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• Results of Massachusetts Senate Election Likely to Stall Health Care, Student Loan Legislation
• State of the Union Address Scheduled for Jan. 27; President's FY 2011 Budget Drops Feb. 1
• Concern Remains for College and University Students, Faculty and Staff in Haiti
• ACE and College Board Release Policy Brief on Access and Diversity
• Register Now to Join Your Colleagues in Phoenix at ACE's 2010 Annual Meeting
• ACE Friends Among Hispanic Outlook's "Top 10 Movers & Shakers"

Members of Congress returning from their long holiday recess found the political landscape in Washington greatly altered by the stunning results of the special election in Massachusetts to fill the Senate seat previously held by Edward Kennedy, who died in August. The election of Massachusetts State Senator Scott Brown (R) eliminated the Democrats' super-majority in the Senate, giving Republicans a critical 41st vote and the ability to block legislation by filibuster.

This means key elements of President Obama's agenda are now in limbo, particularly his top priority, restructuring the nation's health care system. This uncertainty also directly impacts an issue greatly important to the higher education community—the reform of the federal student loan system and related increases in need-based student aid.

As you know, the Senate approved a health care bill—the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590)—on Dec. 24, following House passage of the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) on Nov. 16. The two bills—approved along strict party lines—have substantial differences, and House and Senate conferees started working to reconcile them in early January. However, the results of the Massachusetts special election have stopped this process cold and forced the Democratic leadership to rethink its strategy.

Because one of the possible scenarios for moving forward on health care reform involves combining it with the president's student loan legislation in a single reconciliation bill, the deadlock over health care has prevented the Senate from acting on the president's higher education legislation until a clear course of action can be formulated. As you will recall, the president's student loan legislation would eliminate the bank-based student loan program, require all schools to use direct lending, and allocate some of the resulting federal budget savings to expand Pell grants and provide support for community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges. The House of Representatives approved its version of the legislation (H.R. 3221) in September. 

As I write this, Democratic leaders are still rethinking their strategy for passing health care legislation, which they say remains very much alive. Currently, the most talked-about possibilities include:

1. House and Senate Democratic leadership complete work on the final bill after Senator-elect Brown is seated—likely scaling it back, but still leaving it open to a Republican filibuster.
2. The House is asked to vote on the Senate bill, while a second corrections bill would be passed through budget reconciliation (along with the student loan proposals).
3. The House passes a series of separate bills addressing more popular concerns, such as insurance market reform, efforts to reduce costs and help small businesses, and closing the coverage gap in the Medicare prescription drug plan, among other issues. The bills, once approved by the House, would be forwarded to the Senate for consideration.
4. Congress gives priority to developing and passing a jobs bill, placing health care legislation on the back burner indefinitely and freeing the House and Senate to take up the higher education bill as standalone budget reconciliation legislation.

The decision about which direction to pursue is being made by a handful of individuals, and there is no consensus on a winning strategy at this point. While we support many of the overall goals of the president's health care proposal, in letters sent Jan. 8 and Jan. 12 to both the Senate and House leadership, we noted some of our concerns about the proposal's potential impact on students, as well as on state budgets through increased Medicare costs. We also have noted in previous communications our concerns about the student loan proposal, despite our overall support of provisions that would expand Pell grants and provide support for community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges.

Along with the rest of the country, we are anxiously waiting to see in which direction Congress decides to move in the coming days. We likely will have greater insight next week following the president's State of the Union speech. There certainly will be much for us to discuss at the ACE Annual Meeting in March, where we plan special legislative updates for attending presidents and chancellors. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor the situation and hope to provide you with additional details next week.

The White House announced this week that President Obama will deliver his first State of the Union address on Jan. 27 at 9 p.m. EST.

The president will outline his priorities for the coming year as well as review his first year in office in the televised speech to the nation, delivered before a joint session of Congress. The address is also typically a preview of the policies and themes that will appear in the presidential budget for the upcoming fiscal year. President Obama will submit on Feb. 1 his budget for FY 2011, which begins Oct. 1.

On Tuesday, the administration announced that the president intends to seek $1.35 billion to extend the competitive "Race to the Top" public school reform initiative as part of his budget proposal. These funds would be on top of the $4.35 billion for the initiative included in the $787 billion economic stimulus plan passed last year. We do not have details on what may be included in the State of the Union address regarding higher education, but we have been told by White House staffers that the president will make reference to higher education in ways that may be familiar, but may also contain "a couple of new wrinkles."

Like all of you, I have been deeply saddened by the tragic events in Haiti following the devastating earthquake on Jan. 12. The unimaginable loss of life and subsequent rescue efforts have touched us all and only now are we able to start assessing the scope of the damage.

The six major presidential higher education associations, including ACE, have a special interest in Haiti through our work with Higher Education for Development (HED), which facilitates four USAID-funded Haiti university partnerships in that country.

The U.S. institutions and their partners are: Missouri Southern State University with the Université Quisqueya (UniQ); Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University with the Ecole Supérieure d'Infotronique d'Haïti; the University of Florida with the Faculté d'Agronomie et de Médécine Vétérinaire (FAMV) at the State University of Haiti; and the University of Massachusetts, Boston with the Institut National d'Administration de Gestion et des Hautes Etudes Internationales (INAGHEI) at the State University of Haiti.

While information coming out of Haiti remains limited, we have received word that all of our U.S.-based HED partners traveling in Haiti at the time of the quake are safe. It was also a relief to learn that Haitian partners affiliated with all four partnerships appear to be accounted for at this time, although HED is still waiting for more complete information on the status of other colleagues at these Haitian universities.

Additionally, it is my understanding that the facilities for all four partner institutions have either collapsed or sustained significant damage. Rectors and senior administrators from all four institutions are in the process of assessing damage and determining immediate needs so that classes can resume as quickly as possible for the students who survived the quake. 

We will continue to reach out to our partner institutions as well as USAID and the State Department to gather information and provide whatever support we can.

You may also have seen media reports regarding members of the Lynn University (FL) community who were in Haiti at the time of the earthquake and are missing. As of this writing, search and rescue operations to locate four students and two faculty members continue. I have reached out to Lynn's president, Kevin Ross, and assured him that our hearts are with the families of the missing as well as the entire campus community. You can read my letter here.

I will keep you informed of any developments as I receive them. I know you join me in sending the higher education community's thoughts and prayers to the people of Haiti, our higher education partners in Port-au-Prince, the rescue workers on the scene, and the institutions that have been impacted by this tragedy. USAID has established a comprehensive web site where you can learn more about relief/recovery efforts and how to help.

On a more positive note for relief efforts, this week both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed a bill (H.R. 4462) allowing taxpayers to deduct charitable cash contributions made in 2010 to Haiti earthquake relief on their 2009 tax returns. The legislation sets a March 1 deadline for contributions to count toward 2009 returns.

ACE and the College Board have teamed up to produce a new paper on major developments and trends in the area of access and diversity in higher education that you might find useful as you review these policies on your campus.

A 21st-Century Imperative: Promoting Access and Diversity in Higher Education is the product of a presidential roundtable held at ACE in September 2008. The paper summarizes many key developments including the connection between diversity and positive educational outcomes, the issue of merit, and the expanded definition of diversity.

Accompanying the policy paper is the Access and Diversity Toolkit for Higher Education Professionals . Developed by the College Board, the toolkit is designed to help facilitate constructive campus-based dialogues and policy discussions that I hope will lead to access and diversity policies and programs that are educationally effective, cost effective and legally sustainable.

Both the policy paper and toolkit are free and can be accessed from the ACE web site.

How will colleges and universities respond to mounting financial pressures? What will the federal government's increased role in higher education mean for your campus? Join us at ACE's 92nd Annual Meeting, March 6–9, 2010, to explore how we can effectively meet these and other challenges together.

Because of the dramatic change in the political calculus here in Washington, I am pleased to announce that we have added a special concurrent session on Tuesday morning from 10:00-11:30 a.m.—Senior Vice President Terry Hartle will be speaking on recent trends and developments in the federal policy arena. This session will be in addition to the government relations update that Terry and I will give during Sunday's luncheon for presidents and chancellors.

On Sunday morning, William G. Bowen, president emeritus of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Princeton University, will discuss how "the shape of the river has changed," with a renewed emphasis on learning and attainment and heightened concerns over price and costs. Small group discussions around higher education's most pressing topics will follow.

Eduardo J. Padrón, president of Miami Dade College (MDC), will deliver the Robert H. Atwell Lecture during the opening plenary session on Sunday. As the leader of the largest and most diverse college in the country, Padrón is credited with cultivating a culture of success at MDC, producing impressive results in student access, retention, graduation and overall achievement. I was also pleased to learn that he was recently named Florida Trend Magazine's 2009 "Floridian of the Year."

Visit the Annual Meeting web site for the full schedule. I hope you will join us for what promises to be an informative, productive and timely meeting.

Finally this week, Hispanic Outlook magazine has named several friends of ACE to its list of the "Top 10 Movers & Shakers" in higher education. 

Included on the list were Sarita Brown, president of Excelencia in Education; Ricardo Fernández, president of Lehman College, The City University of New York; Antonio Flores, president and chief executive officer of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities; Juliet V. García, president of the University of Texas-Brownsville; and Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami Dade College (FL).

In selecting these dynamic leaders, the magazine wrote in its Jan. 4 issue that they have "influenced and changed the national higher education landscape in a positive way." I congratulate each of them on this wonderful recognition and applaud their tireless work on behalf of the students, institutions and organizations they serve. 

Molly Corbett Broad
President of ACE