The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), the federal panel advising the Education Department on accreditation, convened under a rearranged, partisan seating plan after months of delays and six new Trump appointees. The meeting produced procedural friction but little on‑camera confrontation, as members opted for procedural votes and a conservative appointee ultimately won the chair slot. Observers flagged the Education Department’s decision to introduce votes by appointing body and to seat members by appointing authority as moves that could politicize accreditation oversight. Robert Shireman and other long‑time participants warned these changes risk undermining the committee’s historic bipartisan functioning. The episode matters for colleges that depend on accreditor recognition to secure federal financial aid; any sustained partisan realignment on NACIQI could accelerate regulatory scrutiny and change the standards used to evaluate institutions.