The University of California, one of the Trump administration’s biggest targets so far, is in an uproar over how to respond to the president’s attacks. So is the rest of higher education.
The proposal has the potential to transform the government’s vast research funding operation, which has long awarded university grants based on scientific merit.
Following the election of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper in 2016, Republican lawmakers moved to take full control of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
New SACSCOC president Stephen Pruitt stepped into the job at a time when accreditors are under fire. He has pledged “fierce nonpartisanship” and respect for states’ rights. After two decades with Belle Wheelan at the helm, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges is under new leadership since she retired earlier this year. New SACS president Stephen Pruitt comes from the Southern Regional Education Board, which he led from 2018 until June, when he stepped down, before starting his current job in August. Pruitt previously served as the commissioner of education in Kentucky, worked for the Georgia Department of Education and taught both at the K–12 level and as an adjunct faculty member.
