Dear Colleagues,

Please find a federal government update from our teams.

CU Responds to NIH Proposed Changes to Peer Review Reporting Outcomes
CU Anschutz [3] and CU Boulder [4] responded on Oct. 13 to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) request for information [5] on proposed changes to how NIH reports peer review outcomes for grant applications. NIH is proposing to replace numerical overall impact scores and percentiles with three broad categories, limiting the information available to researchers about the competitiveness of their applications. Both CU campuses voiced concern that the changes would reduce transparency, undermine confidence in the peer review process and make it harder for researchers to assess funding prospects and improve future applications.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) [6], Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) [7] and Association of American Universities (AAU) [8] also submitted responses.

White House Investigating Universities for J-1 Visa Fraud
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced [9] on Oct. 9 that nine American universities are under investigation for alleged J-1 visa fraud. CU is not under investigation. DOL will examine alleged misuse and misclassification within J‑1 visa programs.

DOL is also launching a new Visa Fraud Strike Team, a multi-agency enforcement initiative to investigate and prosecute visa fraud across “the highest risk visa programs” with a focus on H-1B and J-1 visas. Additionally, DOL announced it is suspending eight businesses from its Permanent Labor Certification program, which allows employers to hire foreign workers to work permanently in the U.S., reports [10] CNBC.

ED Issues Dear Colleague Letter on the Stop Campus Hazing Act
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) released on Oct. 9 a dear colleague letter [11] that outlines changes to campus security requirements under P.L. 118-173 [12], the Stop Campus Hazing Act, which requires colleges and universities to report hazing incidents, adopt anti-hazing policies and publicly disclose violations. The letter highlights three new requirements for institutions of higher education, including (1) compile statistics on hazing incidents reported to campus or local police, (2) implement anti-hazing policies with an emphasis on prevention and (3) compile and publish a Campus Hazing Transparency Report that summarizes findings related to any student organization that violates the institutions' hazing policy.

NIH Releases RFI on Reducing Administrative Burden in Extramural Research
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a request for information [13] on Oct. 8 that seeks feedback on ways to reduce administrative burden associated with applying for, managing and reporting on NIH-funded research. NIH has asked for recommendations to simplify or eliminate duplicative requirements, streamline grant application and reporting processes, improve the use of technology and artificial intelligence and address administrative requirements that disproportionately affect early-stage investigators and smaller institutions. CU Federal Relations is working with the campuses on how to respond.

The Federal Relations and General Counsel teams are actively monitoring developments at the federal level. We are working closely with the President and Chancellors, as well as the Colorado congressional delegation to champion CU priorities. We are committed to keeping you informed. Please visit the CU System Federal Updates and Actions page [14] for up-to-date communications and federal memos.

Danielle Radovich Piper, Sr. VP External Relations and Strategy  
Kerry Tipper, Vice President, University Counsel