Trump and other Republicans have said that they will go after an individual colleges’ accreditation status over antisemitism and civil rights violations.


(IHE) – After a divisive and historic election, Donald J. Trump emerged Wednesday with enough electoral votes to return to the White House in January. He’s the country’s second-ever president to serve two nonconsecutive terms.

A second Trump administration will likely ramp up scrutiny of colleges and universities and empower advocates for sweeping reform of the sector during a historically unstable time for American higher education. As enrollments flounder and public disillusionment with college cost grows—and after a year of negative public attention over campus protesters and federal policy blunders on student debt and financial aid—that shift could have transformative implications for higher ed.

Higher education consumed comparatively little oxygen during Trump’s first term, but his actions then offer some clues as to his policy agenda for the next four years. While in office, he toned down oversight of for-profit colleges, issued new Title IX rules that bolstered due process protections for those accused of assault and appointed a conservative majority to the U.S. Supreme Court, empowering it to strike down affirmative action.