White House Issues Higher Ed Executive Order
BU IN DC
Kevin Gallagher of the Global Development Policy Center hosted a workshop on the impact of trade and investment treaties on access to medicines at the Federal Relations office on March 21. Rebecca Dunn and Danielle Trachtenberg of the GDP Center and Warren Kaplan, Rachel Thrasher, and Veronika Wirtz of the School of Public Health participated.
School of Public Health Dean Sandro Galea hosted an alumni reception on March 19, featuring a talk by SPH Professor Wendy Mariner. Galea and Harold Cox spoke at the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health annual meeting from March 20 to March 22.
Senior Vice President for External Affairs Steve Burgay, Vice President of Marketing and Creative Services Amy Hook, and Rachel Lapal of Public Relations attended the Association of American Universities Public Affairs Network meeting from March 16 to March 19.
Linda Hyman of the School of Medicine and Sarah Hokanson of Professional Development & Postdoctoral Affairs participated in a meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Graduate Research, Education, and Training on March 14 and 15.
WHITE HOUSE ISSUES HIGHER ED EXECUTIVE ORDER
President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order on Thursday requiring federal grant-making agencies to ensure that university grantees “promote free inquiry, including through compliance with all applicable Federal laws, regulations, and policies.” The Order does not stipulate how these agencies should enforce the requirement, nor does it mandate a loss of federal research funds for suppressing free speech. The order also requires the U.S. Department of Education to publish data on the earnings and debt levels of college graduates by major or program of study. The data is expected to appear on the Department’s College Scorecard web site by January 2020.
ADMINISTRATION OUTLINES HIGHER ED PRIORITIES
On Monday, the White House released its policy recommendations for the pending renewal of the Higher Education Act. The document calls for reducing the number of accreditation standards, accrediting colleges by mission rather than region, and allowing Pell Grants to be used for short-term, non-degree programs. It also seeks to change the Federal Work Study program to prioritize non-campus employment, institute limits on parent and graduate student borrowing, and provide federal financial aid to prisoners eligible for release. The proposals would require an act of Congress to move forward, and they received a mixed reaction on Capitol Hill. Legislators plan to introduce a Higher Education Act reauthorization bill this year, but it remains to be seen if policy differences between the political parties can be resolved.
GRANTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office (DSO) announced an opportunity to meet with DSO program managers in conjunction with the Discover DSO Day in Arlington, VA, on June 18-19. The event provides an overview of DARPA and DSO, which is currently interested in research areas such as “frontiers in math, computation and design, limits of sensing and sensors, complex social systems, and anticipating surprise.” Researchers interested in meeting directly with a particular program manager must submit an executive summary outlining their research and how it fits in with DSO’s mission by April 15.