Dale Kuehne, associate professor of politics, will be one of only three college professors to take a seat starting tonight at a higher education "summit" called by U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.
Kuehne will join representatives of all sectors of higher education, including faculty unions, congressional aides, accreditors, lobbyists and 49 college presidents. The 300 invitees also include the members of Spellings's Commission on the Future of Higher Education , whose final report this gathering will address.
"I'm honored to be a delegate," Kuehne said, noting that the meeting will address issues, specifically accountability, with "enormous implications for any college or university."
Kuehne said he wants to help find a way to satisfy the government's demand for greater accountability in higher education - in exchange for billions of dollars in federal support - without triggering federal intervention.
"My hope would be that colleges and universities could come up with a proposal for accountability that they feel comfortable with," he said, "that doesn't have to become the domain of rules and regulations or the domain of legislation."
One option, he said, is to reinforce the existing system of accreditation. "If there are problems with that process, let's fix that," he said.
The meeting at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., starts tonight and will run all day Thursday. The other professors listed among the delegates are be A. Lee Fritschler, of George Mason University, and Daniel Chambliss, of Hamilton College. Stephen Reno, chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire, and Kathryn Dodge, executive director of the New Hampshire Post-secondary Education Commission, are other New Hampshire delegates.