Trustee board's public affairs committee meets in D.C. to discuss current policy

When Josh Bolten '76 received an invitation to meet with a group of trustees on the Princeton campus, he offered an alternative: lunch at the White House.

Two weekends ago, the public affairs committee of the board of trustees accepted the President's deputy chief of staff's offer and travelled to Washington for its annual meeting, typically with a senior-level member of government.

The committee discusses current policy affecting college campuses and hears firsthand about government views and new legislation.

Last year, the committee met with Mitchell Daniels '71 — director of the Office of Management and Budget at the White House under the Bush Administration.

The foreign and domestic political landscape has changed radically since last year's discussion.

Following Sept. 11, the U.S. government zeroed in on immigration policy and homeland security. Within six weeks of the terrorist attacks, the U.S. Congress passed the Patriot Act, and President Bush issued his second directive on domestic security, which called for tighter regulation of immigration procedures and of international student status.

In addition to holding the formal conference with a political insider, Princeton keeps an office at the foot of Capitol Hill to track government legislation and communicate University concerns. There are roughly 40 universities with offices in Washington, and 61 institutions belong to the Association of American Universities, which develops national policy positions and operates as a forum for discussion.

Two of the top issues currently facing Princeton and other universities are the regulation of student records and visas and laboratory security, said Nan Wells, the director of Princeton's Washington office.

But President Tilghman said it remains to be seen how the provisions in the Patriot Act will be carried out.

"All is well and good to say monitor," she said, "but details [of the monitoring] are unclear."

Because it does not have a professional medical school, the University is not likely to possess dangerous toxic and biological agents as outlined in the Patriot Act, Wells said. Following the attacks and the anthrax scare, the University reviewed its laboratory security.

"Any changes that had to be made were made," Marilyn Marks, university spokeswoman, said.

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The top priority for Princeton is monitoring the treatment of international graduate students, Wells said. In 2000, 41 percent of the graduate student body held foreign citizenship and therefore required student visas.

Bush's second directive charges the government to "implement measures to end the abuse of student visas and prohibit certain international students from receiving education and training in sensitive areas." Those areas include study that has direct application to the development and use of weapons of mass destruction.

Wells said Princeton is focusing on the wording of the regulation and attempting to assess the objective's impact on the University and its graduate student body.

"The assumption is that persons who have terrorist backgrounds would not be allowed," she said, "but if you read the current Presidential Directive and U.S. Patriot Act [it is not as clear.]"

Wells — who meets with an ad hoc group at the University once per month to discuss the impact of legislation on Princeton — said that most of the current policy debate is going on "behind closed doors."

However, the University is able to influence legislation through its alumni on the Hill, parents of students and through meetings with politicians, she said.

Currently, the University is working with individual leaders on issues in the bioterrorism and terrorism legislation. The University also works closely with the New Jersey congressional delegation, particularly with Rep. Rush Holt who represents the congressional district where Princeton is located and who has worked at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, which receives federal funding.

"The N.J. delegation is extremely responsive. [It] tends to be more responsive to constituents," Wells said.

In addition to following bioterrorism and terrorism legislation, the Washington office tracks legislation affecting financial aid and federal assistance to higher education, graduate fellowships from federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, and research grants.