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[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

                              ----------                              
                                                                   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.

                                
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