Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, WHITE HOUSE NEWS—Executive orders address HBCUs, accreditation and DEI, foreign gifts, (Apr 28, 2025)

By Jonathan Anderson

The orders are part of the administration’s efforts to reshape higher education in the United States.

On April 23, 2025, President Donald Trump issued multiple executive orders related to higher education. One order established the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Another order seeks to revamp the accreditation system for colleges and universities as part of the administration’s efforts to end initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. An order also seeks more complete disclosure of foreign gifts to American institutions of higher education.

HBCUs. An executive order establishes the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Among the goals of the initiative are to provide “professional development opportunities for HBCU students to help build America’s workforce in technology, healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and other high-growth industries.” The order establishes in the Department of Education the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The order also revokes Executive Order 14041 of Sept. 3, 2021, the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity Through Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The new order further terminates the Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions Advisory Council.

Accreditation. An executive order seeks to revamp the accreditation system for colleges and universities as part of the administration’s efforts to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Accreditation is critical for institutions of higher education to receive financial aid from the federal government via student loans and grants. The order directs the secretary of the Department of Education to hold accreditors “accountable, including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition, for accreditors’ poor performance or violations of federal civil rights law,” according to the White House. The order establishes new accreditation principles “to increase competition and accountability in promoting high-quality, high-value academic programs focused on student outcomes.” Further, the order directs the education secretary and the attorney general to “investigate and take appropriate action to terminate unlawful discrimination” by law and medical schools.

Foreign gifts. An executive order seeks more complete disclosure of foreign gifts to American institutions of higher education. The order alleges that some institutions of higher education have failed to fully disclose foreign gifts that are required to be disclosed under 20 U.S.C. § 1011f. The order directs the education secretary “to require complete and timely disclosure by higher education institutions of foreign funding.” The order provides for audit, investigative, and enforcement actions by the education secretary and the attorney general.

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