This afternoon, the Senate confirmed Ted Mitchell as the new Under Secretary of Education. Mitchell succeeds Martha Kanter, who stepped down in December to take a post at NYU. Mitchell has been President at the New School Venture Fund.
Mitchell was nominated in October of 2013. The nomination was approved unanimously by voice vote.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced the publication of two proposed regulations, including a rule to extend employment authorization to spouses of certain H-1B workers, and a proposal to enhance opportunities for certain groups of highly-skilled workers by removing obstacles to their remaining in the United States.
Both Notices of Proposed Rulemaking will soon publish in the Federal Register. DHS encourages the public to comment on the proposed rule through www.regulations.gov. All public comments will be considered before the final rule is published and goes into effect.
This morning, the White House issued its first report to address and work to end sexual assault on campuses. This report — and the release of NotAlone.gov, a clearinghouse for federal information on campus sexual assault — is the first in what will be a series of action steps to address campus sexual assault.
Earlier this year, the President created the Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault, which is co-chaired by Vice President Joe Biden and the White House Council on Women and Girls. Today, the Task Force release a report of planned first action steps and recommendations. This first report establishes broad initial goals including: identifying the scope of the problem on college campuses; help preventing campus sexual assault; help schools respond effectively when a student is assaulted; and improve, and make more transparent, the federal government’s enforcement efforts.
Over a year ago, the University of Washington recognized campus sexual assault as a significant national issue and formed the UW Task Force on Sexual Assault and Prevention. President Young reconfirmed the university’s commitment to do all the institution can to prevent and properly respond to every individual report of equal assault.
In October 2013, UW issued a final report with 18 recommendations and action items to change campus culture and create a safer and more compassionate and responsive response to UW campus sexual assault, through expanding UW’s SARIS, for example.
UW continues to work toward implementing all of these recommendations and as the discussion moves forward at the federal level, the Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor and update the community on this issue.