September 12, 2010

Under Obama, Accreditors Are Still in the Hot Seat

Under Obama, Accreditation Is Still in the Hot Seat 1

Brian Blanco for The Chronicle

Argosy U.'s chancellor, Craig Swenson (right): "The accrediting community will have to demonstrate that it can expand and deepen its oversight of an increasingly diverse set of institutions."

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close Under Obama, Accreditation Is Still in the Hot Seat 1

Brian Blanco for The Chronicle

Argosy U.'s chancellor, Craig Swenson (right): "The accrediting community will have to demonstrate that it can expand and deepen its oversight of an increasingly diverse set of institutions."

By Eric Kelderman

Washington

Nearly two years into the Obama Administration, colleges have not gotten the relief they expected from the contentious battles over measuring quality that defined the Bush Education Department.

Instead, President Obama and Congressional Democrats are pressing even harder in some cases to overhaul the nation's accreditation system, beginning with demands for tighter oversight of the for-profit education sector.

The Education Department's inspector general has gone so far as to