Additional Evidence Submitted by ACICS to ED by May 30, 2018
On May 31, 2018, NSLDN submitted another a FOIA request regarding ACICS.
On December 12, 2016, the U.S. Department of Education terminated its recognition of ACICS as a nationally recognized accreditor after finding that ACICS was pervasively noncompliant with numerous criteria required of such entities. On March 23, 2018, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued an Order remanding (but not vacating) the December 2016 Decision back to the Secretary for consideration of what the court termed ACICS’s “Part II Submission.”
On April 3, 2018, Secretary DeVos issued an Order purporting to restore ACICS’s status as a recognized accreditor. Among other things, the April 3 Order invited ACICS to “explain whether and to what extent the Part II submission documents are relevant to its compliance with the regulatory criteria or its ability to come into compliance within 12 months.” In addition, the April 3 Order invited ACICS to “provide additional evidence that is relevant to these issues.” The Secretary required ACICS to “file its written submission and exhibits no later than May 30, 2018.”
The May 31, 2018 FOIA request seeks the release of all documents constituting ACICS’s submission of additional evidence in response to the April 3 Order, as well as all communications between ED and ACICS regarding the submission of such documents.
A copy of the FOIA request is available here.
Update 1: On November 26, 2018, the Department provided an interim response to our litigation. The interim response letter is available here. The interim production is available here (this initial production of 336 pages is a small portion of approximately 36,000 responsive pages identified by the Department):
Update 2: By letter dated December 21, 2018, the Department provided another interim response to our litigation. The interim response letter is available here. The production is available here. We continue to expect additional productions.
Update 3: By letter dated January 28, 2019, the Department provided another interim response to our litigation. The production is available here.
Update 4: By letter dated February 27, 2019, the Department provided another interim response to our litigation. The production is available here.