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The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia] –
Mary Beth West has spent 30 years in Public Relations (PR) with notable career accomplishments including building her own firm and becoming an international expert on PR ethics.
Now, she has lodged a formal complaint against the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) for an inability to mask “their partisan political bias and diversity, equity, and inclusion dogma from their academic accreditation duties.”
The 149-page complaint filed by West details examples of what she calls “an abuse of power” in 2021-22 by the ACEMJC which downgraded the accreditation University of North Carolina’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media based solely on so-called DEI “noncompliance”.
She alleges the ACEMJC has shown a discriminatory bias against the school, causing serious reputational damage, and has left other universities fearing their programs could be targeted next.
Per a press release, West, who bills herself as a “moderate conservative”, also spent time in the early 2000s as a national board member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) which appoints many ACEMJC members, including its current President Del Galloway, but notes the organization veered into far-left advocacy when President Trump was first elected in 2017.
In even bolder stance, the PRSA recently announced an intent to “double down on DEI”, even going so far as to host a webinar teaching members and the PR industry about ways to manipulate DEI terminology and language to subvert President Trump’s “Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education” Executive Order (EO). The EO directs the Secretary of Education to investigate and hold accountable accreditors who engage in “unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of “DEI’ initiatives.”
West’s allegations also state that the ACEMJ is in direct contradiction to another EO, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” which, in part, requires the termination of DEI, DEIA, and “environmental justice” offices and positions, “equity” actions, initiatives, or programs, “equity-related” grants or contracts, and all DEI performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees.
The complaint is scheduled to be heard on July 28 by the Recognition Committee of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) which oversees all academic accreditation organizations and claims to be “nonpartisan” , previously emphasizing their supposed willingness to work towards compliance with the Trump Executive Orders.
West expressed her skepticism of CHEA’s apolitical claims considering the complaint against a council under CHEA’s purview, but she is grateful for the Trump EOs, without which she believes the compliant would never have seen the light of day.
She hopes this case will serve as a major test case under the Trump EOs and could help to shape Congressional legislation, two pieces of which are already in the works.
H.R. 2516, the Accreditation for College Excellence (ACE) Act of 2025 seeks to stop accreditors from using political biases (like those driving DEI) as a quality standard for institutions and aims to re-focus accreditors on producing workforce-ready, critically thinking graduates instead of injecting radical ideologies into institutions of higher education.
The second, H.R. 4054, called the Accreditation Choice and Innovation Act, would require accreditors to use measurable student success outcomes and would streamline the accreditation process, also easing the way for capable new accreditors.
Both bills have already passed their respective committees and are awaiting consideration on the full House floor.
About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
