11. Department of Education · Notable
Pursue antitrust action against college accreditors
Printed page 359 11. Department of Education
“The President should issue an executive order pursuing antitrust against college accreditors, especially the American Bar Association (ABA).”
What has happened
- Partially done
The Quote's named target was reached four months later. The United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, with the Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission's Office of Policy Planning, urged the Tennessee Supreme Court to end its exclusive reliance on the American Bar Association for law school accreditation: "the ABA requirement meets Tennessee's definition of a monopoly. It uses its cartel-like status to operate to the detriment of consumers." Advocacy before a state court rather than an enforcement action, and still no executive order, so the ask is partly rather than wholly delivered.
- Partially done
No executive order on antitrust and accreditors exists — Executive Order 14279 acts on accreditors through the Secretary's recognition power and the civil rights laws, not the Sherman Act. The substance is being pursued by other means. The Antitrust Division filed a statement of interest in private litigation against the American Veterinary Medical Association explaining that "professional accreditation societies, like the AVMA, cannot erect anticompetitive hurdles that reduce competition by restricting the number of ... providers entering the profession", the first antitrust action of the window against a programmatic accreditor.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Justice Department press releases with titles containing “accredit” — 15 records, two of them in the window and both used above; “American Bar Association” — 5 records, none in the window. A search of presidential documents in the Federal Register for “antitrust” returns no order about accreditors.
- Adjacent but not antitrust: EO 14279 §2(b) tells the Attorney General and the Secretary to “investigate and take appropriate action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American law schools that is advanced by the Council”, and to assess suspending its recognition — a civil rights route to the same target, leveled on #893.
- The Department’s own competition work sits on the Unified Agenda as RIN 1840-AE01, “Reducing Anti-Competitive Regulatory Barriers”, implementing EO 14267; its subject is textbook packaging and credit transfer, not accreditors.
- Action
- issue
- Object
- Executive order on antitrust against college accreditors
- ID
- 917