The Trump administration’s efforts to have college accreditors monitor intellectual diversity standards on campuses would not turn these organizations into First Amendment enforcement officers, an Education Department official said Friday.
The administration wants accreditors to ensure schools have policies in place supporting intellectual diversity and academic freedom for faculty. But it’s the administration’s job—not the accreditors’ job—to police those issues on campuses, said Jeffrey Andrade, deputy assistant secretary for policy, planning, and innovation in the department’s postsecondary education office.
“We’re not trying to make accreditors the new Office of Civil Rights for the Department of Education. We’re not trying to ...