The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) announced Tuesday it has temporarily paused its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) while it reviews its standards to comply with President Donald Trumpâs recent executive order.
Trumpâs April order barred accreditors from âcompelling adoption of discriminatory ideologyâ such as DEI commitments for higher Education institutions, while labeling accreditors the âgatekeepersâ that control which schools can receive federal funding. The accreditor is now âlaunching a reviewâ into its DEI standards but maintains its âcommitment to success for every student.â
WASCâs most recent standards established in 2023 state that a school must promote âthe success of all students and explicit its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusionâ in order to be eligible for accreditation. The accreditorâs commission previously considered updating its standards in December to remove language requiring universities to commit to DEI but quickly backtracked, blaming feedback from its membership and âinterested organizations.â
WASCâs previous proposal would have replaced the DEI requirement with a pledge to promote âinstitutional excellence and success for all studentsâ to receive accreditation.
The accreditor is responsible for overseeing the entire University of California (UC) system, the California State University system and several religious institutions. Several California universities are already under review by the administration for allegedly not adhering to the ban on race-based admissions policies.
The Trump administration has been increasingly working to drive out divisive and discriminatory DEI practices from schools and the public sector, with several executive orders focused on the subject. The Department of Education has already removed hundreds of documents from its website outlining DEI practices, dissolved numerous teams tied to the topic, placed specialized staff on administrative leave and halted DEI trainings.
The administration has sent many warnings about its demands to end the programs and has been swift to threaten federal funding cuts for those who may still be following race-exclusionary practices.
WASC did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundationâs request for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporterâs byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].