NAICU Washington Update

NAICU 2014 Annual Meeting in Review

February 18, 2014

More than 400 private, nonprofit college and university leaders gathered in Washington, DC, for the 2014 NAICU Annual Meeting and Advocacy Day.

Annual Meeting participants heard from speakers on a wide range of topics including:

  • Charlie Cook, editor and publisher, The Cook Political Report, and columnist, National Journal, discussed the state of politics in Washington. 
      
  • Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University, and author of Higher Education in America, discussed the future of higher education. 
      
  • Michael Duffy, Washington bureau chief, Time magazine, and co-author, The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity, discussed the relationship between U.S. Presidents from Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama. 
      
  • Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), ranking member on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, called for cutting back on the regulation of higher education. (link to speech text
      
  • Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president emeritus, The George Washington University, and author of Presidencies Derailed: Why University Leaders Fail and How to Prevent It, discussed failed college presidencies. 
      
  • Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, talked about the Massively Open Online Class (MOOC) offered by Wesleyan. 

2014 Award for Advocacy of Independent Higher Education

NAICU presented Sen. Alexander with the 2014 Award for Advocacy of Independent Higher Education. Established in 1993, the NAICU Advocacy Award recognizes individuals outside of academe who have championed the cause of independent nonprofit higher education and who have an extended record of service, initiative, and determination.

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 county.

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NAICU President David Warren (left) and Swanee: The University of the South Vice Chancellor and President John McCardell, Jr. (right) present Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) with the 2014 Award for Advocacy of Independent Higher Education.

2014 Henry Paley Memorial Award

The NAICU Legal Services Review Panel, which evaluates emerging legal issues, litigation, and the decisions of federal regulatory bodies and advises Association leaders on the implications for private, nonprofit higher education, was honored with the 2014 Henry Paley Memorial Award. The volunteer panel is comprised of university general counsels, senior college administrators, and state association executives who also are lawyers.

Philip R. Moots, attorney at law with the firm of Newhouse, Prophater, Letcher & Moots, L.L.C. of Columbus, OH, and 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.

Since 1985, the Paley Award has recognized an individual(s) who, throughout his or her career, has unfailingly served the students and faculty of independent higher education. The recipients of this award have 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.

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Philip Moot of Newhouse, Prophater, Letcher & Moots, L.L.C., left, accepts the 2014 henry Paley Memorial Award for service to independent higher education. Sally M. Furay, R.S.C.J. provost emerita at University of San Diego (center) and NAICU President David Warren presented the award.

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