Education Department Penalizes Accreditor, Raising Fears of Federal Standards for Colleges.

The article reports that the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, a U.S. Education Department committee that oversees accreditation organizations, has barred the American Academy for Liberal Education from accrediting new institutions or programs for at least half a year. The decision, which still must be approved by the department's assistant secretary for postsecondary education, followed a determination that the small accreditor had been negligent in not setting minimum standards for what students must learn at the colleges it accredits. The committee did not accept the report's recommendation to re-recognize the academy for five years but instead chose to show its disapproval by putting off a decision until the committee's next meeting, in June 2007.