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Cardona Resurrects Student-aid Enforcement Unit Disbanded by DeVos
A Barack Obama-era enforcement unit dismantled by the Donald Trump administration is being resurrected at the Education Department to investigate colleges engaging in fraud and abuse of federal student aid. Reestablishing the unit, created in 2016, signals that the Biden administration will resume Obama-era efforts to root out abuses at for-profit colleges, a campaign criticized by Republicans and one that led to the demise of the unit. Before Trump entered office, the enforcement team, including lawyers and investigators, was probing deceptive recruitment and marketing practices at a number of for-profit schools, including those owned by DeVry Education Group (now known as Adtalem Global Education). The DeVry investigation ended shortly after Trump took office, and months later his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, named Julian Schmoke Jr., a former DeVry University dean with no legal or investigative expertise, to lead the student-aid enforcement unit. ( The Washington Post - Oct. 8, 2021)
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Recap: First Week of Negotiated Rule Making
The Department of Education held its first negotiated rule-making session of the Biden administration last week, during which stakeholders discussed their views on potential changes to several federal student aid programs, including closed-college discharges, total and permanent disability discharges, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The department is planning to rewrite regulations to improve student borrowers’ access to Title IV programs created by Congress and end “patterns of wrongdoing” by colleges that aren’t meeting expectations. . . . The committee discussed improvements to the process for granting total and permanent disability discharges, improving borrower access to closed-college discharges, eliminating interest capitalization for certain capitalizing events, improving the Public Service Loan Forgiveness application process, determining employer eligibility and defining full-time employment for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, . . . [and a host of other topics related to borrower defense.] ( Inside Higher Ed - Oct. 11, 2021)
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House Education Committee Holds Hearing on HBCU Investments
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were the focus this week of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment of the House Committee on Education and Labor. The committee held a hearing focused on the long history and the continuing contributions of HBCUs to American society. This hearing served as the first in a series of hearings that will also focus on the importance and contributions of Tribal Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions. The witnesses who testified consisted of experts on the sector, including Dr. Glenda Glover of Tennessee State University, who was the only college president in attendance and provided the critical perspective of what it is like to work directly with students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Chairwoman Frederica Wilson (D-FL), who is a graduate of Fisk University, an HBCU in Tennessee, spoke about the value of HBCUs, their rich history, and the importance of the financial investments Congress made in these institutions in the recent COVID-19-related bills. ( National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities - Oct. 8, 2021)
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White House Science Advisers Call for AI 'Bill of Rights'
Two of the White House’s top science advisers called for an artificial intelligence “bill of rights” in an opinion piece published Friday on Wired. President Biden’s chief science adviser, Eric Lander, and the deputy director for science and society, Alondra Nelson, cautioned of the risks posed by technologies like facial recognition, automated translators and medical diagnosis algorithms. Critics of the technology have said that the tools depend on data sets that are often biased in ways that replicate and amplify existing societal biases. The two also cautioned about the potential security and privacy risks from the internet-enabled devices, from smart speakers to webcams. The influential advisers called for a set of rules using the Bill of Rights as a template to ensure that emerging technologies respect democratic values and treat everyone fairly. ( The Hill - Oct. 8, 2021)
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DCbrief provides concise summaries of news items to inform Vanderbilt faculty and staff of federal policy developments that impact the university. Visit our website for past issues of DCbrief. Vanderbilt University Office of Federal Relations (202) 216-4361
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