Higher Edcuation Amendments of 2007

Floor Speech

HIGHER EDUCATION AMENDMENTS OF 2007 -- (Senate - July 24, 2007)

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues Senator Enzi and Senator Kennedy for making sure that the managers' package includes my amendment to add Kentucky State University to the list of historically Black colleges and universities, HBCU, that are eligible to receive funding for their graduate programs.

Kentucky State enjoys a proud heritage as the Commonwealth's only HBCU. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1886, Kentucky State is one of the 15 original HBCUs recognized in the historic Morrill Act of 1890. In recent years, Kentucky State has developed strong undergraduate and graduate programs in the natural sciences, most notably aquaculture.

Earlier this year, I was pleased to visit with Kentucky State's president, Dr. Mary Evans Sias. During our meeting, Dr. Sias called my attention to the fact that Kentucky State's graduate programs were not eligible to receive the Federal funding set aside for HBCU graduate programs because the institution was not among those schools listed in the Higher Education Act.

I told Dr. Sias I would try to help Kentucky State, and last week I introduced legislation, S. 1826, to add Kentucky State to the list of eligible institutions under the Higher Education Act. I thank my colleagues, Senator Enzi and Senator Kennedy, for including this legislation in their managers' package. I am confident that it will go a long ways towards strengthening Kentucky State's ability to serve the Commonwealth's students.

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