Roundup: News You Need to Know, Wed., Dec. 13th

Congress to Freeze Education Spending, Eliminate Academic Research Earmarks, and Halt Potential $100 Pell Increase

The incoming Chairmen of the Congressional Appropriations Committees announced that they will freeze federal education spending for Fiscal Year 2007 at last years levels. Frustrated by failure of the 109th Congress to pass Fiscal Year 2007 funding levels (the Fiscal Year began more than two months ago) and faced with demands of crafting a new Fiscal Year 2008 budget, the leaders decided to begin the 100th Congress with a blank slate. In addition to a freeze, the Fiscal Year 2007 resolution will exclude all pending Congressional earmarks. Almost all academic earmarks (except for those in appropriations bills for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security) will be eliminated, decreasing funding for research projects at universities by around $1 billion to $1.5 billion. While funding for student aid programs likely would have remained at 2006 levels without the freeze, the previous House Fiscal Year 2007 spending plan had included a $100 Pell Grant increase.

Harvard Newspaper Calls for End to Legacy Preferences

An editorial in todays Crimson, the student newspaper at Harvard University, encourages the university to "take the moral high ground" and end legacy preferences in the admissions process. The editors reject the arguments that legacy preferences are necessary to generate a sense of tradition or to garner large contributions from alumni. They argue that alumni remain involved in and give back to the university because of its values and quality, not solely because of a potential admissions preference for their children. Even though Harvards Dean of Admissions has said that legacy status is only a "tip factor" in admissions decisions, the newspaper believes that whether legacy preferences actually change the makeup of the class is less important than the principle of fairness in admissions.