Six major universities in Republican-led states will create a new agency to set quality standards for their schools. The Commission for Public Higher Education will be able to accredit schools, ensuring the schools meet certain established standards.
Commission for Public Higher Education
Led by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the University System of Florida, the commission includes the University System of Georgia, University of Tennessee System, University of North Carolina System, University of South Carolina System and the Texas A&M University System.
“This endeavor will introduce a new creditor into the marketplace,” DeSantis said in a news conference covered by Fox 35 Orlando. “It’ll upend the monopoly of the woke accreditation cartels and it will provide institutions with an alternative that focuses on student achievement rather than the ideological fads that have so permeated those accrediting bodies over the years.”
Plans for the new agency began after DeSantis took issue with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), which previously accredited those universities. DeSantis said he wants his state’s colleges to adopt a more conservative approach to education.
“The University of South Carolina (USC) System accepted the invitation to join five other excellent U.S. university systems to form the Commission for Public Higher Education because innovating accreditation provides great benefits for universities, colleges, and our nation,” said Thad H. Westbrook, chair of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees. “The innovations we expect to implement will benefit students while making accreditation more efficient and more focused on outcomes, quality, and success.”
Straight Arrow News reached out to SACSCOC but has not yet received a response.
Trump administration v. higher education
In 2025, the Republican Party and the Trump administration took issue with several institutions of higher education, particularly Harvard University. On Thursday, June 26, Harvard announced that it is once again in talks with the Trump administration after the administration planned to cut billions in funding for the university.
The president also issued an executive order in April, directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “reform our dysfunctional accreditation system so that colleges and universities focus on delivering high-quality academic programs at a reasonable price.”
That order also took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs on campuses.
“President Trump’s Executive Order will bring long-overdue change by accelerating the recognition of new accreditors and refocusing existing accreditors on helping member institutions improve the student outcomes families care most about,” McMahon said in a statement. “Instead of pushing schools to adopt a divisive DEI ideology, accreditors should be focused on helping schools improve graduation rates and graduates’ performance in the labor market.”
Dr. Heather Perfetti, chair of the Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions (C-RAC), a collaborative of the nation’s seven largest federally recognized college accreditors, responded to that order.
“Accrediting agencies are instrumental to promoting quality assurance and protecting student and taxpayer investments in higher education. While we firmly reject President Trump’s mischaracterization of accreditors’ role in the nation’s postsecondary education system, we stand ready to work with the secretary of education on policies that will advance our shared mission of enhancing quality, innovation, integrity, and accountability,” Perfetti said.
