Welcome to the Universities of Wisconsin Government Relations Newsletter. The Office of Government Relations provides legislative and political updates that impact the Universities of Wisconsin at the state and federal level.
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Board of Regents
The Board of Regents for the Universities of Wisconsin will be meeting in-person at UW-Whitewater this Thursday and Friday, December 4-5, beginning at 8:45am.
You can find the agenda, meeting materials, and videoconference information on the website here.
A summary will also be available on the Board of Regents news site following the meeting which can be found here.
State Relations
Please check back for future updates.
Please check back for future updates.
Federal Relations
Department of Education Appointments
Last week, the Department of Education announced five appointments to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity. For more on the appointees, you can review the linked release.
Department of Education Portal
On December 1, the Department of Education announced a new portal for universities to report foreign funding pursuant to Section 117 of the Higher Education Act.
At the time of the release, Secretary McMahon said, “The Trump Administration is launching a new state-of-the-art system for colleges and universities to more efficiently and securely report their foreign gifts and contracts as required under the law. After years of neglect by the Biden Administration, the new portal will assist our institutions of higher education in fulfilling their statutory responsibilities and enable us to protect our national security by facilitating improved compliance. America’s taxpayer funded colleges and universities have both a moral and legal obligation to be fully transparent with the U.S. government and the American people about their foreign financial relationships. We are grateful to the many stakeholders for their feedback in designing this portal and look forward to vigorously protecting our educational institutions from potentially harmful foreign influence.”
For more, you can review the linked release above.
Committee on Education and Workforce Hearings
On December 3, the House Education and Workforce Committee will hold two subcommittee hearings that may be of interest.
At 9:15AM Central Time, the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development will hold a hearing titled, “Public Funds, Private Politics: Examining Bias in the Truman Scholarship Program.” For more, you can review the Committee website.
Beginning at 1:00PM Central Time, the Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Safeguarding Student Privacy and Parental Rights: A Review of FERPA and PPRA.” For more, you can review the Committee website.
Full House and Senate Hearing Schedule
If interested, you can see a full list of upcoming hearings on the Senate Hearings & Meetings Page. A review of the committee hearings in the House of Representatives is available via the Committee Schedule within the House of Representatives Legislative Activity section on the Chamber’s main page.
House and Senate Floor Schedules
When the House of Representatives and Senate return to Washington, a full list of votes will be found on the respective websites for the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Note: Links to external sites are provided for informational purposes and not meant to convey an endorsement of the Universities of Wisconsin.