Letters

Accreditation: The States’ Role

To the Editor:

I enjoyed Anne Neal’s article on accreditation in the most recent issue [“Dis-Accreditation,” Fall 2008, vol. 21, no. 4]. Her work is always worth reading and we agree on some significant issues. Anne correctly points out that the federal government’s formal role in education is limited, yet having ridden that horse to the open gate, she shies from entering the pasture. She does not discuss what the states’ role should be.

In fact, the states have a very significant role both in law and in practice in deciding what standards should be met by colleges. Almost every state establishes significant standards and, ideally, enforces them. I suggest that any future oversight plan for ensuring the quality of higher education must involve state governments, if for no other reason than that we are legally