Accreditation 

The Georgia AAUP has joined other AAUP leaders throughout the South to fight the creation of a state-run accreditaiton agency. The Commission for Public Higher Education (CPHE) is an accrediting body pushed by anti-higher education politicians and think tanks. 

On the campaign trail, President Trump called accreditation a “secret weapon” for intervening in higher education. At a press conference announcing the launch of the CPHE, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis claimed the group would “upend the monopoly of the woke accreditation cartels.” Cloaked in the language of “efficiency” and “streamlining” the accreditation process, the CPHE instead is an effort to end the independce of accreditation. 

From AAUP's Academe: "Accrediting agencies are independent nonprofit organizations, which, alongside states and the federal government, serve as gatekeepers to federal student grants and loans. A higher education institution must be approved by an accreditor before its students can access federal aid to pay for college. Accreditors set standards and evaluate colleges on everything from the curriculum, the faculty, and fiscal and administrative capacity to student success, student support services, institutional governance, and recruiting and admissions."

From Inside Higher Ed: "CPHE’s six founding members are the State University System of Florida, the University System of Georgia, the University of North Carolina system, the University of South Carolina, the Texas A&M University system and the University of Tennessee system."

The AAUP has developed a FAQ about this new group and the process of federal approval of new accreditation groups. It also has called the new body illiegitmate. 

As of Summer 2026, the next steps for that process is the CPHE choosing a school to accreditate. It has told Florida higher edcation officials that may happen by October. Two schools in Georgia are among the named first clients of the CPHE: Georiga Southern and Columbus State. 

The Georgia AAUP is asking faculty senates to pass resolutions standing against the CPHE. 

Georgia AAUP and its partners are planning a webinar for interested faculty for September 14 at 7pm. More information will be provided as it gets closer.