In a recent interview, Nicholas Kent, the Trump administration’s chief higher education official, signaled a desire to short-circuit the American system of college accreditation. Since the 20th century, accreditors deputized by the federal government have determined whether colleges are financially and academically sound enough to access federal student aid. They effectively act as arbiters of
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Here are remarks I offered today during the public comment segment of a meeting of the U.S. Department of Education’s National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI): At the February meeting, I urged you to speak up in the face of an unprecedented attack on the quality and integrity of higher education by
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At the opening of today’s meeting of the U.S. Department of Education’s National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), members of the panel have just reached a tie vote on the selection of a new chair.  Zakiya Smith Ellis, a former New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education and NACIQI’s current vice chair, received
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For decades the U.S. Department of Education has been required by law to conduct extensive negotiated rulemaking meetings whenever it wants to issue regulations.  The ritual of stakeholders, policy nerds, and lawyers packed into a room debating the minutiae of regulatory language and data is, in some sense, an affirming exercise in open, participatory democracy,
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Some words of determination, hope, and gratitude for my colleagues who continue the fight to stop predatory colleges from ripping off taxpayers and ruining students’ lives: I’ve worked in DC my whole career, and I’ve had, and still have, a lot of different jobs, besides working on higher ed. But working with our coalition of
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On the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, when most people are focused on travel plans and food preparation, the Trump administration released a list of its four nominees for open slots on the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI). That is the panel of outside experts that advises the U.S. Department of
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With the Trump regime —  driven by hate and racism — stigmatizing, brutalizing, and ostracizing immigrants across the country, I want to share the eulogy I was honored to deliver on Saturday at the memorial service for my wife’s mother.  I have an easy assignment today – to engage you, and hopefully soothe you a
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Beauty school students nationwide, especially those attending large, for-profit chains, often endure hosts of challenges before and after they graduate, research has shown. During school, students often sit through outdated lessons that don’t prep them for a contemporary beauty career, an experience made all the worse when they aren’t paid for their work and their
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