Higher
Education Opportunity Act
Public Meeting
Chancellor Victor J. Boschini,
Jr.
September 19, 2008
[watch
opening remarks video]
Good morning. I am
Victor Boschini, chancellor of Texas Christian University. I
want to take this opportunity to welcome you to the TCU campus.
We are honored that you are with us today.
American higher education is the most diverse in the world.
It includes research universities such as TCU, private liberal
arts colleges, faith-based institutions, historically black colleges
and universities, small public colleges, massive state systems,
community colleges and proprietary schools. Together, we represent
the multiplicity of choice and the richness of educational opportunity
in the United States.
Other groups assure students have access to capital, helping
to open educational opportunity to all. These include direct
lenders, private lenders, guarantors, secondary markets and servicers.
Their representatives also are here today, as well as those who
assure students receive a quality education, such as accreditors.
And I want to offer a special welcome to
student representatives. I
know you can be very knowledgeable. One of our TCU students,
Amanda Edmiston, who is here today, is an excellent example. She
was involved in lobbying for several proprietary-sector institutions
while she learned about education policy as an intern in Washington
last fall. Amanda followed the lobbying process, tracked
internal Beltway negotiations and once observed the hearings
first-hand. As she proudly notes, “I was the only intern
in a room of Washington professionals, witnessing history in
the making.”
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I also would like to recognize those from the Department
of Education. Together we work on behalf of all Americans. It
is our responsibility to make sure our institutions are good
stewards of public funds and worthy of public trust.
I speak to you today as the chancellor of TCU, but my remarks will reflect my
roles beyond this campus as the board chair of the National Association of Independent
Colleges and Universities and as a member of the Independent Colleges and Universities
of Texas.
We have traveled a long road to reach this point.
Perhaps no one in this room is fully pleased with the Higher
Education Act, as it is reauthorized. Perhaps the least happy
may be those in the Department of Education, who are faced with
the difficult task of implementing this massive law in a very
short period of time. I applaud their efforts to conduct these
regional hearings swiftly and efficiently, and to get the negotiated
rulemaking process under way.
I would like to do two things today. First, I
would like to offer some guiding principles for the rulemaking
process that I hope we can all agree upon. Second, I would like
to offer some suggestions on issues of particular importance
to NAICU and ICUT.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
First, the law is the law. Had
any of us in this room had the privilege of crafting this legislation,
it would have been different. But for better or for worse, Congress
has spoken. The negotiated rulemaking process should not be
a venue for reopening or trying to undo decisions Congress has
made. Simply put, the Department does not have the authority
to undo Congressional decision-making.
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