In addition to intervention in the suit mentioned by Jeff (below), 6 state attorneys general today moved to intervene in a federal district court case against the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), an accreditor of for-profit colleges. The suit is a challenge by ACICS to the Department of Education decision to terminate ACICS’s recognition as an accreditor in December 2016. The states say that they are intervening "to protect consumers in their states, who rely on federally-recognized accreditors to ensure that colleges offer quality education and protect against abusive practices."
The Department's actions follwoed an investigtaion pursuant to which it concluded that ACICS failed to meet the requirements of federal recognition. ACICS has a long track record of failures of oversight. ACICS failed to identify misconduct by a number of schools and failed to take action once the misconduct came to light through investigations by state or federal agencies.
The states moving to intervene are Massachusetts, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, and New York, along with the District Of Columbia.
The motion to intervene is here. The memorandum in support of the motion is here.
