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Shannen W. Coffin, a former senior Justice Department and White House lawyer, and George Leef, director of research for the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, wrote:  The University of North Carolina’s board of governors recently decided to create a School of Civic Life and Leadership, dedicated to principles of free speech in higher education. The resulting controversy has exposed an underappreciated aspect of the higher-education system: unchecked power wielded by a bureaucracy of private accreditors.
 

A Kentucky university has agreed to a settlement of more than $14 million over the death of a student wrestler hours after practice, the school announced. The settlement over the death of junior Grant Brace, 20, of Louisville, Tennessee, includes an agreement for the University of the Cumberlands to participate in a heat-illness training program and to help raise awareness of heat-related injuries, the university said Wednesday in a statement. 

Republicans are charting a new path to take on President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan even as it remains in limbo at the Supreme Court. A decision on Friday by the Government Accountability Office that Biden’s debt relief program is subject to the congressional review opens a new procedural tool for GOP lawmakers to try to block the measure — even if it has little chance of overcoming a presidential veto.
Leading the effort is Sen. Bill Cassidy, who took over the top GOP spot on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee this year. 

The Government Accountability Office recently determined that President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan meets the federal definition of a rule under the Congressional Review Act, opening the proposal to Congressional review. Subsequently, House and Senate Republicans intend to introduce a resolution to overturn the plan.  A simple majority vote in both houses of Congress would block the administration from moving forward with the plan regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court cases.
 
The GAO’s decision, released March 17, concluded the debt relief plan is considered a rule because it has a future effect, implement law and policy, and that the waivers and modifications of the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 were published in the Federal Register.
 
In addition, the online loan company SoFi has launched a campaign to stop the continuing pause in student loan payments due to the pandemic because it is having a significant impact on its business.
 
Details on these developments from the national media can be found below.
 
 
Senate Republicans Seek to Block Biden’s Debt-Relief Plan
Inside Higher Ed (March 20, 2023)
 
Cassidy Gears Up to Fight Biden’s Student Debt Relief
Politico.com (March 20, 2023)
 
Senate Republicans Will Try New Maneuver to Block Biden’s Loan Forgiveness Plan
Higher Ed Dive (March 20, 2023)
Senate Republicans Push for Vote to Block Biden’s Student Debt Relief
Politico Pro (Subscription required) March 18, 2023
 
‘Enough — It’s Hurting Our Business’: SoFi’s Campaign to Stop the Student-Loan Payment Pause That Helps Its Own Customers
MarketWatch (March 19, 2023)
 
Republican Senators Move to Overturn Biden’s $400 Billion Student Debt Relief ‘Gambit’
New York Post (March 17, 2023)
 
A New Federal Student Loan Program Will Move Millions Toward Forgiveness
The New York Times (March 17, 2023)
 

The Biden administration’s $90 billion plan to provide free community college likely won’t make it through Congress, but supporters of the effort say the request shows it’s a priority for the administration and helps to continue the national conversation about the policy. The plan, which calls for the $90 billion to be spread out over 10 years, was part of the administration’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal to Congress released last week.