NACUBO Members Head to Capitol Hill

Last week, NACUBO board chair Ron Rhames, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Midlands Technical College (SC), and board member Harold Hewitt, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Chapman University (CA), joined more than two dozen NACUBO constituent council representatives to call on 64 members of Congress to discuss pending policy proposals for comprehensive tax reform, reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) and other priority concerns.

With intense public scrutiny and concerns over the cost of college, student debt burden, and other college-related issues, lawmakers have responded by proposing new programs, rules, regulations and reforms. The stakes are high for higher education institutions as Congress attempts to tackle comprehensive tax reform and HEA reauthorization. NACUBO has seen discussion drafts of a tax proposal from House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and an HEA plan from Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA). Additionally, colleges are at the center of policy discussions about campus sexual assault. On July 30, a bipartisan group of eight senators—led by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)—introduced the Campus Accountability and Safety Act.

Members of NACUBO's four constituent councils (Community Colleges Council, Comprehensive and Doctoral Institutions Council, Research Universities Council and Small Institutions Council) were in Washington, DC for their annual constituent programs planning meetings.

Photo: Jerry White, vice president for finance and administration, Albion College pictured with Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). 

"In a time where there are changing attitudes on higher education and public pushback on college costs, we were pleased that so many NACUBO members were willing to engage with their elected officials to discuss the demands faced by college and university business officers," said Liz Clark, NACUBO's director of congressional relations.