ACE and other higher
education associations have for the third time in seven months sent a
letter asking the Department of Education (ED) to clarify the reporting
requirements of Section 117 of the Higher Education Act in order to help
colleges and universities comply with these obligations.
In its July 12 letter,
ACE and the other associations note that more than three decades after
enactment, ED has not issued Section 117 regulations. Instead, it has
issued two “Dear Colleague Letters,” the last one in 2004, providing
only limited guidance. That is even as Secretary of Education Betsy
DeVos has said that “the era of rule by letter is over.”
However, that’s precisely what ED is doing in the case of Section 117, the ACE letter states.
“As Secretary DeVos promised in regards to
not ruling by letter, the most effective way of ensuring that
institutions know exactly how to comply with Section 117 is to undertake
a formal rulemaking process that allows for public comments,” stated
the letter from ACE Senior Vice President Terry W. Hartle.
The July 12 ACE letter responded to a July 3 letter from the Department of Education, which was ED’s reply to letters about the need for Section 117 clarification that ACE sent Jan. 18, 2019, and June 21, 2019.
But ED’s July 3 response “will not help
institutions meet compliance obligations,” the ACE letter said.
“Compliance requires a clear, unambiguous understanding of obligations.
It is patently unfair to enforce requirements that do not exist in
writing.”
As Inside Higher Ed
has reported, the Department of Education has increased its scrutiny of
whether colleges comply with the foreign gift reporting requirements,
and opened investigations into several institutions.
But as Sarah Spreitzer, ACE director of government and public affairs, told Inside Higher Ed, “There is a lot of confusion among our member institutions on what needs to be reported under Section 117.”
Spreitzer added that, “ACE and our member
institutions want to be helpful in responding to these national security
issues. We don’t want to be out of compliance; we don’t want to not
report. We support the efforts to bring transparency to these
partnerships, but we can’t do that without clarification or further
guidance from the department.”
In addition to ACE, the following
associations signed the letter: American Association of Community
Colleges; American Association of State Colleges and Universities;
Association of American Universities; Association of Public and
Land-grant Universities; Council on Governmental Relations; and National
Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.