On August 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would substantially revise the standards accrediting agencies apply to colleges and universities. Public comments are due September 21, 2026.
The proposal implements Executive Order 14279 and reflects the consensus reached earlier this year by the ED’s Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) negotiated rulemaking committee. It seeks to shift accreditation toward measurable student outcomes while adding new expectations around faculty, academic freedom, and legal compliance.
Many of the changes to the accreditation process in the proposal sit outside of the scope of work for HR, but several provisions are worth flagging for higher ed HR leaders:
- Faculty evaluation and staffing. The proposal would direct accreditors to confirm that institutions maintain a sufficient number of qualified staff; written, periodic faculty performance evaluation policies; and enough staffing flexibility to respond to changes in student demand, program viability, or finances.
- Academic freedom and intellectual diversity. The proposal requires an accrediting agency to evaluate, when applying its standards on faculty, whether an institution has academic freedom protections in place, and whether those are applied consistently to faculty. It further directs the agencies to confirm an institution has “a policy that is designed to support, promote, and appropriately prioritize intellectual diversity and the free exchange of ideas amongst faculty,” which, according to the proposal, should include “elements that address intellectual inquiry and student learning, and measures student and faculty perceptions on the range of viewpoints and perspectives offered by the institution or program.”
- Civil rights compliance. The rule would bar accreditors from requiring institutions to provide unlawful preferences based on race, color, national origin or sex in areas such as hiring and admissions. Notably, the preamble states that accreditors are not expected to investigate or enforce civil rights law and will only confirm that institutions maintain appropriate policies.
- Employee access to accreditors. Agencies would have to maintain at least one structured mechanism for faculty, staff and students to raise compliance concerns directly with the agency, not only during a review. Some examples provided in the proposal of permissible mechanisms include a registration process for students, staff or faculty to participate in structured meetings with agency representatives during scheduled site visits; randomized panels of students, staff or faculty selected by the accrediting agency to participate in confidential interviews or focus groups; and student, faculty or staff surveys independently administered by the agency as part of an initial or renewal of accreditation process.
Looking Ahead
Although the comment period is open until September 21, 2026, the ED has indicated it hopes to issue a final rule by November 1, 2026. This would allow the regulations to take effect on July 1, 2027. HR professionals should follow how their institutions assess the proposal and coordinate early with the accreditation liaison, provost’s office and general counsel. CUPA-HR will work with other higher education associations on next steps and will keep members apprised as the rulemaking moves toward a final rule.