Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) accepts the 2014 Award for Advocacy of Independent Higher Education from NAICU President David L. Warren (left) and Sewanee: The University of the South Vice Chancellor and President John M. McCardell, Jr. (right).
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) received the 2014 Award for Advocacy of Independent Higher Education today from the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU).
The award was presented by NAICU President David L. Warren and Sewanee: The University of the South Vice Chancellor and President John M. McCardell, Jr., at NAICU’s 2014 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
The NAICU Advocacy Award was established in 1993 to recognize individuals outside of academe who have championed the cause of independent nonprofit higher education. No single contribution makes one eligible to receive the award. Instead, it recognizes an extended record of service, initiative, and determination.
In prepared remarks, Sen. Alexander decried the level of regulation faced by all colleges and universities.
"Despite well-meaning intentions over the years, our system has become too complicated and burdensome," he said. "It wastes time, and time and dollars that ought to be spent helping students."
He went on to discuss the bipartisan call for a new National Research Council task force to conduct a study on the overregulation of higher education and the $1 million in funding secured for the project.
He also asked the assembly NAICU presidens for their help.
"I want to reverse this trend of piling on layer after layer," he said. "The task force needs to hear specific examples of rules and regulations tha are no longer needed, overly burdensome, costly, and confusing."
The task force, headquartered at the American Council on Education, has scheduled an organizational meeting for next week.
As a former governor, university president, education secretary, businessman, and now two-term Senator, Sen. Alexander has brought an authoritative voice to the national debate on higher education policy, ensuring the future vibrancy, quality, and independence of American higher education. As the lead Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, he is a strong and bipartisan voice for higher education institutions in Tennessee and around the country.
“Senator Alexander has lent an understanding ear to the issues and concerns of the nation’s private, nonprofit colleges and universities as well as to the students and their families,” said NAICU President David L. Warren. “He has also been at the forefront in articulating the strength, diversity, and vitality of higher education in the United States. Of particular importance to private independent institutions, he recognizes that autonomy and diversity are two qualities that have made our system the envy of the world.”
During the past 11 years in Congress, Sen. Alexander has given strong support to the Pell Grant, recognizing its value in promoting a student’s choice of institutions. At the same time, he has been relentless in his efforts to identify and limit the burgeoning federal regulations that contribute to rising college costs.
“With reauthorization of the Higher Education Act on the Congressional agenda, Sen. Alexander will continue to play a key role in shaping the future of higher education in America,” said Warren. “His ‘flannel shirt’ pragmatism and hands-on experience will serve as an important balance to the many theories of how colleges and universities might be ‘reformed.”
NAICU serves as the unified national voice of independent higher education. With more than 1,000 member institutions and associations, NAICU reflects the diversity of private, nonprofit higher education in the United States. They include traditional liberal arts colleges, major research universities, church- and faith-related institutions, historically black colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, single-sex colleges, art institutions, two-year colleges, and schools of law, medicine, engineering, business, and other professions.
The NAICU Advocacy Award was established to recognize individuals outside of academe who have championed the cause of independent higher education. Whether in government, business, or philanthropy, the winner of this award has provided leadership, established resources, or enacted policy at the state or national level that recognized the role of independent colleges and universities in serving public purposes. No single contribution makes one eligible to receive the award. Instead, it recognizes a lifetime of service, initiative, and determination.
Previous Award Recipients
2013 Arnold L. Mitchem, President, Council for Opportunity in Education
2012 The United Technologies Corporation, accepted by UTC Chairman and CEO Louis Chênevert
2011 The Honorable Timothy H. Bishop, U.S. House of Representatives
2010 The Honorable George Miller, United States House of Representatives
2009 The Honorable John W. Warner, U.S. Senate
2008 The Honorable Ralph Regula, U. S. House of Representatives
2007 Loren Pope, College Placement Counselor and Author, Colleges That Change Lives
2006 The Honorable Philip S. English, U.S. House of Representatives
2005 The Honorable Thomas H. Kean, President, Drew University; Chair, The National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States; and Former Governor of New Jersey
2004 The Honorable Chuck Grassley, U.S. Senate
2003 The Honorable Dale E. Kildee, U.S. House of Representatives
2002 The Honorable Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, U. S. House of Representatives
2001 The Honorable David R. Obey, U.S. House of Representatives
2000 The Honorable Arlen Specter, U.S. Senate
1999 The Honorable Claiborne Pell, U.S. Senate
1998 The Honorable William Roth, U.S. Senate
1997 The Honorable Richard Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education
1996 (Special Summit Meeting – no award was given)
1995 The Honorable Robert Stafford, U.S. Senate
1994 The Honorable Tom Harkin, U.S. Senate
1993 The Honorable Terry Sanford, U.S. Senate