I saw a university accrediting its new engineering department during a tour. It is a bunch of bueracracy and standards as opposed to something adhoc and fiefdom style. In that case the first few waves of graduates were conditionally accredited as graduates were required to accredit. Standards here seemed to be aligned in interests - they want to preserve reputations more than gatekeep. Given the sheer university volume gatekeeping is a dubious approach anyway.