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Department of Education Holds Higher Education Hearing at Pepperdine
On October 2, Pepperdine University will host a public meeting of the U.S. Department of Education in which interested parties can present their concerns and recommendations for the recently passed Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-315). Pepperdine is one of six sites around the country chosen to host one of these public meetings. The discussion will help shape the regulations of the new act, which aims to improve higher education affordability, access, and accountability.
President George W. Bush signed the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) into law on August 14, 2008. The law reauthorizes and extends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) as amended. Numerous areas of the new law require further guidance or regulation, and on September 8, the department announced in the Federal Register its intention to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee to implement certain parts of the HEOA. The six public meetings are being held to obtain advice and recommendations on the issues to be negotiated. The public can also nominate individual negotiators to represent the interests of those affected by the proposed regulations.
After consideration of this public input, the department will select the negotiators and develop a list of the issues that the negotiating committee is likely to address, and publish the list in another notice in the Federal Register. The committee will convene in December and January to form the regulatory language. When the negotiating committee first meets, members may suggest additional issues that may be added to the agenda, subject to the full committee’s approval.
Negotiated rulemaking is mandated under Title IV of the HEA. Typically, the Department of Education develops its proposed regulations without public input and then publishes them in the Federal Register for comment by the public.
The hearing at Pepperdine will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Smothers Theatre on the Malibu campus. Interested parties can sign up for a presentation slot starting at 8:30 a.m. on the day of the hearing. A panel of three Department of Education staff members will preside: David Bergeron, Dan Madzelan, and Harold Jenkins. The on-site representatives at Pepperdine will be Don Conner and Jessica Finkel.
Click here to find out more about HEOA and the Department of Education's hearing procedures.
