(The Lion) — The commission that accredits Harvard University and other schools is proposing to remove all references to diversity, equity and inclusion from its accreditation standards, Campus Reform reported.
The New England Commission of Higher Education, which accredits schools in the region, plans to replace DEI language with broader wording to ensure students “feel welcomed” and “supported,” according to the Harvard Crimson. The change is part of a 10-year standards review and would take effect in July 2026 if approved in a December vote.
NECHE President Lawrence M. Schall said the “primary reason” for the change was to avoid forcing universities to choose between complying with accreditor rules and following the Trump administration’s new order targeting DEI.
“Rules and regulations and policies shift when different administrations come in, they always have,” Schall said.
“I would say it shifted in a more dramatic way than we have typically seen,” he added. “But we’re subject to federal oversight.”
NECHE is one of seven regional accrediting bodies in the United States. It evaluates and assures the quality of degree-granting institutions, according to its website.
Accreditation is granted to schools that meet NECHE’s standards and related policies, which cover institutional purpose, resources, performance and improvement.
The proposal comes as other accreditors also scale back DEI rules.
A study by Do No Harm, a group that has criticized DEI in medical education, found that seven of 10 major medical education accreditors have suspended or dropped DEI mandates following President Trump’s executive order titled Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education. The order refers to DEI policies as “unlawfully discriminatory practices.”
Do No Harm Chairman Stanley Goldfarb praised the shift but said accreditors should replace DEI with merit-based standards, according to Campus Reform.
This year, six Republican-led states formed the Commission for Public Higher Education to prioritize merit over DEI. Led by Florida, the group includes the university systems of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Tennessee. It says its goals include streamlining accreditation, focusing on student outcomes, modernizing processes and preventing “divisive ideological content” in higher education.
Harvard has also made changes to its DEI offices in recent months.
The university renamed its main DEI office the Office of Community and Campus Life after the Trump administration froze billions in federal funding.
Last month, the Harvard Graduate School of Education shut down its DEI office and removed its chief diversity officer position. Staff members are being reassigned under what the school calls a “distributed model for DEI.”
