EXCLUSIVE: Legislation Would Codify Trump Order Barring Decertifying Colleges Over DEI

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A Republican senator wants to codify President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion discrimination in higher education accreditation.

Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., was set to introduce a bill Wednesday barring accreditors from requiring colleges to adopt race- or sex-based standards for admissions, hiring, leadership, or special commendations.

“Accreditation should be about academic quality, not about enforcing woke quotas,” Banks said in a statement. “My bill puts common sense back into accreditation and defends the principles that make American higher education strong.”

Trump’s executive order, first reported by The Daily Signal on April 23, requires accreditors to comply with federal anti-discrimination law, such as his Jan. 20 directive prohibiting DEI practices in federally funded education.

The order also creates accreditation processes that reduce barriers to streamlining programs; instructs accreditors to give more deference to state law; and targets credential inflation, the devaluation of educational or academic credentials over time.

Ensuring that accreditors don’t require colleges and universities to engage in unlawful discrimination, such as DEI policies, could protect conservative colleges, such as Hillsdale and Grove City, which don’t record students’ races or abide by racial admissions quotas.

Leading parental rights organization Defending Education endorses Banks’ bill.

The Indiana lawmaker previously introduced the Fairness in Higher Education Accreditation Act in the 118th Congress, when he was still a member of the House of Representatives. Then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., led the introduction of the Senate version.

Trump hinted at a plan to change the accreditation process during his 2024 presidential campaign.

“I will fire the radical left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics,” Trump said last summer. “We will then accept applications for new accreditors who will impose real standards on colleges once again and once and for all.”