Griffin: Reduce Regulatory Burden on Students and Educators

Statement

Congressman Tim Griffin (AR-02) issued the following statement after House passage of the Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act (H.R. 2117):

"Overly burdensome and excessive regulations are crushing American economic progress, and our repeal of two U.S. Department of Education (DoE) regulations is a win for Arkansas students and educators. These two regulations, released in October 2010, stifle innovative teaching methods and stand in the way of students doing their best to graduate early. They also serve as further evidence of this Administration's "we-know-best' approach. I heard constituent concerns regarding these regulations, and I was proud to support H.R. 2117, which would repeal these counterproductive federal mandates and alleviate the regulatory burden on Arkansas's colleges and universities."

In October 2010, the DoE issued a set of regulations that injected the federal government into traditionally academic and state affairs. Those regulations establish a national definition of "credit hour" and force states to follow federal requirements when deciding whether to grant a college or university permission to operate within the state. H.R. 2117 would repeal these DoE regulations.

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