University College Dean Peter White said there is nothing to fear from congressional legislation that would make UNM's accreditation reports public - they already are.
Proposed changes to the Higher Education Act would require accreditation organizations to disclose summaries of their findings to the public. Accreditors are required to release findings only when a university or college is denied reaccredidation. Schools have the option of releasing successful reaccredidation reports.
Advocates of the proposal said it will empower students with crucial information, helping them decide which college would best serve them if the accreditation process is more transparent and accountable.
Critics of the proposal say it will undermine the accreditation process and obstruct efforts toward improving academic programs.
"I think people are entitled to see what evaluators have said about a university," said White, who headed UNM's most recent accreditation review in 1999. "But if the government wants to start using this as a weapon, they're barking up the wrong tree."
White said it took 10 12-person teams two years of analysis and reporting to complete the process, which resulted in a 1,300-page self-study report.
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It was released along with a 16-page accreditation report in full on UNM's Web site, but was later removed to free up space, he said.
UNM's last accreditation visit was successful without follow-up visits, White said, and that demonstrates the stability of UNM's programs.
"There's probably some people in Washington who think all educators are incompetent, and that they know better than we do, so they might want to punish institutions," he said.
Accreditation is a system used to evaluate the quality of programs at universities.
UNM was first accredited in 1922, five years after UNM awarded its first graduate degrees. The University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission's North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
U.S. Congress reauthorizes the Higher Education Act annually, but for the first time since its passage in 1965, vote on the law may be delayed until Jan. 2005 when the new congressional session begins. The law primarily sets federal student financial aid levels. This year, some Congressional Republicans, notably California Rep. Howard (Buck) McKeon, are pushing to attach accreditation changes to the bill.
UNM Provost Brian Foster said the effort is unlikely to succeed, especially this year.
"(Congress) will continue to work on these bills in the House," he said. They may or may not get passed in the house - probably not."
Foster said calls for transparency and accountability in higher education accreditation processes are increasing because postsecondary education is increasingly regarded as a human right.
"When things become an entitlement, they become the prerequisite to a good life," he said. "Then it has a different political status than it ever has before. If something's an entitlement, like health care, there are all kinds of interest in making the institutions that provide that service accountable to its constituencies."
