APLU In The News: July 2019

The University of Louisville’s Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research will be recognized for its outstanding work and community partnership with Louisville's Fairness Campaign. The Braden Institute worked with the Fairness Campaign from 2015-2017 on a project aiming to shine light on Kentucky’s relatively unexplored LGBTQ history. As a result of this effort, U of L has received the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities' 2019 W. Kellogg Awards and will have the opportunity to compete for the Peter Magrath Award for Community Engagement.

A coalition of higher ed groups asked key Senate and House lawmakers in a letter Monday to make graduate students a priority in a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The letter went to Senator Lamar Alexander, the GOP chairman of the Senate education committee, and ranking Democratic senator Patty Murray as well as Representative Bobby Scott, chairman of the House education committee, and ranking Republican representative Virginia Foxx. It noted recent decisions by Congress that have made graduate education more expensive, including elimination of in-school interest subsidies for grad students and higher origination fees on Grad PLUS loans. Lawmakers also removed graduate eligibility for the Perkins Loan program before its expiration in 2017.

A laundry list of 32 higher education interests, student organizations and science societies this week went to bat for graduate and professional students, calling on the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the House Committee on Education and Labor to make graduate education a priority in reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

The agency that accredits universities in Alaska is warning legislators that a 41 percent cut in state funding for the University of Alaska could lead to the loss of accreditation. Sonny Ramaswamy, president of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, issued the warning in a letter Sunday to state senators and representatives, and urged them to reconsider the funding cut. The cut, he wrote, poses a significant risk to the quality of education provided to UA students.

The clock began ticking on Monday for educators and students hoping to avert a potentially devastating financial blow to the University of Alaska system. Higher tuition, fewer students, crushing layoffs and program closures all loomed as frightening possibilities on Day 1 of the state’s special legislative session. The fiscal year had already begun, on July 1, and in a few months, a new crop of students would be arriving at the state’s far-flung campuses.

A national group representing 239 public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems, and affiliated organizations, is urging a veto override of Gov. Mike Dunleavy's cuts to the University of Alaska. Association of Public and Land-grant Universities President Peter McPherson on Wednesday sent the following letter to Alaska Senate President Cathy Giessel, Alaska Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, and all the members of the 31st Alaska State Legislature urging them to override the line-item veto that would see millions in cuts to the University of Alaska.

Two years ago in this space, I used a marriage metaphor to describe the interactions between campuses and their communities. I emphasized the development of harmonious town-gown relationships characterized by high levels of both effort and comfort. I urged community leaders to become more active suitors in order to jump-start partnerships that would generate a strong return on investment for all parties.

A chaotic budget fight in Alaska sparked by a new governor’s efforts to increase the annual oil royalty payments sent to residents may result in steep cuts—including layoffs and unpaid leave—at the state university system. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy last week vetoed about $444 million worth of line items in an $8.3 billion state budget that went into effect Monday.