President Trump signed a decree on Wednesday to modify the college’s accreditation process, so the colleges are accredited on the basis of “results”, the president wondered aloud to seek the mathematical capacities of students admitted to Harvard University and the University of Yale.
The president also signed an order to enforce the laws on books forcing universities to disclose when they accept great foreign gifts, with one of Mr. Trump’s best aid specifically calling Harvard as a school which, according to them, violated the law. Federal law obliges higher education institutions that receive federal funds to disclose any gift or contract from a foreign source worth $ 250,000 or more in a calendar year, and some at Congress are trying to reduce this threshold to $ 50,000.
The new decrees arise as the president distinguished Harvard University. His administration has Frozen billions In federal funding at Harvard, demanded radical changes to school policies and suggested that he should lose his Tax exemption status.
Colleges and universities are accredited to ensure that they meet basic standards by third -party entities, and not by the federal government, although the Ministry of Education decides which accreditation agencies to be recognized. The accreditation process has large implications since the government has used it to determine which schools are authorized to participate in federal students’ assistance programs, which distribute billions of loans and student subsidies.
The decree directs the Ministry of Education to “hold responsible” for any accreditaire of colleges who “does not meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violating the federal law” – including by terminating or suspending federal recognition of accredits. He specifically distinguishes accreditation agencies which oblige schools to “engage in illegal discrimination … under the cover of” diversity, capital and inclusion “initiatives.” The ordinance also indicates that the Ministry of Education should begin to recognize the new accreditors of the college.
The Trump administration believes that accreditation entities have become too focused on “the awakened ideology” instead of the results, said the secretary of the White House staff. Mr. Trump’s decree also affects law faculties and higher education programs.
“The basic idea is to force the accreditation to focus on the merit and the real results that these universities provide, as opposed to the way these universities have been awake,” said Scharf before Mr. Trump signing the decree. “So we create new accreditation paths, we invoic the Ministry of Education to really look at this accreditation mess in a holistic way and, hopefully, making it much better.”
Trump wanted to know if the decree he signed “will examine” people who, according to him, go to prestigious schools like Harvard or Princeton but cannot do basic mathematics.
“Are we going to examine the past people they have taken?” Trump asked Scharf. “For example, I hear everything about certain grandes écoles. And then we read where they will teach people basic mathematics, mathematics that we can all do very easily, but they cannot do it.”
“When universities do not work appropriately, whether in admission or in their real educational activities, it is certainly something that accreditors should consider that at the moment, we think they are not doing a good enough job,” said Scharf.
The president also signed an executive decree invoicing the federal departments and agencies to ensure that universities follow the law to disclose the acceptance of major foreign gifts.
“We believe that certain universities, including, for example, Harvard, have regularly violated this law and that this law has not been effectively applied,” said Scharf. “Thus, this decree invoices your departments and agencies to apply the laws on books concerning foreign donations to American universities.”
SCHARF did not provide evidence or details on the way Harvard would have violated the law for the disclosure of foreign gifts. CBS News contacted Harvard to comment.
Harvard University announced on Monday has filed a legal action Against the Trump administration, alleging that the administration illegally freezed billions of federal funds. Tensions intensified between the administration and Harvard, who had rejected the administration requires modifying most of the school’s policies and leadership. Several other schools, including Columbia University, have faced similar funding gels, the Trump administration alleging that schools responded inadequate to anti -Semitism.
On Wednesday, the president also signed executive actions to ensure the efficiency and efficiency of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), ensure that schoolchildren are adequately trained in artificial intelligence, stimulating learning and allowing educators to apply school discipline policies.
