Higher Education Act and Policy and Law: Federal

On August 21, at 1:00 p.m. U.S. eastern time, EDUCAUSE will host an hour-long webcast featuring Terry Hartle from ACE discussing the P2P provisions in the recently passed Higher Education Reauthorization Act. For details and connection instructions, visit the EDUCAUSE Connect P2P File Sharing resource page—select the "HEA Webcast" tab under Featured Content.

This webcast is open to the public at no charge, and no registration is required. Afterward, it will be archived and freely accessible.

The Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization is expected to receive full floor consideration today in Congress. In anticipation of that, EDUCAUSE has joined the American Council on Education and other organizations in sending a letter to lawmakers.

Here is the text:

As you prepare to vote on the conference report to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, I write on behalf of the associations listed below to share our perspectives on this important legislation.

Leaders of the House Committee on Education and Labor have just introduced legislation to control illegal file sharing in higher education as part of the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007. The higher education community opposes a provision that requires campuses to develop new institutional plans for addressing infringement activities on their networks.

Please call (do not write or email) the offices of the House Committee on Education and Labor. Time is short. Markup is this coming Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 9:00 AM.

For specific details please see our talking points.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Coordinate your response to this challenge with your institutional executives and federal relations officers.

2. Call, do not write or email, as many of the Committee Members as possible, and express your strong opposition to this proposal. You can find a list of all the Committee members and their phone numbers.