Welcome back for another edition of The First 100 Days, Inside Higher Ed’s weekly roundup of news from the Hill to the Oval Office. I’m your host, Katherine Knott, IHE’s news editor.
It’s Day 95, and boy, does the light at the end of the tunnel look so much brighter just writing that—even if we still have 1,366 more days to go. But the 100th day in a presidential administration has carried much significance ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt first talked about his agenda for the first 100 days.
We’re going to talk more about what’s happened in Trump’s first 100 days next week, so for now, let’s look back on the week that was.
In week 14, Trump finally followed through on plans to overhaul the college accreditation system. The executive order signed Wednesday slams accreditors for failing to ensure quality in higher education and promises to penalize those that violate federal antidiscrimination law. (And yes, this administration considers having DEI standards a violation.)
Officials argued that the order will refocus the system on merit as opposed to “wokeness.” But college accreditors and others say Trump’s claims about accreditation are misleading and that the proposed changes could allow the federal government to dictate what’s taught in classrooms.
(If you are wondering why Trump is talking about accreditation, remember that this whole oversight system governs which colleges get access to federal student aid, and some conservatives have bristled at what they see as undue influence from accreditors.)
In Other News: A federal judge in Maryland blocked the Education Department’s Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter, which declared all race-conscious student programming illegal. The department argued in court that the letter was “nothing new,” but the judge didn’t buy it. Instead, she said the letter “likely is legally defective.”
And the Education Department is planning to restart collections on defaulted student loans. That means that 5.3 million borrowers will have their tax refunds or federal benefits withheld, starting May 5, and another four million borrowers are expected to default over the next few months. Education Secretary Linda McMahon blamed the Biden administration and colleges for the state of the student loan portfolio.
On Tap for Next Week: Congress returns from recess. The Senate education committee is voting on a pair of bills related to campus antisemitism. Trump will hit the 100-day mark on Wednesday, and McMahon is slated to appear at a number of events. We’re looking forward to hearing more about her vision for federal education policy.
The Education Department also will kick off negotiated rule making—the lengthy process that the agency has to go through in order to issue new regulations—with two hearings on April 29 and May 1. This round of rule making will focus on changes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness, income-driven repayment plans and other ways to streamline federal student aid programs.
And that’s a wrap from me. As Trump’s First 100 Days comes to an end, tell me what word best describes the past three months for you? For me, I would say “chaotic,” especially as our newsroom has tried to keep up with all the twists and turns. I’m at katherine.knott@insidehighered.com.
As always, if news breaks this afternoon or over the weekend, you can find the latest at InsideHigherEd.com. In the meantime, I’ll be hollerin’ at the refs officiating the Washington Spirit game. (I’m sure they are nice people, but yellow cards exist for a reason.) Have a good weekend!
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