Say what you will about Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, but this lady knows how to shake things up. On Wednesday, she announced that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) will assume responsibility for the accreditation of all four-year colleges and universities in the United States beginning June 1, 2026.
“Let’s be honest,” said McMahon. “The core purpose of higher education in our society is to serve as a vehicle for the delivery of high-profile sporting events in football and basketball to the American public. Accordingly, accreditors must ensure that schools operate transfer portals that facilitate the efficient movement of college athletes from one rapacious institution to another.
“All it takes to gum up the works is one misguided admissions officer at LSU who objects to a 31-year-old free safety from Boise State entering the portal with three DUIs, two home invasions, one sexual assault, and a 0.4 GPA.
“The NCAA has a track record of not letting such nitpicking concerns get in the way of building high-performance sports teams on college campuses. As NCAA President Charlie Baker is fond of saying, ‘if God had wanted top-flight athletes to be educated rather than coached, He would have used one of the Ten Commandments to say so’.
“With the NCAA overseeing the accreditation process, we can be confident that the reckless application of elitist admission standards in higher education won’t turn March Madness into March Sadness.”