Agencies to Receive Flat Funding Through December
BU IN DC
President Robert A. Brown and Rachel Lapal of Marketing & Communications met with leaders of higher education media outlets on August 23.
Ha Jin of the College of Arts & Sciences spoke at the National Book Festival on September 2.
School of Public Health Dean Sandro Galea participated in a meeting of the National Institutes of Health’s Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities, of which he is a member, on September 8.
AGENCIES TO RECEIVE FLAT FUNDING THROUGH DECEMBER
Federal agency budgets will remain at their current levels through December 8, under the terms of a continuing resolution (H.R. 601) passed by the U.S. Senate on Thursday. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass the bill later today, and the President has indicated he will sign it into law. Despite a flurry of activity in both chambers on funding measures this week, lawmakers acknowledged they would not complete the annual spending bills that determine each agency’s budget prior to the start of federal fiscal year on October 1. Therefore, the continuing resolution was needed to allow more time for policymakers to negotiate a final funding agreement for the next fiscal year.
ED PLANS CHANGES TO TITLE IX ENFORCEMENT
On Thursday, Secretary Betsy DeVos announced that the U.S. Department of Education plans to revise the federal Title IX rules which determine how colleges respond to sexual misconduct. DeVos said, “the prior administration weaponized the Office for Civil Rights to work against schools and against students,” and a change is needed. The Department will begin a “notice-and-comment process” that invites public feedback on how to alter the regulations. The agency has not made clear whether it will modify its guidelines on how colleges comply with the current Title IX regulations while the comment process is underway.
ADMINISTRATION PHASES OUT DACA
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Tuesday that the Trump Administration would eliminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which permits undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States as children to work and attend school. A bipartisan group in Congress is attempting to reinstate the legal protections for the impacted immigrants, but the likelihood of success prior to the phase out of the program in six months is unclear. Fearing that Congress will not act in time, the Administration’s announcement was met with strong opposition from the higher education community, including 57 presidents of institutions in the Association of American Universities.