CONTENTS
CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES
- AAU Testifies at Senate Hearing on Campus Sexual Assault
- Senate Panel Approves Open Access Bill with 12-Month Embargo Period
- AAU, APLU Send Letter Supporting the Open Access Bill
CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES
AAU TESTIFIES AT SENATE HEARING ON CAMPUS SEXUAL ASSAULT
AAU Associate Vice President Mollie Benz Flounlacker on July 29 testified at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on combating sexual assault on college campuses. The hearing was part of the panel’s preparation for reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
Ms. Flounlacker, who has been leading AAU’s campus climate survey on sexual assault and sexual misconduct, discussed the survey and AAU’s position on the Campus Accountability and Safety Act (CASA) (S. 590), introduced by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO).
Senator McCaskill also testified at the session, as did three cosponsors of her bill, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), as well as University of California President Janet Napolitano.
During the hearing, Ms. Flounlacker asked that the Committee encourage the Department of Education to refrain from issuing any guidance to campuses on this set of issues unless subject to community notice and comment. Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said he would ask Secretary of Education Arne Duncan not to issue any guidance during the HEA reauthorization.
The panelists’ written testimony and the video of the hearing are available on the Committee website. Ms. Flounlacker’s testimony is also available on the AAU website.
SENATE PANEL APPROVES OPEN ACCESS BILL WITH 12-MONTH EMBARGO PERIOD
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on July 29 approved the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research (FASTR) Act (S. 779), legislation to provide free public online access to articles generated from federally funded scientific research.
The bill was approved with an amendment by Senators Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Tom Carper (D-DE) to extend the embargo period between publication of an article and its full availability to the public from six months to 12 months. AAU supports the longer embargo period.
AAU and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) last April expressed support for the goals of FASTR—whose companion bill in the House is H.R. 1477—and a related bill, the Public Access to Public Science Act (H.R. 1426).
AAU, APLU SEND LETTER SUPPORTING THE OPEN ACCESS BILL
AAU and APLU on July 30 sent a letter to Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), lead sponsors of the FASTR bill, congratulating them on the unanimous approval of the bill in committee.
The letter expresses particular support for inclusion of the Johnson-Carper amendment to extend the embargo period to 12 months, in line with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy public access policy guidelines.