Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is reading this week.
Corporate Culture – More college presidents are being selected not from academia, but from business, and that’s considered a good thing. Currently, twenty percent of college presidents come from a career that is not academia. It seems that it’s a double-edged sword: while these presidents do have funding prowess and are able to “sell” the school and efficiently manage, but they can be tone-deaf when dealing with the needs of students and faculty. Read more at The Atlantic.
Shoot the Hostage – One of the biggest issues for Speaker John Boehner was dealing with the House Freedom Caucus. The 2010 election had a radical effect on politics including how to conduct negotiations. The key difference between the Boehner “old school” politicos the new wave of politicians is how far they are willing to test the institution (or blow it up) to get what they want. Read more at The Washington Post.
Too Much Waivering – The University of Missouri System, and the University of Missouri at Columbia in particular, are the newest targets of a legislative inquiry, and the finding that one-half of faculty members don’t meet the system’s minimum teaching load requirement has a prominent lawmaker threatening to withhold state funding. Read more at Inside Higher Education.
Tribal Authority – A case that’s been low-profile, but will be high-impact, the Supreme Court heard on Monday the case, Dollar General Corporation v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. At the heart of the case is a fairly straight forward one of sexual assault. A 13-year-old boy said he was sexually assaulted by his manager at Dollar General. The store is on land belonging to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. The boy is a member of the tribe. The manager is not. The boy’s family sued Dollar General and Townsend in tribal court in civil court because currently, tribal courts only have jurisdiction over civil cases, not criminal, when a non-native person is accused. So instead of trying the accused for the crime, the boy’s family filed a civil lawsuit against him and Dollar General. Dollar General in turn sued the tribal court, declaring it had no legal jurisdiction over non-natives, even as a civil case absent express Congressional authority. Read more at SOTUS blog.
Red Alert – The capital city of the planet’s largest polluter, Bejing, is issuing a “Red” alert over smog for the first time this week. Starting Tuesday and continuing for three days, the more than 20 million residents of Beijing will have heavy limitations imposed on their daily activities. Schools will be closed, outdoor construction will be halted, and cars will have to drive on alternate days. Read more at The Atlantic.
Trump Trumped – On MSNBC show, Morning Joe, Donald Trump was cut off and shut down for refusing to answer questions and talking over the hosts. Host Joe Scarborough said unless Trump stopped, they would go to commercial, and they did. When the show return, Trump stayed and answered questions for the next ten minutes. Read more at The Washington Post.
“Oh, for the love of God.” – Constitutional law scholars respond to Donald Trump’s plan to refuse to allow Muslim into the country. Read more at The Washington Post.
More Access – Florida Senator and Republican presidential candidate, Marco Rubio, says the nation needs more welders and fewer philosophers, which his why he wants to change accreditation rules to let more vocational schools and online universities take advantage of the roughly $130 billion a year in federal loans and grants. Read more at USA Today.
Trump Trolled – A Florida businessman took out a full page at in the Miami Herald calling Trump a BULLionare. Predictably, Trump’s lawyer sent a cease and desist order to both the businessman and Jeb Bush’s Leadership PAC. The response from Bush’s lawyer is nothing short of AMAZING. Read the response at the Washington Post.
Bubble – With America becoming more polarized, Charles Murray, a political scientist, says the educated and wealthy live in a social and cultural bubble. Take his quiz and see if you live in a bubble at the PBS News Hour.