Report of Committee R on Government Relations: 1998

Committee R began the new (academic) year with a new chair, David Rubiales of Yuba College in California. At the committee's fall meeting, held in Washington, D.C., on November 12 and 13, the committee selected federal legislative priorities and identified program goals for the upcoming congressional session. For the 106th Congress, the AAUP Government Relations program will focus on the following issues.

Priorities

Budget, Taxation, and Appropriations

Maintain support of federal student financial aid, including increases in Pell grants, the direct loan program, and tax provisions that improve access to higher education and encourage participation in careers in higher education. Promote federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Support reauthorization and funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Continue to support full funding of scholarly research activities sponsored by federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Intellectual Property and Publishing Issues

Monitor and protect the principles of academic freedom and access to information in the development of treaties and new legislation affecting intellectual property issues, including issues arising in the development of technological innovations. Promote legislation to change the tax treatment of inventory to enhance the availability of textbooks and reference works.

Distance Education

Ensure maintenance of academic and educational quality in distance education as legislation and regulations are developed.

Diversity and Equality of Opportunity in Education

Promote efforts to increase the diversity of faculty members and students at colleges and universities as a means to improve and enrich the experience of higher education. Continue commitment to the principles of equal opportunity, affirmative action, and civil rights, including support for programs for women and minorities. Encourage support for institutions specifically serving minority populations.

Labor Law Reform

Maintain support for the legal right of faculty to take collective action, including participation in collective bargaining, and initiate collaboration on legislation to overturn the Yeshiva decision. Oppose legislation that would interfere with rights of faculty to organize, determine democratically how they participate in governance, and exercise their freedom of association.

Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom

Counter efforts to limit freedom of expression and related academic freedom rights.

Benefits in Higher Education

Monitor and promote benefits that improve access to higher education, attract top scholars to teaching and research, and encourage graduate students to consider careers in higher education.

International Education and Immigration

Support international education and multiple-language programs as ways to enrich and broaden the higher education experience. Oppose legislation naming English as the official language of the United States. Oppose legislation which would require educational personnel to enforce federal immigration laws, or deny educational opportunities to any resident of the United States.

1998 Activities

Committee R maintained an active pace in 1998, working at both the federal and the state levels. This year, the Higher Education Act (HEA) was reauthorized. Throughout the process, staff and members communicated the Association's position on the HEA to congressional offices. Later in the year, lobbying continued on budget and appropriations issues. Copies of letters and memoranda on various parts of the HEA were made available on the Government Relations section of the AAUP Web page.

Distance Learning

The HEA provided waivers for some "demonstration" projects in distance education. The act also granted a blanket waiver to the Western Governors' University (WGA), and directed the WGU and all the demonstration projects to report to Congress regarding any legal or regulatory requirements that tended to hamper the development of distance education. Staff and committee members communicated with congressional staffers on this specific issue, urging caution and further study before regulatory structures are set aside.

Committee R's 1997 report on distance learning was published in the May/June 1998 issue of Academe, and was circulated widely within the Association. As a result, the Council established a Special Committee on Distance Education and Intellectual Property Issues to formulate Association policy in the areas of distance education and the ownership of intellectual property.

Retirement

The AAUP supported language in the HEA that will create a safe harbor for universities wishing to offer retirement incentives to tenured faculty. The AAUP's support of the provision and its participation in final negotiations on report language was key to the inclusion of protective language and to the final passage of the section.

Affirmative Action

Rep. Frank Riggs (R-Calif.) introduced an amendment to the HEA, which would have ended affirmative action programs in college admissions. Government Relations staff circulated an alert to AAUP members urging calls to House members. The full House voted to reject Rep. Riggs's amendment in April.