Assuring the quality of higher education in America was once a straightforward, if tedious, proposition. Audit an institution's fiscal condition, check faculty credentials, make sure that the administration isn't riding roughshod over academic freedom, see whether or not the curriculum as expressed in the catalogue is reasonably coherent, browse…

Just a few years ago, almost no one saw accreditation as a major force for change in higher education. It was generally regarded as something of an anachronism, a ritual institutions had to go through periodically just to stay legit. But accreditation is back. Anyone who doesn't think so should try Googling "accreditation": even with…