JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The latest development in the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape higher education nationwide came Wednesday night.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order into law that aims to “hold higher education accreditors accountable, including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination for poor performance or violations to the federal Civil Rights Act.”
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Essentially, the administration is looking to more strictly evaluate federal funding for universities across the nation.
Andrew Spar, the President of the Florida Education Association, told Action News Jax Thursday he feels this is a slippery slope to funding cuts across local universities.
“We’ve already seen programs in Florida be targeted in federal cuts. We’ve seen it at the University of North Florida, University of Florida, [and] Florida State University,” Spar said. “So when Florida universities, which rank among the best in the nation, are being shortchanged just like so many other universities, it’s really gonna be concerning for our students, for those universities, and for the work they do every day.”
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The order, however, also “directs the attorney general and the secretary of education to investigate and terminate unlawful discrimination by American higher education institutions, including law schools and medical schools.”
Spar said this reveals the order for -- what he feels -- it really is: the administration’s latest efforts to leverage education funding in the fight against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion).
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“Our colleges and universities are set up in a way that encourages students to think outside the box, to look at things from different angles, to understand varying viewpoints,” Spar said. “And the concern we have with what this particular executive order from the president may do is it may really, try to narrow those opportunities for our students and make the United States less competitive.”
Action News Jax also reached out to the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University for statements on the executive order and its possible impacts on their operations and programs. We are waiting to hear back.
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