maniacs and madmen.”
Often overlooked as an obscure branch of university oversight, accreditors play an important role in shaping the university in many ways, with standards fully applied by the university governance committee to the classroom curriculum.
Trump’s executive order is an opening salvo that could be a long battle to rethink the accreditation industry. Among his priorities is to strip the accreditors of the diversity, equity and inclusion requirements imposed on the university. Some accreditors have already stopped or stopped implementing such standards in Trump. Dei’s crackdown.
Trump’s order requires the government to suspend or terminate accreditors discriminating in the name of the DEI. Instead, they ask accreditors to focus more on the outcomes of students at the university and program they oversee.
The president hopes to make it easier for new accreditors to compete with 19, which are currently permitted to work on behalf of the federal government. As it stands, new accreditors looking to be recognized by the government must undergo a painstaking process that traditionally takes years. Trump’s order said it was “transparent, efficient and not overly burdensome.”
“Instead of encouraging schools to adopt divisive ideology, accreditors should focus on helping schools improve graduation rates and graduate performance in the labour market,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.
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