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Bob Shireman @bobshireman.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

I serve on the federal advisory committee that reviews college accreditors. Here's my take on what happened at Tuesday's meeting: open.substack.com/pub/bobshire...

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Bob Shireman @bobshireman.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Now is as good a time as any to start the rumor that the AAU, composed of the major research universities, is considering seeking federal recognition as a Title IV accreditor. After all, it already operates as an accreditor, determining membership based on standards it sets.

newsobserver.com

UNC System ‘exploring’ creating its own accrediting agency, president says

UNC System President Peter Hans did not say which states might join North Carolina in the effort, but promised he would offer additional details in the coming months.

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Bob Shireman @bobshireman.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

For decades, policy makers have been trying, and failing, to get across the message that COLLEGE isn't just four year degrees, it offers many other vocational options. Do we need a different word?

open.substack.com

Primary, Secondary, Tertiary

No, Obama didn’t say that everyone should go to college. But we do need a different word for education and training beyond high school.

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Bob Shireman @bobshireman.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Hmm. What's up with the added comma? That's not in the law. Are they making integrity an afterthought? Is this the first step toward droping integrity completely? This is very concerning.

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Reposted by Bob Shireman

The Century Foundation @tcfdotorg.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

“The federal government has long stayed away from any involvement in a college’s curriculum or hiring, and current law prohibits this kind of intrusion into academic affairs…the executive order steps far across this line.” –TCF’s @bobshireman.bsky.social in today’s NYT.

nytimes.com

Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting College Accreditors

It was the latest move by President Trump in his effort to shift the ideological tilt of the higher education system as he battles elite universities.

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Bob Shireman @bobshireman.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

An IRS move against Harvard = not a surprise. In 1975, in the wake of frustrations over continuing segregation, civil rights groups pressed for the revocation of the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University, which had excluded Black students and at the time prohibited interracial relationships. 1/3

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Bob Shireman @bobshireman.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Universities should draw a clear line: "what they teach and research is for them to decide... This principle is one reason why America became the world’s most innovative economy over the past 70 years, and why Russia and China did not... www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

economist.com

MAGA’s remaking of universities could have dire consequences

For higher education, innovation, prosperity and freedom

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Bob Shireman @bobshireman.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

The biggest threat right now to America's international preeminence in higher education is not funding cuts, it is the loss of institutional independence. Here I explain what might happen, so that we all can work to prevent it. www.chronicle.com/article/how-...

chronicle.com

Opinion | How an Accreditation War Could Start

Here’s what to expect from Linda McMahon in the next 90 days.

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Bob Shireman @bobshireman.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

How far will Trump go in threatening colleges? Here are the threats via accreditation www.chronicle.com/article/how-...

chronicle.com

Opinion | How an Accreditation War Could Start

Here’s what to expect from Linda McMahon in the next 90 days.

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Reposted by Bob Shireman

The Century Foundation @tcfdotorg.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

For over 30 years, college students have been assured that their student loan debts would eventually be forgiven if they made regular income-based payments. This promise is now at risk due to legal challenges to the SAVE plan, via @bobshireman.bsky.social—who helped write the original legislation.

tcf.org

In a Key Student Debt Case, a Federal Court Is Making a Serious Factual Error

For more than thirty years, college students have been assured that their student loan debts would not follow them forever. The federal government

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Bob Shireman @bobshireman.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

I don't get how some are downplaying what Trump can or might do, declaring that he "would need Congress" to end DEI or fire an accreditor. What makes them think that? Even if his authority is legally questionable, he owns the courts (and the military) www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

insidehighered.com

Uncertain changes loom at MSCHE accreditation conference

Trump has promised to overhaul higher ed. What that means for the sector was a focal point of discussion at the Middle States Commission on Higher Education meeting.

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Bob Shireman @bobshireman.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

The western college accreditor is proposing to "refine" its standards by eliminating the DEI words in several places, sometimes replacing them with "success for all students." I missed yesterday's discussion, I'm curious if the change is facing opposition or concern. www.wscuc.org/post/wscuc-2...

Comparison of current and proposed revision of standards, from the document at the link

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