Senate Bill 78 passed with a signature from Gov. Laura Kelly in March. The legislation says universities and colleges in Kansas have the right to sue accreditation bodies if any of the requirements for accreditation compel them to break state law.
A new executive order from President Donald Trump calls for an investigation into two accrediting bodies and may affect more. The executive order, signed by Trump on April 23, asks the U.S. secretary of education to temporarily or permanently revoke federal recognition from accreditation bodies if they break civil rights laws.
“The basic idea is to force accreditation to be focused on the merit and the actual results that these universities are providing, as opposed to how woke these universities have gotten,” White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf said in an Inside Higher Ed article.
Zach Gearhart, executive director of government relations at WSU, said the exact impact of the actions is unclear.
“As of now, we don’t perceive (the bill) is going to have a significant impact at the university,” Gearhart said. “Obviously that could change … there are new state and federal laws that get enacted all the time.”
But some people worry that the bill is a step toward more changes to come.
“I don’t know yet how this is going to play out, but it’s going to get interesting,” said Aaron Rife, a School of Education associate professor and department chair.
Diversity, equity and inclusion
Gearhart said there are no current laws that would, in conjunction with Senate Bill 78, affect DEI initiatives. He also said a previous bill, House Bill 2105, which is related to DEI, seemed to have no effect on the university. He said he feels that it should give some comfort when it comes to Senate Bill 78’s potential effects.
“It’s (SB 78) about diversity, equity and inclusion — absolutely,” Rife said. “It says that universities and institutions can sue the accrediting bodies for conflicting with state law. And that is — I don’t think the bill specifically says it — but … it is aimed at removing any vestiges of DEI.”
“If this bill were to pass, for us, I’m not sure exactly how this would go down,” Rife said. “… If state law says that we cannot have anything that includes diversity, equity or inclusion, and our national accrediting body says that we must have elements of diversity, equity and inclusion, then likely we’re going to lose the accreditation status. And then we’ll have fewer students.”
The executive order states it would be unlawful for accreditations to compel colleges and universities “to engage in unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ initiatives.”
Licensing and accreditation
Rife said Kansas schools of education losing accreditation would contribute to an ongoing shortage of teachers in the state. In order to get a teaching license, graduates must have a degree from an accredited school. Schools must also be accredited by a federally recognized accreditation body in order to receive federal student aid, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Rife said he’s especially worried about special education teachers.
“That’s our largest need (in Kansas), and this would only hurt that because it’s awfully hard to get a license in special education without any diversity, equity and inclusion,” Rife said.
While Rife spoke mainly on his expertise in the School of Education, he said these actions could affect different schools as well. Students pursuing medical degrees also require a degree from an accredited college or university in order to obtain medical licenses.
The Sunflower attempted to reach out to faculty from the School of Health Professions about how these changes would affect its school. Despite several attempts, faculty either declined to speak or failed to follow up.
