A sector-wide analysis argues that generative AI is forcing immediate changes to accreditation, faculty roles and HR systems at colleges and universities. The piece warns that institutions treating faculty as purely instructional labor and HR as compliance units risk failing to redeploy human capital around AI-enabled tasks. It calls for alignment across accreditation, academic staffing, and capability-building to preserve mission-critical teaching, mentoring and research. The authors stress AI automates tasks, not relationships, and urge institutions to redesign roles so faculty and staff can focus on scholarship, student mentoring and institutional strategy.