[Senate Report 107-102]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
107th Congress Report
1st Session SENATE 107-102
_______________________________________________________________________
Calendar No. 245
AMENDING THE CHARTER OF SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
H.R. 2061
TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
November 29, 2001.--Ordered to be printed
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan FRED THOMPSON, Tennessee
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TED STEVENS, Alaska
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
MAX CLELAND, Georgia PETE B. DOMENICI, New Mexico
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi
JEAN CARNAHAN, Missouri ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah
MARK DAYTON, Minnesota JIM BUNNING, Kentucky
Joyce A. Rechtschaffen, Staff Director and Counsel
Cynthia Gooen Lesser, Counsel
Marianne Clifford Upton, Staff Director and Chief Counsel,
Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring and the District of
Columbia
Hannah S. Sistare, Minority Staff Director and Counsel
Johanna L. Hardy, Minority Counsel
Mason C. Alinger, Minority Professional Staff Member,
Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring and the District of
Columbia
Darla D. Cassell, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background.......................................................1
III. Legislative History..............................................2
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................2
V. Estimated Cost of Legislation....................................3
VI. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................3
VII. Changes in Existing Law..........................................3
Calendar No. 245
107th Congress Report
SENATE
1st Session 107-102
======================================================================
AMENDING THE CHARTER OF SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
_______
November 29, 2001.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Lieberman, from the Committee on Governmental Affairs, submitted
the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 2061]
The Committee on Governmental Affairs, to which was
referred the bill (H.R. 2061) the amend the charter of
Southeastern University of the District of Columbia, and for
other purposes, reports favorably thereon and recommends that
the bill do pass.
I. Purpose and Summary
The purpose of H.R. 2061, a bill to amend the charter of
the Southeastern University of the District of Columbia, is to
amend the Charter Act of Southeastern University of the
District of Columbia [50 Stat. 697], approved August 19, 1937,
as amended by section 1 of 80 Stat. 883, (Public Law 89-639),
enacted October 10, 1966, to eliminate a requirement in the
charter of the Southeastern University of the District of
Columbia that one third of its Board of Trustees be comprised
of alumni of the institution.
II. Background
Southeastern University, a private, nonprofit University,
located at 501 I Street, S.W. in the District of Columbia, was
founded in 1879. It was incorporated in the District of
Columbia by an Act of Congress in 1937 (50 Stat. 697).
Legislative history reflects that in receiving a Federal
charter in 1937, Southeastern University, then known as the
Southeastern University of the Young Men's Christian
Association of the District of Columbia, joined several other
institutions of higher learning in the District of Columbia,
including Georgetown, George Washington, National, Catholic,
and Columbus Universities, which had previously been granted
congressional charters.
Southeastern University offers associate, bachelors and
masters degrees in computer science and information systems
management, business management (including accounting), public
administration, and liberal studies. The majority of
Southeastern University's students and faculty live and work in
the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The university has 1000
students, 60 percent of whom are women.
In 1966, Congress amended Southeastern University's charter
to expand the total number of Board of Trustees members from no
more than twenty-one to no more than thirty and to establish
three year terms of office for membership on the Board of
Trustees. (P.L. 89-639)
The charter of Southeastern University specifies that one-
third of the membership of its Board of Trustees must be alumni
of the University. There are currently twenty members of the
Board of Trustees. Charlene Drew Jarvis, the President of
Southeastern University, and Elizabeth Lisboa-Farrow, Chair of
the Board of Trustees, have requested that this requirement be
removed to enable the University to attract a wider pool of
nominees to its Board of Trustees and strengthen the
University's role in the life of the District of Columbia.
Because the institution is Congressionally chartered, only
Congress can make the requested change to the composition of
the Board of Trustees.
III. Legislative History
H.R. 2061 was introduced in the House of Representatives on
June 5, 2001 by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. The bill
was referred to the House Committee on Government Reform, and
subsequently to the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia,
which considered the bill and advanced it to the full committee
on July 9, 2001. On July 25, 2001, the House Government Reform
Committee approved the bill by voice vote and ordered it to be
reported. The House of Representatives considered the bill
under suspension of the rules and passed the bill by voice vote
on September 20, 2001.
H.R. 2061 was received in the Senate on September 21, 2001,
and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs. It was
referred to the Oversight of Government Management,
Restructuring, and the District of Columbia Subcommittee on
October 16, 2001. The bill was unanimously polled out of the
subcommittee on November 7, 2001. The full Senate Committee on
Governmental Affairs considered H.R. 2061 on November 14, 2001.
The Committee voted to order the bill reported by voice vote,
with no Members present dissenting. Present were Senators
Akaka, Durbin, Cleland, Carper, Carnahan, Thompson, Voinovich,
Cochran, Bunning and Lieberman.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis
Section 1 eliminates the specification that one-third of
the membership of the Board of Trustees of Southeastern
University be graduates of such University.
Section 2 specifies that the removal of the requirement
regarding alumni representation shall not affect the term of
office of any individual serving on the Board of Trustees of
Southeastern University as of the date of enactment.
V. Estimated Cost of Legislation
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE
H.R. 2061--An act to amend the charter of Southeastern University of
the District of Columbia
H.R. 2061 would amend the charter of Southeastern
University, eliminating the requirement that at least one-third
of the board of trustees be graduates of the university. CBO
estimates that enacting H.R. 2061 would have no significant
impact on the federal budget. The act would not affect direct
spending or receipts, so pay-as-you-go procedures would not
apply. H.R. 2061 contains no intergovernmental or private-
sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
On August 1, 2001, CBO prepared a cost estimate for H.R.
2061 as ordered reported by the House Committee on Government
Reform on July 25, 2001. The two versions of the legislation
are identical, as are the cost estimates.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine,
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VI. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Paragraph 11(b)(1) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of
the Senate requires that each report accompanying a bill
evaluate the ``regulatory impact which would be incurred in
carrying out this bill.'' Carrying out H.R. 2061 would have no
regulatory impact.
VII. Changes in Existing Law
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new
matter is printed in italic and existing law, in which no
change is proposed, is shown in roman):
50 Stat. 697
* * * * * * *
Sec. 3. The management of the said corporation shall be
vested in a board of trustees consisting of not less than nine
nor more than thirty in number as determined from time to time
by said board of trustees. [one-third of whom, at all times,
shall be graduates of said university, of the qualifications
prescribed by said board of trustees, nominated by the alumni
of said university in the manner prescribed by said board of
trustees, and all of whom shall be elected by said board of
trustees.] Each trustee shall be [elected for a term] elected
by the board for a term of office of three years from the date
of expiration of the term for which his predecessor was
elected; except that (1) in expanding or reducing the number of
trustees under this Act, the board of trustees shall have the
authority to fix or adjust the terms of office of such
additional or remaining trustees, as the case may be, so that
the terms of office of not more than one-third of the trustees
shall expire annually; and (2) a trustee elected to fill a
vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which
his predecessor was appointed shall be elected only for the
unexpired term of such predecessor.