News from NAICU

The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) presented the 29^th Annual Henry Paley Memorial Award to Christopher B. Nelson, president of St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, for his tireless work on behalf of the liberal arts and private higher education, and for setting an example for all who would seek to advance educational opportunity in the United States.  The award was presented today during NAICU’s 2015 Annual Meeting currently underway at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill.

Named for Henry Paley, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities of New York from 1975 until 1984, the Paley Memorial Award recognizes an individual who embodies his spirit of unfailing service toward the students and faculty of independent higher education.

“For nearly 25 years, Chris Nelson has been an articulate and outspoken advocate for a liberal arts education,” said NAICU President David L. Warren, Ph.D.  “From Congressional testimony and speaking engagements to newspaper opinion essays and blog posts, Chris regularly engages in the national conversation, sometimes actually leading the conversation, about higher education and has been prolific in advancing the mission and values of America’s private colleges and universities.”

“This is an extraordinary and unforeseen honor,” said Nelson.  “I am grateful to my colleagues who share with me the privilege and responsibility of helping to raise and educate the next generation.  Their friendship, support and wisdom have helped me immensely in my own work on behalf of higher education.”  [Read complete text of Nelson's comments]  [Read complete award citation]

Among a distinguished set of voices for the value of the liberal arts, Nelson is one of the most articulate and better known nationally. The Washington Post cited Nelson as one of the most influential college presidents in the country in a profile marking his 20^th anniversary at St. John’s College in 2011.

Recently, he has addressed issues of institutional autonomy in the face of government regulatory intrusion, changes proposed to the accrediting system, defining the role of liberal education as an excellent grounding for career and professional development and, most importantly, for an open-minded pursuit of lifelong learning. He is a regular contributor to the opinion pages of The Washington Post and The Huffington Post as well as a prolific writer of the blog Sign Post for Liberal Education (blogs.sjc.edu/christopher-nelson/).

Before accountability was a national buzzword, Nelson was a key member of NAICU’s 1994 Task Force on Appropriate Accountability, helping to frame the language still used in the higher education sector about the importance of self-regulation to preserving the core quality and diversity of American higher education.

St. John’s is devoted to the most liberal of liberal education. Its richly varied curriculum focuses on an integrated study of philosophy, literature, history, theology, political science, mathematics, music, and science. Students and faculty engage directly—not through textbooks and lectures but through study and discussion—with original texts and ideas that are at the foundations of Western thought.

A 1970 alumnus of St. John’s College, and a graduate of the University of Utah College of Law, Nelson practiced law in Chicago for 18 years, and was chairman of his law firm when he left the practice for the top leadership post at St. John’s College.

Nelson is a former chair of the Board of Directors of the Maryland Independent Colleges and Universities Association and a past chair and a founding member of the Annapolis Group, a consortium of over 120 of the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges. He also served on the board for the Council of Independent Colleges and as chair of the Board of Trustees of Shimer College. He is currently serving a second three-year term on the NAICU Board of Directors.

Support for student privacy is a policy position that the NAICU membership has taken throughout our existence, encompassing support of the Family Educational Rights and Responsibility Act (FERPA)—as well as opposition to the collection of student unit record data. Protection of student privacy was one of the six principles that guided our policy development on the Higher Education Act reauthorization work that began in 2002. So, it is certainly true that the NAICU membership supported a ban on the establishment of a student unit record data system and continues to do so.

Whatever the speculation about our motives may be, the truth is that our opposition is—and consistently has been—grounded in the concern about the adverse impact such a system would have on student privacy. We do not believe that the price for enrolling in college should be permanent entry into a massive data registry. Such a registry would collect individual data about students throughout their lifetimes, with no serious discussion about what data should not be collected or what privacy safeguards would remain.

Many members of Congress also care deeply about student privacy, and the ban on a federal student unit record system stems from that concern.

David L. Warren
President
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities 

Shenandoah University (Winchester, VA) President Tracy Fitzsimmons, Ph.D., has been appointed chair of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU).  Fitzsimmons leads a list of four new board officers and 15 new board directors who assumed their responsibilities on February 5, 2014 at the close of the NAICU 2014 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. 

Members of NAICU Board of Directors set the association agenda on federal higher education policy; actively encourage support of NAICU priorities and initiatives; and oversee the association's financial administration.  Members serve three-year terms.  Officers hold their positions for one year.

“NAICU's new board members and officers were elected by their peers because of their commitment to America's college students, leadership experience, and interest in advancing the cause of private, nonprofit colleges and universities,” said NAICU President David L. Warren. “They assume their responsibilities at a time of great challenge and transformation for American higher education.”

Board Chair

Fitzsimmons, who served as vice chair of the NAICU board in 2013-14, succeeds Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran, Ph.D., president of Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Mich., who remains on the board as immediate past chair.

"Our nation benefits from the best higher education system in the world, including the vibrant and innovative group of private, nonprofit colleges and universities that are members of NAICU,” Fitzsimmons said.  “Our challenge is to clearly communicate to students, families and policymakers the commitment that private, nonprofit institutions have in providing affordable access to a college education. At the same time, we must convince the federal government that it is not the job nor is it in the best interest of students and families for the Department of Education to be in the business of rating colleges.”

Fitzsimmons became Shenandoah University’s 16th president on July 1, 2008 and is the institution’s first female president since its founding in 1875.  One of the youngest university presidents in the Commonwealth of Virginia, she joined the Shenandoah community in 2001, as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.  She became vice president for Academic Affairs in 2002 and was named senior vice president in 2006. She holds a faculty appointment as professor of Political Science. Previously, Fitzsimmons was a tenured faculty member and faculty leader at the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif.

As president of Shenandoah University, she leads an institution of 4,000 students, 250 full-time faculty and 450 staff on a 129 acre site in Winchester, Va., and a satellite campus in Leesburg, Va.

Fitzsimmons earned a bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University, magna cum laude, and a master’s degree and doctorate from Stanford University in Latin American studies and political science, respectively.

Other New NAICU Board Officers

• John M. McCardell, Jr., Ph.D., vice chancellor and president, Sewanee: The University of the South in Sewanee, TN, will serve as vice chair of the NAICU board of directors.  He will assume the position of chair next year. 
• William W. Destler, Ph.D., president of Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, NY, has been named treasurer. 
• Marvin Krislow, J.D., president of Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH, has been named secretary.

 New NAICU Board Members    

Eight new members were elected to three-year terms on the NAICU board, representing the association's national regions: 

• Mim L. Runey, LDP, president of Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI, will represent Region I (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT). 
• Christopher B. Nelson, J.D., president of St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, will represent Region II (DE, DC, MD, NJ, NY). 
• Thomas F. Flynn, Ph.D., president of Alvernia University in Reading, PA, will represent Region III (KY, OH, PA, WV). 
• Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D., president of Stetson University in Deland, FL, will represent Region IV (FL, GA, NC, SC, VA). 
• Eileen Schwalbach, Ph.D., president of Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, WI, will represent Region V (IL, IN, MI, WI). 
• B. David Rowe, Ph.D., president of Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, LA, will represent Region VI (AL, AR, LA, MS, OK, TN, TX). 
• Paul C. Pribbenow, Ph.D., president of Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN, will represent Region VII (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD). 
• Stephen Thorsett, Ph.D,  president of Willamette University in Salem, OR, will represent Region VIII (AK, AZ, CA, CO., HI, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY). 

Four presidents have been named to three-year terms as at-large members of the board: 

• Bobby Fong, Ph.D., president of Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA. 
• Philip A. Glotzbach, Ph.D., president of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY.
• Thayne M. McCulloh, D. Phil., president of Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA.
• Elizabeth Stroble, Ph.D., president of Webster University in St. Louis, MO. 

In addition, Lesa Smaligo, executive director of Oklahoma Independent Colleges and Universities in Owasso, OK, will serve a three year term on the Board representing the National Association of Independent College and University State Executives (NAICUSE). 

Robin Taffler, executive director, Work Colleges Consortium of Berea, KY, also will serve a three-year term representing the NAICU Secretariat. 

And finally, Deborah Altenburg, director of federal relations at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, will serve a three year term as an ad-hoc, non-voting government relations professional.

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

WASHINGTON, D.C.  — The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) Legal Services Review Panel is the recipient of the 2014 Henry Paley Memorial Award, presented today during the Association’s 2014 Annual Meeting. The meeting is being held in Washington, D.C., at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill.

Since 1985, the Paley Award has recognized an individual who, throughout his or her career, has unfailingly served the students and faculty of independent higher education.  The recipient of this award has set an example for all who would seek to advance educational opportunity in the United States.  The Paley Award is named for Henry Paley, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities of New York from 1975 until 1984.

The NAICU Legal Services Review Panel evaluates emerging legal issues, precedent-setting litigation, and the decisions of federal regulatory bodies and advises Association leaders and members on the implications for private, nonprofit higher education.  The volunteer panel is comprised of university general counsels, senior college administrators, and state association executives who also are lawyers.

“For more than 35 years, the Legal Services Review Panel has profoundly shaped American higher education and, in particular, the role of private nonprofit colleges and universities in society,” said NAICU President David L. Warren.  “Collectively, panel members have donated literally thousands of hours of legal consultation and advice in service to the Association and to the students and leaders of private colleges and universities.”

At its founding in the mid-1970s, NAICU’s primary mission was to serve as a more effective voice for independent colleges and universities. At the time, the federal government’s role in higher education was becoming more assertive. Federal policy was beginning to shape a growing number of issues vital to these institutions, initially through legislation. Soon, though, NAICU leaders realized that the courts and regulatory agencies were also increasingly involved in the affairs of colleges and universities. For NAICU members, these presented new and different challenges to their essential mission and independence.

Clearly, the leaders of the new association needed help. They turned to a group of legal experts that over time became the Legal Services Review Panel. Some of the panel’s most valuable advice has been in deciding which of the multitude of legal issues the association should address, and then determining the strategy and timing of NAICU’s interventions.

The panel’s advice to NAICU has covered a broad range of issues that continues to expand today. Arguably most important were those involving academic freedom and cases that would impinge on the special status of independent institutions. Other key issues include the protection of student records and privacy; the impact of Title IX on men’s and women’s athletics; and the long battle over affirmative action as the Bakke case moved toward the Supreme Court

Philip Moot, who served as chair of the panel for more than 30 years before retiring five years ago, accepted the award on behalf of the panel’s volunteers.

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.

Previous Award Recipients

Named for Henry Paley, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities of New York from 1975 until 1984, the award recognizes an individual who embodies his spirit of unfailing service toward the students and faculty of independent higher education.  The winner of this award has set an example for all who would seek to advance educational opportunity in the United States.

2013    Bernard Fryshman, Executive Vice President, Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools
2012    Patricia A. McGuire, President, Trinity Washington University
2011    The Rev. Charles L. Currie, S.J., President, Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
2010    Sister Kathleen Ross, snjm, Heritage University
2009    Morgan Odell, Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities
2008    The Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., University of Notre Dame
2007    Alexander W. (Sandy) Astin, Higher Education Research Institute, University of California
2006    Clare Cotton, The Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Massachusetts
2005    Robert N.  Kelly, Kansas Independent College Association
2004    Michael S.  McPherson, Spencer Foundation, Macalester College
2003    James C.  Ross, Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities of New York
2002    Allen P. Splete, Council of Independent Colleges
2001    (Special NAICU 25th Anniversary Meeting recognizing all previous recipients – no new award was given)
2000    Sr. Mary Andrew Matesich, Ohio Dominican College
1999    David Irwin, Washington Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
1998    Rev. William J. Sullivan, Seattle University
1997    James Whalen, Ithaca College
1996    John Frazer, Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities
1995    Richard F. Rosser, National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
1994    Sr. Dorothy Ann Kelly, College of New Rochelle
1993    Derek Bok, Harvard University
1992    (Special Summit Meeting – no award was given)
1991    Francis "Mike" Michelini, Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania
1990    The Honorable Silvio Conte, U.S. House of Representatives
1989    The Honorable Thomas H. Kean, Governor, New Jersey
1988    The Honorable William H. Natcher, U.S. House of Representatives
1987    Frank "Sandy" Tredinnick, Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts
1986    James Ream, Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Universities
1985    Rev. Timothy S. Healy, Georgetown University