Staff Reports
Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
Florida is launching a multistate college and university accrediting agency — the Commission for Public Higher Education (CPHE) — to directly challenge existing regional accreditors that today hold a “monopoly” in higher education, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
The agency will be backed by public university systems from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, all Republican-led states that voted for President Donald Trump last year.
It’s the culmination of months of coordination between leaders in the Southern states who are frustrated with existing accreditors — particularly the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) — and their insistence on pushing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming on school campuses, DeSantis said.
“Who are these accreditors? Did you elect any of these accreditors to anything?” the Governor said during a press conference at Florida Atlantic University.
“When we’ve said, ‘No DEI,’ the accreditor was telling our universities, ‘Oh, no. You’re not going to get accredited unless you do DEI.’ Who the heck are they to say what our universities have to do? They’re telling them they can’t follow state law. … What we’ve seen develop is an accreditation cartel.”
DeSantis said the CPHE will “upend” the current accreditation “monopoly” and focus on “student achievement rather than ideological fads.” It’ll have to operate for “some period of time,” he added, before the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) approves it as valid.
The CPHE initiative builds on 2022 legislation that GOP lawmakers in Florida passed, which, among other things, requires state universities to be accredited by a different agency each accreditation cycle. North Carolina passed a similar law the following year.
Read more on Florida Politics.
Evening Reads
—”Humanity is playing nuclear roulette” via Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic
—“Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are melting down over leaked Iran strike intel” via Ryan Bort and Asawin Suebsaeng of Rolling Stone
—“New data clarifies a lingering question on 2024 turnout” via Nate Cohn of The New York Times
—”Trump won by turning out voters and building a diverse coalition, report finds” via Ruth Igielnik and Shane Goldmacher of The New York Times
—“GOP quickly seeks to make Zohran Mamdani the face of the Democratic Party” via Naftali Bendavid of The Washington Post
—”Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Everglades prison ignores both environment and history” via Craig Pittman of the Florida Phoenix
—“Ron DeSantis says ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ critics just want open borders” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics
—”New Citizens policy could make disputes more costly for policyholders” via Anne Geggis of The Palm Beach Post
—“Is it even possible to convince people to stop eating meat?” via Kenny Torrella of Vox
—”How much energy does your AI prompt use? I went to a data center to find out.” via Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal
Quote of the Day
“Too much time and effort is spent checking the compliance box and managing the minutiae of bureaucracy with very little focus on real, actual academic excellence.”
— Florida State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, on the state’s effort to upend ‘accreditation cartels.’
Put it on the Tab
Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.
Order a Bloody Shame for your favorite SUS senior, because they’ll probably end up with a degree from an unaccredited institution.
DeSantis is misinformed: ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ critics don’t want open borders, they want a South of the Border Fizz.
Florida Politics’ Gabrielle Russon is getting a Sunshine State of Mind while we wait for an announcement on the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sunshine State Award for Journalist of the Year.
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
U.S. Men, Women in action this weekend
The U.S. Men’s National team faces Costa Rica in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup on Sunday (7 p.m. ET, FOX).
After losing four straight matches under head coach Mauricio Pochettino, the Americans swept through the group stage of the Gold Cup, beating Trinidad & Tobago, Saudi Arabia, and Haiti in group play.
Playing without several key players, including midfielders Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, left back Antonee Robinson, right back Sergino Dest and attacking players Gio Reyna, Yunus Musah and Folarin Balogun, Pochettino has turned to less experienced players like Diego Luna, Malik Tillman and Patrick Agyemang to fill the void.
The USMNT and Costa Rica have played 32 times, with the U.S. winning 19 matches, drawing six. In January, the United States beat Costa Rica 3-0 in a match in Orlando. In 2022, Costa Rica defeated the USMNT 2-0 in World Cup qualifying, crippling the United States’ chances to make the tournament.
If the USMNT beats Costa Rica, they will advance to the semifinals to face the winner of the Canada vs. Guatemala match on Wednesday.
The U.S. Women’s National Team also plays this weekend. The USWNT, ranked No. 1 in the world, faces Ireland tonight and Sunday (3 p.m. ET, TNT). Ireland is ranked 25th in the world, based on four wins in four matches over the past three months.
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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.
