Category: What We’re Reading

Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is reading this week.

Old Building$$ – While specifically about aging infrastructure on college campuses of agricultural research buildings, it really rings true about much of campus science-related infrastructure and the fact that deferred maintenance continues to be delayed. Read more at Ag Web. 

Cracking Down on Accreditors – Before he leaves office, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is preparing to unveil a package of proposals aimed at forcing colleges that receive federal money to improve graduation rates and to provide students with job skills by focusing on the accrediting agencies. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

Speaker Ryan?  – Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced that he will seek the position of Speaker, provided that he has the support of the whole House GOP caucus. The House Freedom Caucus is a little wary about his “demands” saying he’s setting them up for the blame if he ultimately doesn’t run. Read more at Politico. 

Deep Pockets – There are five races right now where the deep pockets, and self-funding, of the candidates could have a significant impact on who wins. Read more at Roll Call. 

Dress for Success – Looking the part is half the battle in DC. And that look is mainly Brooks BrothersHow do you look like a staffer and land that job? Read more at Roll Call.

October 21, 2015 – It was Back to the Future Day this week! How did the future stack up to the 1980s vision? Cars don’t fly but we do have holograms (not that eat you) and hoverboards (kinda, but they’re not the norm), but the Cubs might have a chance at winning the World Series!  Read more at the New York Times and at Vulture and at Vox.

To celebrate the release of the long awaited, much anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer, here’s some background on how lightsabers get their different colors. Read it at Vox.

Here’s a selection of article the Federal Relations team is enjoying this week.

HALF – A new study by Adam Looney, of the Treasury Department, and Constantine Yannelis at Stanford University, found that since 2000, “most of the increase in default is associated with the rise in the number of borrowers at for-profit schools.” For-profit schools enroll about 12 percent of the nation’s college students, yet they account for nearly half of student loan defaults. Read more at The New York Times.

Well, This Just Got More Interesting – National fraternity and sorority groups have hired former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) to lobby for legislation that would prevent colleges from punishing certain students accused of sexual assault. Read more at The Huff Post.

Debt Free – As Democratic presidential hopefuls assemble in Las Vegas their first formal debate, one topic that has received little airtime during the Republican face-offs garnered far more attention: the high cost of attaining a college degree. Read more at The Atlantic.

Guns.On.Campus. – Exactly 50 years after a student named Charles Whitman climbed into the University of Texas tower and shot 46 people, killing 14 of them — a new law on concealed firearms will take effect here. Already, emotions are exploding. The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Here’s a selection or articles the Federal Relations team is reading this week.

Meet the New Guy – John B. King Jr., Obama’s pick to lead the Dept. of Ed through final year of the Administration, is not well known in higher-education circles. Like his predecessor, Arne Duncan, King is most famous (or infamous, depending on whom you’re talking to) for his efforts to remake elementary and secondary education. Read more at the Chronicle of Higher Education or take a look at Politico.

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? – Several for-profit colleges have recently restructured as nonprofit entities. But a new report argues that some of them now act like “covert for-profits” and that their backers profit in ways that are not standard at traditional universities. Read more at the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Loan Game Plan – Fall semester is well underway for America’s 13 million full-time college students, many using federal grants and loans to pay for tuition, room and board, and other costs of school. Read more at Politico. 

To the Mattresses – Key players in the US alcohol industry are coalescing behind tax reform legislation that could end a long-running dispute between beer industry titans such as Miller and Budweiser and rising craft brewers like Dogfish Head and DC Brau.The Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act has a little something in it for the wine, alcoholic cider and distilled spirits industries, but its creation was driven primarily by a prolonged battle between two beer trade groups. Read more at The Hill. Also, find out what beer is made closest to you (or where beer is made around the country) with this handy map, at the Washington Post.

GOP PPA Headache – The House of Representatives plans to defund Planned Parenthood and force votes are causing major headaches for moderate Senators in Democratically-leaning or toss-up states. Read more at The Hill.

Gallup Gives Up – The gold standard in political polling for the last several decades (since 1936 predicting Roosevelt’s first win) isn’t planning any polls for the presidential primary horse race this cycle. Moreover, Gallup will not commit to tracking and polling the general election last year because of how badly its polling went during the last presidential election cycle (where it predicted a Romney win). Even following an internal probe into what went wrong in 2012, Gallup will not commit to tracking the general election.  In 2012, many national polls underestimated President Obama’s standing leading up to election, but Gallup’s failure was especially visible because the Obama campaign had pushed back publicly against Gallup’s surveys…several times. Gallup’s final survey showed Romney leading Obama by 1 point — 4.9 points off from the final result, in which Obama prevailed by 3.9 points. It also misidentified the winner. That led to a lengthy and expensive effort by Gallup to retool its methodology, something Gallup still is not confident about apparently. Read more at Politico.

Whoops – A new study funded by an anti-vaccination group, Safeminds, has found that there is no link that vaccinations cause autism. Hurray for public health, sucky for the anti-vaxx cause. Read more at IFLScience. Also, the Supreme Court has decided it will not hear a challenge to New York’s law requiring all students to be vaccinated before starting school (and all kids have to go to school!) or be barred from attending school when there is an outbreak of a contagious communicable disease that is preventable from vaccination. The challenge was brought that the requirement violated religious freedom. In effect the court has held, the state has a reasonable interest in protecting public health that is greater that protecting an individuals religious freedom. Read more at the New York Times. 

The Prospect of Joe – The Draft Biden movement continues to escalate and the super PAC will go to the airwaves this week. Even though Biden has not declared, is not raising money, and has weak polling, the potential of a Biden challenge is something the Clinton camp is taking very seriously. Read more at the New York Times. 

Excellent Loss – Harvard’s champion debate team lost to a group of prison inmates in the Bard Prison Initiative. What’s more the inmates had to defend the position that public schools should be able to deny enrollment to undocumented students, a topic position they strongly disagreed with. Read more at the Wall Street Journal.

How quickly we forget mass shootings via The Washington Post. 

Here’s a selection or articles the Federal Relations Team is reading this week.

Whither Pell? – A new report released Thursday provides a detailed look at the graduation rates of low-income college students. At many colleges, low-income students graduate at much lower rates than their high-income peers. Read more at The Atlantic. 

Chill in the Pacific – China and the US have not have the warmest relationship and President Xi’s recent visit to the country did not seem to warm the relationship. While focus on constructively engaging China has been a priority for decades, this attitude seems to be shifting to an attitude of competition. Read more at Politico. 

Killed It Dead? – In his five years as Speaker, Boehner endured an adversarial President, Senate and internal party. Has the Speakership been irrevocably marginalized in an era of intense partisan factionalism? Or is Boehner’s resignation a weathervane for something else—a GOP establishment? Read more at Politico.  

Little Loan, Big Issue – Community colleges are relatively affordable, and their students tend to borrow less than those who attend other types of institutions. Yet the debt students rack up at community colleges is troubling. The reason is that students who attend two-year colleges struggle to repay even small loans, and often default on them, a concern that is reinforced by a new study from one of the sector’s primary trade groups — the Association of Community College Trustees. Read more at Inside Higher Education. 

Default Rates Going Down – The share of federal student loan borrowers who default on their debt within three years of entering repayment dropped for the second year in a row, the U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday. The national default rate on student loans made by the government fell to 11.8 percent from 13.7 percent last year, the department said. Obama administration officials credited their success in getting more borrowers to sign up for income-based repayment plans for some of the decline in defaults. Read more at Inside Higher Education. 

Five on the Horizon – The Supreme Court convenes its new session on Monday, October 5th. While court has already agreed to hear 34 cases, the docket is not yet totally set. There are five big cases on the horizon with sweeping implications on race and college admissions, the criminal justice system, public sector unions and, many experts expect, another rendezvous with ObamaCare. Read more at The Hill.

Bankruptcy – The Administration is calling on Congress to make it easier for some student loan borrowers to erase their debt through bankruptcy, as part of a package of proposals aimed at helping Americans who are struggling with loan payments. In a report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education, administration officials outlined a range of recommendations for improving the nation’s student loan system, most of which require congressional action. Read more at Inside Higher Education. 

College Athletic$ – A court just affirmed that the NCAA may restrict colleges from compensating athletes beyond the cost of attendance. A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday in an apparent victory for the college sports establishment as it fights efforts to expand athletes’ rights. Read more at the New York Times. 

Gore – The Smithsonian closed its popular dinosaur hall at the Natural History Museum several years ago for a total makeover. Today, the Smithsonian revealed the new central exhibit to the hall, which is of a T-Rex killing a triceratops. It looks pretty badass. Check it out if your in DC in 2019. See more at the Smithsonian Magazine and the Washington Post.

There’s water on Mars! 

Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is enjoying this week.

Bad Management – Congress faces another government shutdown on October 1st, and to Wall Street’s leading CEO, Jamie Dimon, it’s a simple case of bad management. Congress’s failure to fund the government, and embroil it with gridlock is damaging the US economy. See more at NBC’s Meet the Press.

Boehner Done – He had to wait for the Pope to finish addressing the United Nations, but the day after the Pope’s historic visit to Washington and address of Congress, House Speaker John Boehner has announced he is leaving from Congress as of October 30th. He will help fashion a deal with Congressional Democrats to continue to fund the federal government and then retire. Read more at the Washington Post. Also, this means there will not be a shutdown. Politico has a long form piece on the challenges Boehner has faced as speaker.

Understanding China – Chinese President Xi visits both Washingtons this week on his first official trip to the United States as president.  While relations with China have recently been strained, the trip will hopefully help relations on both sides as Chia make concessions on environmental issues. The Washington Post explains China in graphs.  Also, WaPo has a brief on what to expect from the visit.

Sexual Assault Survey – New numbers from AAU’s campus survey reveal that one in five women are sexually attacked while in college, while more than 1 in  and those assaults are massively underreported. Read more at the Huffington Post and the Washington Post.

College Cost$ – The need to reduce or eliminate college debt is a topic growing in momentum on Capitol Hill. It’s a sentiment echoed by Republicans and Democrats, but it is a complicated issue and topic. Rising college debt is being called the next financial crisis, but how do policy makers go about tackling it? Politico looks at eight innovative proposals.

Throwing Elbows – Ed Secretary Arne Duncan has been a vital ally to helping the Administration move their agenda forward. One of Obama’s closest friends has put a strong stamp on America’s educational system. But what will his legacy be? Read more at Politico. 

Mind the Gap – The gulf between rich and poor is growing and this divide is sharply seen in education. the achievement gaps between more affluent and less privileged children is wider than ever. Read more at the New York Times. 

Politico has every photo you need to see of Pope Francis while he was in DC.