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Category: Higher Education

White House Issues First Report on Campus Sexual Assault

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This morning, the White House issued its first report to address and work to end sexual assault on campuses. This report — and the release of NotAlone.gov, a clearinghouse for federal information on campus sexual assault — is the first in what will be a series of action steps to address campus sexual assault.

Earlier this year, the President created the Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault, which is co-chaired by Vice President Joe Biden and the White House Council on Women and Girls. Today, the Task Force release a report of planned first action steps and recommendations.  This first report establishes broad initial goals including: identifying the scope of the problem on college campuses; help preventing campus sexual assault; help schools respond effectively when a student is assaulted; and improve, and make more transparent, the federal government’s enforcement efforts.

Over a year ago, the University of Washington recognized campus sexual assault as a significant national issue and formed the UW Task Force on Sexual Assault and Prevention. President Young reconfirmed the university’s commitment to do all the institution can to prevent and properly respond to every individual report of equal assault.

In October 2013, UW issued a final report with 18 recommendations and action items to change campus culture and create a safer and more compassionate and responsive response to UW campus sexual assault, through expanding UW’s SARIS, for example.

UW continues to work toward implementing all of these recommendations and as the discussion moves forward at the federal level, the Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor and update the community on this issue.

Ryan Reveals House FY15 Budget

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House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled the House FY15 Budget today. The measure proposes to cut $5.1 trillion over a decade in a bid to erase the federal deficit, while calling once again for dramatic changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and the tax code.

The House proposal would significantly reduce federal support for college access. The Ryan Budget would  eliminate the interest subsidy for all subsidized undergraduate student loans — based on a CBO estimate last year,that would increase loan costs to students by some $50 billion over ten years. The proposed budget would eliminate all mandatory funding for Pell, shifting it totally to discretionary funding, while freezing the maximum Pell grant for the next decade. That essentially means that $870 in the maximum grant would have to be funded by increased discretionary funds or the maximum be cut from $5,730 to $4,860.

Additionally, the Ryan Budget proposes to cut Non Discretionary Defense (NDD) funding by $761 billion below the current caps, and more than doubles down on the sequester cuts by shifting all of the cuts scheduled for defense starting in FY16 to NDD funding. In FY 16, the NDD cap would be cut from $492 billion to $450 billion, an 8.5% cut.  By the end of the ten year window, NDD would be cut by 22%.

The nearly 100-page blueprint is likely be the last formal budget proposal from Ryan, the Republican chairman of the Budget Committee who wants to move to the more powerful Ways and Means Committee next year.

The House Budget Committee is expected to mark up the legislation Wednesday in a session expected to last well into the night.

The Office of Federal Affairs is continuing to review the legislation and will provide updates as the measure changes in the legislative process.

 

In-State Tuition for Veterans Bill Passes House

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Tonight, the House has considered and passed that would require in-state tuition for certain veterans (Section 4 of HR.357, the GI Bill Tuition Fairness Act as amended). The bill was brought up under an expedited process referred to as “Suspension of the Rules.” Bills brought up in this manner are generally bipartisan, non-controversial measures that are expected to pass easily.

In brief, the bill would require all public higher education institutions to charge in-state tuition to a veteran residing in the state of that institution, even if that veteran is officially a resident of another state. This requirement would remain in place for three years after the person is discharged from the military, assuming he or she continues to reside in the state where the institution is located. The in-state tuition policy would apply beginning in July 2016 and would only cover the veteran — not their dependents using GI Bill benefits.  It appears that a consequence of this bill would be that public higher education institutions would no longer qualify for the out-of-state federal benefit of the GI Bill Yellow Ribbon Program since the veterans/students involved here would no longer be considered out-of state.

A much broader bill was previously under consideration that would have required lifetime in-state tuition to veterans and their dependents regardless of their actual state residency.

Nearly 30 states have already passed or are considering enacting legislation to provide in-state residency waivers to veterans at their public colleges and universities. Washington state is currently considering similar legislation that would allow instate tuition for one year. Other states, several individual campuses and university systems offer in-state waivers to their veteran student populations.

The measure passed by a vote of 390-0.

The Office of Federal Relations will continue to track this issue and continue to provide updates as the legislation progresses.

Farm Bill Conference Report Announced

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After two years of negotiating, Farm bill conferees announced a sweeping, bipartisan five-year farm bill late Monday. The measure costs an estimated $1.1 trillion and is filled with trade-offs and an estimated savings of nearly $23 billion.

The bulk of savings comes from cutting $19 billion from farm programs, including an end to direct payments to farmers — money that often went to farmers who don’t actually farm. An additional $6 billion is saved by merging 23 separate conservation programs into 13, which is a move supported by conservation groups nationwide. There are $8 billion in cuts tied to the food stamp program which will come largely from increasing the state heating assistance requirement.

The House Rules Committee met late Monday night to fast-track the bill to the House Floor. The bill will come up on Wednesday, before House Republicans depart for their annual policy retreat. The House will consider the conference report well in advance of the House’s Three Day Rule, which requires introduced legislation pend at least three calendar days before it is considered and voted upon by the House. The rule is designed to give Members of Congress and staff time to read and analyze bills.

The text of the bill runs 949 pages and s accompanied by a 186-page managers’ statement.

Already the American Meat Institute and the National Meat Association, who represent cattle, hog and poultry producers, have announced opposition to the conference report and will whip against the bill.

If the House adopts the report, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said his chamber could take up the legislation sometime during the current three-week work period.

The Office of Federal Relations is tracking this issue and will continue to provide updates.

White House Establishes Task Force to Combat Sexual Assault on Campuses

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The Obama administration is beefing up a commitment to combating sexual violence on college campuses with the creation of a new task force and release of a new report Wednesday from the White House Council on Women and Girls.

Nearly one in five women have been raped in their lifetimes, and alcohol and drug use are exacerbating the violence, the report says. Most victims know their attackers, repeat victimization is common, and young women are especially at risk
Read the Memorandum establishing the Task Force here.