CECU Statement on Department’s ACICS Decision

December 13, 2016 - Washington, DC - ​The below statement can be attributed to Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of CECU:

​“In denying ACICS’s appeal, the U.S. Department of Education continues their campaign to inflict as much harm as possible on students attending private sector higher education before they leave office.
 
“The political appointees behind this decision will not have to bear the cost of this decision. Instead it will fall on students, dedicated faculty and staff, and dozens of small business, when hundreds of campuses are unable to get reaccredited. And ultimately the American taxpayer will once again be forced to pick up the tab for these actions. 
 
"No Administration has politicized education or accreditation like the current one. Since the November election the Department has forcibly shutdown two colleges, released faulty and biased gainful employment data, and attached over burdensome and stringent conditions on the sale of a major institution to new owners.
 
“To act in such a partisan and biased manner does nothing to help new students. Instead of working with stakeholders on all sides of the issue and creating solutions that preserves access, the Department takes the path of greatest destruction. We are hopeful that in 2017, the new Administration and the new Congress will create a new era of constructive collaboration that will result in public policies that survive beyond the politics of any given Administration.”