Committee Examines Campus Free Speech
BU IN DC
Kim Relick of the College of Communication hosted a workshop on storytelling with big data for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on June 20.
Stephen Prothero of the College of Arts & Sciences participated in a Washington Post event on the First Amendment on June 20.
COMMITTEE EXAMINES CAMPUS FREE SPEECH
On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to discuss the current state of free speech on college campuses in the wake of several high-profile incidents of disruptive campus protests across the country this year. The Committee heard from a large panel of witnesses from academic organizations, law firms, and advocacy groups on ways universities can expose students to a wide variety of viewpoints while also protecting student safety. Although some senators voiced concern about potential university over-regulation of speech and protest, most expressed hesitation to employ federal action, either legislative or regulatory, to address the issue.
BUZZ BITS…
- The Department of Defense announced that Philip Perconti will be the next director of the Army Research Laboratory, where he has served as the acting director since April 2016. Dr. Perconti is an electrical and computer engineer with a long career in the military.
- U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced her intent to appoint A. Wayne Johnson as the new chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Financial Student Aid. Mr. Johnson, a financial services executive, will replace James Runcie, who resigned last month.
- The Department of Education released guidance on implementing year-round Pell grants for the upcoming academic year. The guidance urges institutions to assist students enrolled in a summer session through the 2017-2018 funding cycle, not the 2016-2017 cycle unless there are excess funds to distribute.
GRANTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
The Department of Defense (DOD) released its 2018 Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship funding opportunity, which seeks to attract and engage the best and brightest in academia to conduct a range of basic research in areas of interest to DOD. The agency is particularly interested in ambitious “blue sky” research that will lead to revolutionary discoveries, new fields of research, or disruption of existing theories in the following areas: engineering biology, quantum information science, cognitive neuroscience, novel engineered materials, applied mathematics and statistics, manufacturing science and other novel fields of research. DOD plans to award up to $3 million over five years to the awardee’s institution.