[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] -- virginiacovenant governor candidates are getting help from national figures. marco rubio is in virginia on behalf of republican, ken cuccinelli. virginians go to the polls tomorrow to elect a new governor. 's finaluccinelli campaign rally will be with ron paul. turnout could be as low as 30% of registered voters. associated press reports that the ca 40% turnout is the goal.

here's a look at some of our live coverage. throughout the day, the privacy and civil liberties oversight board is holding concussions on programs.rveillance c-span2 is live now. we will be live here on c-span with the afternoon session p.m. eastern.15 the senate continues debate on a workplace nondiscrimination bill . it bars job discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. senators will consider some judicial nominations. span3,his afternoon on c- a report on hospitals and health care. joins the heads of the cleveland clinic and the texas medical center to talk about the impact of the health care law on hospitals. that is live at 3:00 eastern on c-span3.

>> i am surrounded by a few of the items that kept -- on the best dressed list. she worked with one of her favorite designers for her suits and daywear outfits. this is the outfit she wore to the formal opening of the saint lawrence seaway. designed dressed as this -- the eisenhower qual. with the houses that many of the eisenhower's lived in. examines --few examples of manes day dresses. ime's day dresses. theie kennedy is a fan of little black dress, and these are main means favorites. her love ofs show

bright colors and wild fabrics. first lady, mrs. eisenhower. >> a look now at the cost of higher education. heads of universities in inyland, north carolina meet capitol hill to talk about higher education at lower cost. lawmakers are considering changes to the higher education act which is said to expire at year's end. two hours.ut >> today is the second in our series to examine post secondary education. discuss is ofill interest to policymakers -- that is innovation in higher education.

we have spent time in this committee discussing the role of innovation, but much of that was focused on college affordability. while that is of paramount importance, we would like to thed this hearing examining landscape of innovations in higher education that increase student learning, engagement, and degree completion. if our nation is going to , we needore students to do more to ensure students are persisting towards and obtaining quality degrees. what can colleges and universities do to maximize learning and support? to ensure students are getting through on time, or faster and earning a meaningful credential. today's panel explores efforts and progress at the institution and systemwide level.

these innovations can inform our committee's work in designing federal policy. they can determine the role the federal government can play in developing effective change. too often, innovation can be silo. today'scus of conversation is to discuss what we can do to allow innovations to be replicated or scaled up. our panel of experts will walk us through the impetus for the changes they have developed and the impact these changes are having on their students learning ability and success. hearings,rt of the this is no time to be complacent with the status quo. everything is ok is not acceptable.

the stakes are too high. tough look ata reimagining how our higher education system can work at her. -- can work better. we want to know what the innovation is doing. the makeup of this panel is indicative of the very broad scope of our higher education system and how that system needs to continue to innovate to meet the needs of all the students they serve at whatever point those students enter our higher education system. that a one-size- fits-all approach will not do. upper -- thee emergence of new innovative models. that is the strength of america's system. i'm am proud we have a diverse system. must ensure all future models are focused on students success

and degree attainment. i look forward to working with the committee to get a good higher education bill. one of the main parts is what we can do to promote, stimulate, expand, scale up innovations that have proven to be effective in different areas. i invite senator alexander for his opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i am looking forward to this. this is a distinguished panel of people who know what they're talking about. that ought to inform us in terms of what we should be doing and what we ought to not be doing. in our a lot of talk last hearing about where is our innovation in higher education. thinking about that, it occurs to me that innovation for its own sake is not what we are

after. the goal of innovation and higher education is to improve student performance, increase retention and graduation rates, do it in a way that reduces or maintains costs, and encourages efficiency that benefits taxpayers and students. aboutings come to mind this approach. you would think we have the perfect environment to encourage innovation and higher education, unlike many other countries in the world. in america, we think the american way is to have a marker placed an entrepreneurial spirit. we do not have a state church, we have lots of churches. music springs up from various places. that is the case with our colleges and universities. 6000 different colleges and universities of many different -- we honor the economy of

each institution. they operate in a marketplace where students have a chance to choose them. they compete for students and scholars. that environment ought to produce the -- dr. produce the largest amount of innovation. ought to produce the largest amount of innovation. that does not always work. i learned most new businesses do not succeed. not work.deas do for example, in the 1980's, when i was governor, we were worried inut the number of students colleges and universities who were not prepared for that. we thought that was wrong. we set the way to deal with that was to say you can come to the college, but you will not get credit.

-- you will not get credit for the course if you were not prepared for college. it turns out, 20 years later, that probably isn't the right thing to do. what we will hear from mr. hall -- our state is abandoning that approach and admitting more people and working harder to move them through the system faster. that seems to be working better. what seems to be a good innovation at one point, might not be later. it is a caution to us that we should be careful about coming idea --even a very good a good sounding idea here, and that it will work or impose it on all 6000 institutions around the country. a second concern i have is one would think in a time when the world is changing so rapidly and we have this marketplace of 6000 institutions, that we would be seeing more and -- more innovation. there are some obvious things

that we should do to correct that. one may be that the federal government is in the way. will -- for example, too many rules and regulations. we have talked about the regulation of higher education and creating an environment in which innovation can occur. credit hour,the not having paul broun available year-round, -- the hell grant -- available year-round. there are other impediments that we as the federal government have erected that make it difficult for you to innovate. that would be obvious for more innovation -- i think i understand why it hasn't happened. time andficient use of

facilities at colleges and universities. george washington university's former president once told me this -- you can run to complete colleges with two complete in the facilities used half the year for one. it is without cutting the length of student vacations, increasing class sizes, or requiring faculty to teach more. college has one mandatory summer session for every student in four years and his estimate was that would $10ove his institution by million to $50 million a year. -- $15 million a year. he never did that at george washington university. i understand some of the reasons for that. maybe we need more of a culture of innovation. ist i am looking for today how do we encourage a culture of innovation without throwing a

that smothers you by giving you an order from washington that might work at one university and not another. i we do that? how do we get out of the way? i look forward to this. thank you very much, senator alexander. i listened to your opening remarks -- i thought i heard you say music can spring from someplace other than nashville, tennessee? [laughter] >> you are one of the few people that has been to every county in iowa more than once. thank you very much.

[laughter] >> most of the senate has. [laughter] >> that is true. i am going to call on various senators -- we will start with senator warren. am pleased to introduce richard kazis. he is the senior vice president of jobs for the future in boston, massachusetts. kazis leaves the policy and advocacy efforts in jobs for the future -- an organization dedicated to improving education opportunities for low income americans. jfm has helped

fostered better school to career transitions. his dedication to expanding a realnities is making difference for students in massachusetts and across the country. cases.elcome to mr. thank you for taking the time to share your expertise. much, senatorery warren. i now invite senator mikulski for an introduction. >> it is with leisure i kirwan.e dr. he has a distinguished career in higher education. he is a faculty member in the classroom trying to educate students. he was a faculty member for over 20 years. he served as the president of college park, the flagship

at the university of maryland system. for the last 11 years, he has been chancellor of the university system. he is essentially -- don't tell governor o'malley this, he is the governor of the university system. during his time, he has faced big challenges that higher education faces. tuitions, the democracy of the student body, students coming in ready to get their degrees in three years, and some coming not prepared to even start their first year. he faced declining state aid, rising costs, increase change.

he established the effective initiative in which you brought new ideas to the school and brought ideas to the faculty senate. you know sometimes faculty senate's -- you are president of vanderbilt -- they are very difficult. i taught in higher ed. i know what it is like to be in faculty. when we talk about innovation, we have to talk about every great leader has a board of regents, a state legislative body, and an internal governing body. he was able to come up with lifting the faculty to take on more courses, getting students to take online credits, and do many other things, including transfers from community colleges. his goal was to get more people in and to make sure more people

graduate. thank you very much, senator mikulski. i will turn to senator hagan and senator burke for purposes of introduction. you, mr. chairman. it is my pleasure and honor to introduce dr. scott ralls. it is about a 30 minute drive from one of our community colleges from anyplace in the state, and the system has about 800,000 students. alls understands the needs of our students. in 2009, he began an initiative within the system called the with the ultimate goal of fostering students success and completion of the

program. it is about more than registering students with -- for classes. it is about helping each student to walk through the door reach their goals. students can earn multiple, nationally recognized industry credentials while working towards a degree. received well-deserved national attention. he has helped make our system one of the best in the nation. employers in the state tell me they come to north carolina because of our strong community college system and the work ethic of our employees and our workers. i can proudly say that our community colleges have been working diligently over the past four years to ensure the schools and faculty are doing everything possible to better prepare students for success in the work

force. guilford tech is working with several companies in the aircraft maintenance business. --ir training students training employees to work in their companies. wither college partners caterpillar to prepare students for those jobs. recently i visited cape fear community college. wasnemployed woman wondering what could she do next. she took classes at cape fear that had been partnered with g .e. aviation. e.e now has a great job at g. aviation. what is it that the 20th century

job skills are and how the community colleges can really make a difference in that area. ralls and many of our presidents throughout carolina are discussing bipartisan legislation called the america works act. we look forward to continuing the partnership and finding these innovative ways to force these relationships to better prepare our students for success. dr. scott ralls, we welcome you to the committee and we look forward to hearing your testimony. >> thank you senator hagan. senator burke? >> this is the start of a very important process. i am delighted to have scott ralls here. the seven president of the north carolina community college system. a system that is over 50 years old. when you are an individual that to change a system, to

make it innovative, you can imagine after 50 years how many challenges he has run into. scott is unique in many ways. is a rare skill is that of being annexed burke on both postsecondary education and the workforce system. i am not sure there is a combination that is needed more within the community college structure than that. it is notggest limited to the community college, it is all postsecondary education. the helm of over those 58 community colleges, scott has led a course redesign so the students are taking relevant courses that prepare them for employment and engage them in ways that promote completion. what a novel approach, but is something -- but it is something we all have to take to heart.

andcommunity college system the k-12 system cannot be silo ed. dr. ralls was talking about these opportunities long before they were fashionable in federal education debates. i hope my colleagues will have -- particularly from scott ralls -- he is where the rubber meets the road. he is a productive part of a vibrant part of me and they are a crucial part of this economy becoming vibrant. students must look much different than 20th century students. i recognize that more that,antly -- i recognize more importantly, he recognizes that. >> did i hear they're making the

honda jet in north carolina? >> we are the state of first flight. the honda jets being made there? >> it is the first new private jet in 30 years. >> fantastic concept. 10 you get me a ride in one? -- can you get me a ride in one? i will turn to senator alexander. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i will say to senator mikulski, i was proud to be a graduate of vanderbilt, but i am proud to be a resident of tennessee. , ifar as the faculty senate once asked a university president with the best thing about the job was and he said, faculty is individual. i so what is the worst thing? he said faculty as a whole. by davidemember

eisenhower, after he won world war ii, went to become president of columbia university. you don't hear about it because on the first day on any new job he liked to assemble the people under his command. he had the faculty and then he was gone in about a year. university presidents very much. one of the best is tim hall. he came from old ms. -- ole miss. enroll almost 11,000 students last year. the number of degrees has gone up 27%. upergraduate enrollment is 16%. as a result of tennessee's outcome based formula, austin p -- they have done the best job

of graduating students more rapidly. i look forward to hearing from him about those innovations. we are proud of the work that he does there in clarksville. >> thank you, senator alexander. since we do not have a senator from new hampshire, i will introduce dr. paul leblanc. iowa and new hampshire have an interesting symbiotic relationship. it transcends party lines and everything else. dr. leblanc is the president of southern new hampshire university. over the past nine years under his louche -- under his leadership, they have become the largest provider of online provider of that -- online education. prior to his current position,

he directed a technology startup and served as president of marlborough college in vermont. person -- first person in his family to attend college and received his master's degree from boston college and his phd from the university of maryland -- the university of massachusetts. statements will be made part of the record in their entirety. let's start with mr. kazis and move down the line. some -- i have read your uptimonies, if you can sum in five to seven minutes made her points you would like to make and that we would like to engage in conversation. please proceed, mr. kazis. for inviting me here today. i commend you for taking on this or goal issue of innovation in higher education.

i am thrilled to be here because it is a terrific panel and because it was a long night in boston. i was nervous that i was not going to make my plane this morning. i want to characterize certain trends in higher education -- innovation to improve students success. success.ts' will then suggest actions congress can promote. being drivenion is by rising student costs, the explosion of new technologies, better data on student at -- student outcomes in college and the labor market. these create pressures on higher education and openings. a growing number of leaders like those on this panel are rethinking the structure and delivery of college programs, expectations about student learning, and what it takes to help more students choose well

in college, persist and succeed. this is true among those that serve a majority of college students. many challenges featuring dash facing students in higher education today -- i want to highlight one. too many never find their way, or lose their way, before they earn their credentials. securely students with limited experience of what college commands. finding a path to a degree is the equivalent of navigating a shapeless river on a dark night. since to not having invalid -- the information they need -- students do not have the information they need. traditional delivery is often too rigid and program requirements are often too flexible. more students get the tools they

knew to -- the tools they need to navigate this shapeless river and they give the river itself more shape. while they may seem different, acceleration, changes and program structure and delivery that helps students move faster to earn credits and credentials, or personalized learning and support, that means more choices where learningnd occurs. clear pathways to credentials with value. streamline programs of study that guide students to successful transfer or in -- recall john transfer underprepared students, both youth and adult that help them get ready for college programs. you're going to hear about all these principles in today's presentation.

there are a number of reform efforts that are just -- that are demonstrating results. states, tennessee, north carolina, colorado, massachusetts, they are involved in design -- redesigns of developmental education based on of obstacles that are detrimental to their success. many postsecondary institutions on expanding career pathway programs. you hear about some of that today. credentials that can textual eyes remediation into college-level

instruction, they move underprepared students to college learning. several states are embracing these models. they're drawing lessons from washington. nc program -- combine a lot of these principles, mandatory and intensive advising. developmental education, redesign, streamline programs of study, much tighter employer engagement, interventions to keep students on track. there are two other types of described in my testimony that i do not have time to go in. one is competency-based learning, flexible online. you'll hear a lot of that from paul leblanc. enrollment for seller and college credits in high school that are helping students save money and time.

a lot of these efforts use federal innovation funds to get started and expand. that includes department of labor grants, department of education investing in -- if you consider the higher education act reauthorization, i encourage congress to increase his commitment to the role it -based gamevidence changing innovation. congress should involve -- support toide evidence-based models. the incentives should include a priority on the principles of

discussed here today. they should encourage states to apple and policies that support these directions. congress should carefully remove in currentrriers federal law and regulation on student financial aid. finally, better alignment of higherment of cross regulation laws. i am happy to take questions. thank you for having me here. dr. kerr one, welcome. that -- dr. kirwan, welcome. allowed to express my appreciation to the committee members for the important work you have done and continue to do

on behalf of higher education. i'm especially pleased that you are focusing on the issue of innovation in higher education delivery. we are at an important moment in higher education, brought about by three dynamics. first, the fiscal challenges requiring higher education to do more with less. in informations technology, the creation of intelligent software, and the ubiquitous nature of the internet. and has the potential to transform our nation's college choir -- college classrooms. about the kind of activities that imprint knowledge on the brain. the potential to improve teaching and learning using i.t. is a tool, serve more students,

and bends the cost curve and creates the most exciting opportunity i have experienced in my 50 years in higher education. let me describe what we are doing in the university system of maryland to realize this opportunity. the university system of maryland consists of three research universities, three historically black universities, five traditional so-called comprehensive universities, a specialized research institute, and the university of maryland university college. the largest, not-for-profit online university. of highericrocosm education in america. university colleges known for its innovative use of technology and the internet. my remarks will focus on the other residential institutions. ago, we beganears

our efforts to redesign or reengineer our lower division, educational offerings to the use of technology. online tutorials, active learning classrooms. one of our early successes was at the university of maryland, eastern shore, a historically black institution. it had a high failure rate -- above 50%. with the redesign, the pass rate increased to over 70%. substantiald reduction in cost for course delivery. we began a systematic effort to redesign our lower division gateway courses across the system. the very courses that are the primary roadblock for many students. by the end of this year, we will coursesesigned some-80

serving more than 24,000 students in any one semester. we have documented the improved student success and lower cost. we want to encourage our faculty to engage in teaching innovation, using technology, active learning classrooms, online tutorials, and constant feedback to students on their performance. however, this is the point that senator alexander made -- we insist innovation must be tested to ensure that learning improves. if either does not incur, we do not let the innovation perceived. -- proceed. we are also involved in wroteely online and

courses. in partnership with the kyocera andhaca and with funding from the gates foundation, we are testing whether moucs can be used on educational campuses to lower outcomes and reduce costs. 23 pilots are operating across the system to test this hypothesis. the result of the experiment will be available this june. i will conclude my remarks by noting that we in higher education have a responsibility, an obligation to find lower-cost means of delivering high quality higher education. we take this responsibility very seriously. the processbegins of reauthorizing the higher education act, consider provisions that promote and

encourage innovations like i have described today. i am also happy to hear about deregulation here that should be an important consideration as you proceed with the reauthorization. --nk you to the power of thanks to the power of i.t., advances in cognitive sciences, we have an opportunity at this moment that only comes along rarely in higher education. i believe the potential now advances,se these improve learning outcomes, and to reduce the cost of education. figure much. -- thank you very much. thank you for this opportunity to be here. i want to acknowledge senator burke and senator hagan who are such great champions of our

community colleges. four years ago, north carolina community college leaders met and declared student success to be the primary strategic focus of the north carolina community college system. student success is our focus in strategic planning. it was not that we did not focus on it before, it changed the culture somewhat to focus on success as much as we focused on access. we know how many students make it through our registration line and how many cross our graduation statements. stay community college leaders travel nearly 14,000 miles attending listening sessions and from those we documented 200 college-based success innovations, 75 barriers, and develop strategies to move the

student success in our state. those are documented in detail on our website, successnc.org. rather than just providing general access to college courses, we see value for connections to structured program pathways. that has meant redesigning our doolan rollman programs with our public school partners -- our dual enrollment programs with our public school partners. restructured ged program so the students received developmental education to to pickollege ready and up technical skills for employment. we learn the value of identifying and mitigating momentum lost points. points were students become

bogged it down and are pulled off course towards their goals of completion. often, the bermuda triangle where too many go in and not enough come out. in north carolina, we redesigned this process first turning to our math and faculty. and restructured them into more modular courses. addictived faulty placement exams with a statewide diagnostic test that is based on those actual competencies. the mind with other multiple measures, we believe that will lead to more accurate student laces and -- student placement. for years in our state, we

tested students throughout high school and they came to us and we retested them using different measures. lack of calibration -- this -- lack ofcation calibration [no audio]

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the result of the innovations i have described at austin p have been dramatic. state funding for higher education in tennessee has -- is based almost 100% on performance. by the retention and graduation of our students. i am pleased to tell you that for the first two years of this funding model, austin peay state state iny has led the funding. we have seen our graduation rate increase by 25% in the past six years. toive her the opportunity address the important subject of innovation in higher education. we know that innovation and service of student success is necessary to achieve the degree completion results america needs over the next decade. the results we have seen that austin peay state university is within our grasp. dr. leblanc.

>> thank you senator. the department of education -- under the direct assessment of student loan -- under title iv. this is the first of a new breed of competency-based education programs untethered to the credit hour. theit hours function like series of functions that was never designed. it was designed to figure out how to pay pensions to faculty members. how we thinks about knowledge, degree problems, faculty workload, how we really -- how we allocate our physical resources. in a way that was

never part of the plan. it was also the basis for giving out 100 $50 billion of federal financial aid. -- $150 billion of federal financial aid. it is not very good at telling us what people have learned. the average employer looks at a transcript and sees a be and andn't -- and sees a b doesn't know anything else. flipping fundamental of the credit hour concert. .e focus on outcomes in our case, college of america cost $1250 every six months. our first graduate went from zero credits to an associate degrees in under 120 days.

they are working adults who knew a lot. a person that has worked for 20 years probably knows -- has worked for 20 years in bookkeeping probably knows college math. why would we penalize someone who needs a year and a half to learn how to write well? what is not negotiable is the learning for our students. we work with large-scale .mployers our competencies are aligned with their needs and we use labor research tools to develop our programs. there's a crisis of confidence among employers who find themselves with graduates of four-year degree programs that do not write well. and weked a question said raise your hand if you have someone that is struggling with basic math, more than half of the hands in the room go up. if you have someone working with

you that doesn't write very well, more than half the hands go up. approach embraced our to education through competencies because that is how they think about their needs. we are willing to declare the needs and the learning and simeon hyman. have a paradigm shift in higher education. a new movement in some ways with more questions than answers. i applaud the committee for its innovation and seeking ways to develop business models for higher education. a word needs to be said about what kind of innovation we see to support. see aof what we sustaining innovation, improvements in equality, persistence and graduation rates, but not game changers. if the game you're trying to with -- s to do

this is where we harness the technology that has been described and the unbundling of higher ed which is underway. programs can be supported in several ways. a direct assessment allows for an alternative to time. all of the supporting guidelines remain tethered to the credit hour. use -- to onshore underlying regulation is to not squelch the legislation. we need to support new accreditation pathways. either as an option with regional accreditors or a new body. competencies are an alternative to the credit hour of the currency of higher

education, we need a much better exchange rate. createernment should safe spaces for institutional from ways and learn that will foster development of more cbe programs to provide high quality and low prices. in return, you should demand more from us as an industry. we should provide greater transparency and data than we have been willing to share. it should hold us accountable for the outcomes we produce, for how we know, the degree of which we prepare students for work, the degree of which we supplied -- provide support and access. >> thank you for your stimulating comments and for your excellent written testimony. we will begin a round of five and a questions here. we mention being careful of

regulations and the regulations. i would just tell you at the request of senator alexander, we include in our appropriations for a national study on regulations and reporting requirements in higher education. sure we will get the appropriations bill through or not, but nonetheless. [laughter] distinguished chairwoman is going to drive that bill through. if we don't get it, it is not because of her. you can help us now or in written form what it is that you believe is stifling innovation on the federal and in higher education.

what rules, what regulations are inre that we have innovation. >> mr. chairman, i would like more reasonou with in a complete list of items. mikel mention 1 -- i think collie who just spoke referenced one and that is compensate based credit. -- competency-based credit for the current financial aid rules do not allow institutions to engage extensively in copper muncie-based credit. -- incompetency-based credits. the availability of educational materials and resources -- just courses themselves that people can access for free and

learn material and why not have a system that would allow them to demonstrate that knowledge they have as part of their higher education experience and get credit for that learning? partme ways, it is already of the higher education system. most of our institutions accept advanced placement credits. that is competency based credit. we allow some students to take credit by examination as competency based credit. this is not a foreign idea to hire education. we just need to recognize it and support the kind of change that would allow institutions to become more active in this approach. >> do you have something? >> i will mention a few things. this may seem small but it is indicative.

we can go to a larger list as well but one that was already mentioned was reinstating year- round pell. if your goal is to accelerate, there is an issue there. how to do that well is complicated. to reinstate year-round pell well help. -- will help. that has really helped the most innovative career pathways programs for underprepared adults by basically cutting off into eligibility to be effective pathway programs. >> in my limited time, dr. rahls, others and community college, in iowa, we have seen community college's reach down to high schools in a 2+2 program. my spirits as you to high school and then you go to college.

there is a dividing line there. i'm wondering if there is not more of a role for colleges to play, especially now that we're moving towards career and college based structures in our elementary and secondary education -- in line with college needs and career needs -- to have more institutions reaching down to high schools and connecting with high schools in a way i have seen community college is due but have not seen our private colleges or universities do much of that. is that something we should be looking at? yes. would say i would also say community colleges play a unique role in that regard. i think we are the same in seamless education. we reached to the high schools that we are the pathway to four- year colleges. we also bridge that. one of the ways that has been done in north carolina is through the early college high schools. we have approximately 1/3 of

the early high school campuses in our state. what we have seen is remarkable results. we have seen that you have high but high, high support expectations with high success, about 50% last year of our early college high school students graduated with high school and their two year associates degree at the same time, much faster than we ever saw and it's because of those combinations and pulling that together. public universities do similar kinds of things. >> we have a>> partnership with our local school system where we have a high school on her campus called the middle college at austin p where students take high school horses and in junior year, they take one college course per semester and in their senior year, they take to college sources purser master. the students on her campus for two years tend to wind up with at least 18 hours of college

credit when they graduate from high school. i will get more in my second round but please think about that especially in a big system. senator alexander -- to pursue what senator harkin said, i would like to make a request. permission,irman's senator burr and mikulski and bennett and i have formed a working group to focus on deregulation of higher education. we have asked you and chancellor with the american council on education to help us do that. suggestion that is based on something we did a few years ago called -- when we asked the national academies to give us the 10 specific proposals in priority order that

would help that we could do to help make our nation more competitive. they got together and distinguish group and gave us 20 but they were very specific and they work in priority order and we have enacted 2/3 of them. we don't have the capacity here to know exactly what to do about deregulation of higher education. to the extent you and your colleagues could give to us specific proposals just as you did, in priority order, you would be surprised how many of them are likely to make their way into law. it is taken as a few years to haveo this point but we had enough horsepower on the subject within the senate and the time is right that with that kind of response from the colleges and universities, we will get result fos. >> it's an assignment i welcome. >> we are all tro -- we authorize the education act in

three times. we always wind up with new regulations. we won't need to find ways to say we need to weed the garden before we do more. that's not an ideological difference of opinion. to say with the objectives are so let's get rid of this stuff and write it in plain english and limit the amount of time we are spending on all of this. we are dead serious about this. it is a bipartisan approach and we would like to get results on it. >> thank you very much. >> i am extremely impressed of what you have done at austin p and you are doing a terminus job. how do you decide who is college ready? do you let anybody in? how do you know who to let him? score and sub scores along with high school transcripts. >> are they prepared for college? you are taking a lower definition because before hand,

you would say you shut it off to noncredit courses and now you say come on in? >> yes, we figured out we can help them to succeed in college- level credit even if they have some deficiencies in particular areas. when i say they are not ready for college work, i'm talking about one specific area, possibly more than one, where they are not ready in specific topics. they might be ready but they could be deficient in math? >> that's right. >> but it's a lower standard than five or 10 years ago? >> no, senator, it is higher. what we expect them to be able to do is higher today than it was five years ago. >> what they know what they come in is lower? >> tennessee has been involved in revamping its high school curriculum so that students are now arriving to us more prepared than they ever have been in the past. there is a sense in which i think what we have been doing here to reformulate developmental education is

morgue dear to what has been happening in the past. tennessee is now doing a better job for getting students ready for college-level work as they leave high school. >> any of you -- can you give us advice about that? >> i would steer you to the distinction between expanding innovation and we know how to do that. education shares through all the traditional ways. if you talk about disruptive innovation, you don't currently have an ecosystem that allows that to happen. i mean what do we do as legislators? what should we do or not do to

create an environment in which things like you are doing are more likely to succeed on other campuses? >> i think you need to make more space in terms of the comes iny law that squelches, the kinds of possibilities you made available wisely around experimental sites. as you set in legislation, we will allow innovation and experimentation and there is an underlying regulatory law for the credit hour. navigating that is difficult. because that has not been changed, or has been a sense of providers to build new systems. if you try to find the necessary student information, it does not exist out there. the department of education, when we work with them, work hard to make this happen but it was a tortuous process trying to make regulatory regulations serve legislation that said we will welcome alternatives. i think you need to make space in that area. you have done it in a sense already. you said you will laugh allow

experimental sites but they have not happened. >> if i might, you ask a very good question -- what can you do? one thing that occurs to me is to provide some incentives to institutions to engage in innovation. time to talkult about new money. maybe it is redirecting money or within the education division of believe there is a moment of opportunity where the technology has reached the point that it really cannot improve learning. it can lower the cost but there needs to be --

there needs to be success that others can build upon. >> to piggyback on that -- massachusetts, a few years ago, they competed for grantrtment of labor tac which was to transform workforce programs within the community colleges. it was one of a lot of tac grant that there is no real mechanism for those recipients to learn from each other within the system that involve the colleges in the state and learn across other tac grantees. thathould not assume learning happens easily. it may be that, in legislation, carving out some technical assistance, p relearning, opportunities that get driven down to the field so that field has capacity to say this is working, let's move it over here

and let's scale it up. your concern about replicating the amount of schools doing the same amount of work, i will give you an example. we have 30 institutions working right now i'm competency-based models dur. the issues they face drilled down to accreditation. it strengthens the incumbent models. especially those in comments are threatened by the new models. wait a different alternative. -- we need a different and tones alternative. it pulls you back it's at traditional models which are getting in the way. this is a university of wisconsin system, large players trying to do this work.

>> i have senator murphy, senator baldwin, and senator franken and senator whitehouse. >> thank you very much. the mosthis is maybe or one of the most important hearings we have done all year. we, today, have a generation of young families that are absolutely drowning in college --. i am representative of that, paying for past college and desperately saving for future college. part of my frustration today is that in hearing about all of the amazing work you are doing in terms of innovation, i maybe have not heard enough about how this innovation is going to directly lead to college costing less for students. quality is obviously paramount. we cannot survive as a nation if we continue to spiral upwards

over one dollars trillion in student debt. i maybe want to explore that for a second. before i do, to add onto senator alexander's point of questioning on innovation -- i am pleased you are undertaking an effort to look at deregulation and i hope if there is room, i can help. we've got this three-legged stool of regulation but it is stools get all of the aligned behind koppen c-based learning when you have to get the accreditors and title iv administers and the states to think outside the box. i think that will be one of the keys to unlocking some of the big steps forward. let me ask you about affordability. you have done impressive work to redesign curriculum. you talked about the fact that you are looking at the cost to the system of delivering. what does that mean in terms of

the cost to the student? connecticut is making leaps forward but public school tuition has gone up by 20% in the last five years we have not delivered a more affordable product to her students even though we an innovative state. what is going on in maryland? 2008, tuition and the state of maryland to today, has gone up a cumulative eight percent. we have been able to use these innovations and, quite frankly, support from the state, to hold down the growth intuition. ours in part because of innovations in the classroom and outside the classroom we have really made dramatic progress on tuition. we have gone from the seventh highest tuition state in the nation to the 28 highest tuition state in the nation. we have gotten a lot of help from other states, mind you,

because tuition is ramped up. our innovations have led moderation in the cost of tuition. eight percent cumulative since 2008. ways toave talked about stimulate innovation and talked about accountability. i think part of accountability should be affordability. >> absolutely. >> maybe through the dispensation of title iv money, affordability should be on the table. want to talk to you -- >> we will eat this hearing far remarks from attorney general eric holder announcing a major enforcement action with healthcare joined by other federal officials at the justice department. >> good morning, thank you all for being here. i am going by the associate journal, assistant attorney general, the united states

attorney for the eastern district of pennsylvania, the u.s. attorney for the district of massachusetts, first assistant united states attorney for the northern district of california, and the deputy inspector general for investigations of the department of health and human services. we are here today to announce the johnson and johnson and three of its subsidiaries have agreed to pay more than two point $2 billion to resolve criminal and civil claims they marketed protrusion drugs for uses that were never approved, safe, or affective. these were kickbacks to physicians and pharmacies to prescribing these drugs. through these alleged acts from these companies, they line their the money of american taxpayers and private insurance industry. they drove up costs for everyone in the health care system and negatively impacted the long- term solvency of the central healthcare programs by medicare. this global settlement resolves

multiple investigations involving the ente psychotic and other johnson & johnson products. the settlement also addresses allegations of conduct that recklessly put at risk the health of some of the most vulnerable members of our society including children, the elderly, and the disabled. the criminal information that was filed today alleges that the johnson and johnson subsidiary, violated a drug for unapproved uses. clearly, they admit they use this drug to healthcare treatment of the psychotic symptoms and associated behaviors. it was exhibited by the elderly, non-schizophrenic patients who suffered from dementia. even though the drug was proved

-- approved only to treat schizophrenia. filed complaints, johnson and johnson and janssen promoted ripodol to retirement homes. allegedlyies downgraded the serious health risks associated with the drug including risk of stroke in elderly patients and even paid doctors to induce doctors to prescribe these drugs. this was part of a scheme and allegedly paid kickbacks to the nation's provide ang-

independent view of the medications. instead, at the company's behest, the pharmacists allegedly recommended rispodol for nursing home patients that exhibited symptoms of dementia and alzheimer's disease. this brought in millions of dollars in false claims for these drugs. to resolve allegations stemming from the improper promotion of rispodol, janssen pharmaceuticals will plead guilty and pay $400 million in criminal fines as well as forfeitures. johnson and johnson and janssen pharmaceuticals have agreed to pay $1.2 billion to resolve their civil liabilities under the false claims act. johnson & johnson will pay an additional $149 billion to resolve claims relating to alleged allegedly paid kickbacks to the nation's largest long-term care pharmacies whose pharmacists were supposed to kickbacks for - term care pharmacies. in addition to these claims, we allege that johnson and johnson ,s well as its subsidiary promoted the heart failure drug for off label uses that caused patients to submit to costly confusions of the drug.

credible scientific evidence it would have any health benefit for those patients. in a separate matter that was resolved in 2009, stiles pleaded hilty to miss branding and paid a criminal fine of 85 million dollars. to resolve the current allegations, the companies have agreed to pay an additional 184 billion dollars. this significant settlement was made possible by the relentless investigative and enforcement efforts of dedicated men and women serving as part of the healthcare fraud prevention and whichment team or heat, kathleen sebelius and i launched more than four years ago to recover taxpayer dollars and keep our people safe and to aggressively punish fraud and misconduct wherever it is found. the alleged conduct is shameful and it is unacceptable.

it displayed a reckless indifference to the safety of the american people and the thetituted an abuse of public trust showing a blatant disregard for systems and laws designed to protect the hotel. as our filings made clear, these are not victimless crimes. americans trust medications prescribed for their parents and grandparents, for their children and for themselves. they are selected because they are in the patient's best interest. andlaws enacted by congress the enforcement efforts of the fda provide important safeguards to ensure that the drugs are are approved for uses that are safe as well as effective. efforts by drug companies to introduce their drugs into interstate commerce for unapproved uses subvert those laws. likewise, payment of kickbacks undermines the independent medical judgment of healthcare providers.

it creates financial incentives to increase the use of certain drugs, potentially putting the help of some patients at risk. every time pharmaceutical companies engage in this type of conduct, they corrupt medical decisions by healthcare providers. they jeopardize the public health and they take money out of the taxpayers pockets. this settlement demonstrates that the department of justice and health and human services are working alongside a variety of federal, state, and local partners will sibley not tolerate such activities. no company is above the law. my colleagues and i are determined to keep moving forward abiding by the facts and to hold these corporations accountable. we want to safeguard the american people and prevent this conduct from occurring in the future. marks anotherent step forward in our strategic,

comprehensive, and effective approach to fraud prevention. we can all be encouraged by the actions we have taken and the results we have obtained in recent years. but we cannot yet be satisfied. that is why here in washington and across the country, this critical work will continue. everyoneike to thank who made this settlement possible. recognize the leaders, prosecutors, trial attorneys, the investigators, and staff of the civil division here in washington as well as our united states attorneys offices in boston, and san francisco. i am grateful for the committed efforts of our partners in the department of health and human services, particularly in the office of the inspector general. as well as the food and drug administration and many other agencies that contributed to this outcome. i want to thank each of the state attorneys general and medicaid fraud units across the country for contributing to this investigation. boston, and san francisco. we would be happy to take any

questions you may have at this time. i would like to direct the initial questions to the announcement we just made. how many patients received these drugs? with regard to the number of patients, i don't have that figure. with rick guard to the false claims allegations, it covers a 10 year. from 1999-2009. with regard to the criminal misdemeanor charge, it covers a little over a one-year period from march of 2002 and carries on until december of 2003. it covers a time period when the risperdol label was linked to schizophrenia. >> did the risk ever turn into actual harm?

with regard to the evidence in this case, we don't have evidence of actual patient harm. what we have are statements and representation that indicate that risk was being minimize with regard to the use of the product in the elderly. especially with regard to the risk of stroke and with regard to diabetes and things of that nature. it is incumbent on the government to take a look at these type of behavior is to make sure we are prosecuting this case appropriately to make sure of efficiency. thing that ties the pieces of this case together is the fact that all of that relates to conduct that undermines the regulatory system that has been set up to protect the safety of the medicines we take. part of it relates to activities in marketingy efforts but also, the omnicare

portion of the case relates to kickbacks. which have the potential to undermine the medical judgment of medical professionals making decisions about individual patients. we think it's important that we , thece this program federal fda administers him a to safeguard medical judgments that are made in this country. remainingere any claims the government has against johnson & johnson -- related charges? or is this settled, all the claims? this is a global resolution. with regard to the drugs we announced. this is based upon the evidence we evaluated and made a determination as to what the result would be and we have now reached a global resolution so we can move onto other cases. how many physicians were

involved in the kickbacks? how much was paid to them? we do not have that specific number. a lot of what had occurred was paid the and janssen kickbacks to omnicare and on the care in 2009 settled charges against it in which it had accepted kickbacks and had taken max to nursing homes that were utilizing omnicare. the pharmacy had prescription drugs in the kickbacks were in of regrets that went to omnicare as well as fees that were supposedly paying for data payments that were

disguised to look like educational funding, in particular for a pharmacist who were used to induce doctors to prescribe certain medications toin particular, risperdol pas seniors in nursing homes. >> the doctors were made a blanket payment? >> i believe the payments went to the doctors on the basis of speaking fees for certain presentations that were made answered meetings that were attended. -- we are reiterate looking for a case where someone has died or an elderly patient has been injured. you don't know of one? is that accurate? >> i believe that's correct. there is a case last week that to seniors in nursing homes. held the first amendment protected off label marketing by drug companies. if that's does it was wrong and why didn't they department pursue that elsewhere

and are you pursuing these cases now? >> in that particular case, the conduct that was looked at, the court determined it could be freedom of speech but that's not what we are behind. in this case, we are not looking at off label marketing in terms of alleging certain factors that are accurate. in particular, one of the key drugs that that were highlighted, risperdol, had been approved for use of schizophrenia and only that using at the company promoted it and sold it and induced others to buy it through kickback schemes and other inducements to treat the elderly who were suffering from alzheimer's or other forms of dementia, to treat children and to treat the disabled. drugs forromote purposes that they are not intended for and have not been approved by the fda, we don't believe that is a violation of the first amendment. >> isn't this off label

marketing? >> what we are prosecuting is promoting drugs for purposes that have not been approved, that have not been shown to be safe or even effective. that's what this case is about. the statute requires that for intended uses, the labeling for the drug provide directions for use. and reflect any restrictions. what we are talking about in this case involves promotion for intended uses without the required instructions for use that the statute mandates. general, therey are lots of questions about the shooting at lax on friday. what is the latest understanding of the investigation? do you think anything could have

been done to stop this in the future? >> the investigation is underway and part of that investigation will be a review of the security measures that were in place not only at lax but also a review of arrangements that exist at other airports. the function of tsa is to ensure that people can board planes safely, take flights safely, the responsibility for protecting airport security is not a tsa function but something we need to examine given what happened in los angeles. would you say there is a sort of anger at the government that was behind this? >> that is one thing we have to determine is part of the investigation. there have been some plumber larry things we have learned. -- there have been some pulmonary things we have learned. we have to get a full picture of the manning custody of understand what his motive might have been. it certainly does not justify

the killing of a brave tsa injured or others who were injured. no feelings of the government could possibly justify these kinds of actions. you are scheduled to go to trial interior weeks over the the merger of american airlines and united. this andyou settle what are the expectations? >> this is a matter that we touched upon with airlines we have sued an express concerns about the potential reduction in competition that a merger would potentially impose. i'm not going into any detail of the discussions that we are engaging in but i will say that they are ongoing. what we have tried to focus on is to make sure that any resolution in this case

necessarily includes divestitures of facilities at constrained airports throughout the united states. that, for us, is something that has to be a part of any resolution. conversations are ongoing and we hope we can resolve this shorter trial. demands,'t meet those we are fully prepared to take this case to trial. this involves more than 1000 routes. are you willing to go for a settlement that potentially has a lower number of routes? our concern is making sure we look at, as we do in all cases, the that we bring benefits to consumers. we alleged in the complaint our concern is that we have had. a number of ways we can deal with those concerns.

we will see what the conversations bring but we will on something that does not fundamentally resolve the concerns expressing complaints and do not substantially bring relief to consumers. >> is there a magic number of slots you made from different airports? yes, there is, but i won't tell you what it is. >> a real quick question on the surveillance issue -- there has been a lap over the last piece of week or two, u.s. surveillance practices. about 80% of the work agencies u.s.nsa is outside the and is not governed by statutes. it is governed partially by guidelines that you or your predecessors put in place. are you looking at whether those reduction provide any

-- any protection for foreign nationals? can you give any assurances abroad that the government is not doing this willy-nilly? >> as the president has indicated and he is right, we are in the process of conducting a review of the surveillance activities to make sure we are striking a balance to keeping the american people safe and their allies safe. and also guarding the civil liberties and privacy of those same people. we are in conversations with our partners in new york and other parts of the world to make sure -- in europe and other parts of the world to make sure we strike that balance. we can do certain things is not necessarily mean we should do these things. i think that is the chief question that has to be resolved. it is almost a cost-benefit. what is the benefit we are receiving and what are the protections we are generating against the privacy that we

necessarily have to give up? that review is underway and it is thorough and the president is fully engaged in that review as are other members of the national security team. i would expect that in a relatively short period of time, we will have announcements to make. let me emphasize one thing, the concerns we have here not only with american citizens. i hope the people in europe will hear this. people who are members of the eu nations are concerned. go to their privacy considerations as well. we are looking at this in a very holistic way. you -- can you help the american citizens understand why a healthcare fraud case can take so many years? the complaint was back in 2002. can you help the average person

understand why it takes so long to get here? >> my own experience has been that these are complex investigations that require huge amounts of research, lots of documents that have to be reviewed and great numbers of people who have to be interviewed. it frequently cross jurisdictions. you want to make sure that you investigate these things as early as you can to make sure youcan understand in its totali, the harms or potential harms that have occurred or hold accountable corporations or the institutions and all of the individuals you possibly can. unless they go to jail, will this just be considered a cost of doing business for big corporations? >> given the magnitude of the

settlements that we extracted and also the ongoing nature of the monitoring that is done is part typically of these resolutions. the conduct and cultures tend to change in these companies. we worked through these to make sure that which happened in the past is not happen in the future. i think what you have seen in the last 4.5 years increasingly from this department of justice and for this attorney general is in settlements like this and resolutions like this with nonmonetary provisions which seek to change corporate behavior. we have very specific provisions here. they talk about changing the compensation models for the sales force, changing some of those incentives, actually trying to change behavior.

the magnitude of the final penalty speaks for itself. in addition to accountability, i think we are looking or did terrance. -- did terrance. -- deterrance. in civil settlements, you will have an acknowledgment of fact. how best toabout resolve these types of cases, we are looking for ways that will change behavior as well as demand accountability. up dated you give us an on the discussions with jpmorgan chase? we were expecting a settlement for have to come quickly but there seem to be sticking point. can you tell us what they are? >> what were you expecting? that's still an operative phrase. the associative attorney, tony west, has been meeting in

connection with these conversations. they are ongoing. i think they have been productive but i don't want to get into the nature of what we have been talking about other than to say that i expect one way or the other, we will resolve this soon. we will either have an agreement or we will be having a lawsuit. do you want to elaborate? >> we are not in a position to announce anything today. >> hold on -- are there other questions? but note it help was was almost four years ago to at -- do you think the prosecution would have been over by now? >> that's a good question to ask. what we have seen over these past four years, not to be

egocentric but i was right. documents, files and recommendations by the military, u.s. attorneys offices and the eastern district of virginia and the southern district of new york. i think the decision that i announced on that day was right. the facts and events that have occurred demonstrate that. i think had we gone along the closede would not have down half of manhattan or caused $200 million per year. the defendants would be on death row. we, unfortunately, did not go down that road for reasons other than those connected to the litigation, largely political. i think this is an example of what happens with politics and

when it gets into matters that should be decided by lawyers and by national security experts. to libby brings me who is being tried in the federal court. how long do you expect that trial to last? what are your expectations for the cast -- for the case. >> that is a pending matters or want to be careful about any comments i make. charges have been filed, very serious charges. the defendant has been charged with participation in a worldwide conspiracy that has a number of separate acts including the bombing of our embassy. it is our intention to hold him totally accountable as we have others who were part of this conspiracy. process we used, we

were able to get intelligence from him and still have a viable street case and that's an indication that article 350 is an effective tool to hold people accountable and getting intelligence from people who possess it. >> how long do you expect this process to last? >> it should be just as long as. ofyou look at the history article three prosecutions, you'll see they don't take nearly as long as those that occur in the military system. which is not to say that some cases should not be brought into the military system. if you look at the hundreds of cases we have wrought in article three courts, we have shown we can be effective and they can be

done relatively quickly and we can get results that are consistent with the facts. we hold people accountable. on the boston marathon case, is the justice department going to go for the death penalty in that case? >> we have a process we have to follow. we have united states attorney from boston who is part of that ross says. a recommendation will come from the u.s. attorney. it will go through our capital case committee. it will go to the deputy attorney general and finally, it will come to me before i make the determination as to whether or not we would seek the death penalty. >> have you made a recommendation, mr. ortiz? >> the process is ongoing. general, whyney haven't charges been filed against george zimmerman yet?

the case of george zimmerman and what happened there -- i think a substantial part was resolved in the case that was tried. reviewed and we are still doing an investigation. i'm not sure how much longer that will take but and we get to a point where we are able to make a determination, we try to construct the case and i way that we can share as much information, not just make an announcement but share the information with regard to that determination. >> one more? >> ok, one more. [laughter] >> there is a senate hearing on prison reform. what would you like to see congress pass to change the way the present system is? >> i talked about this in san francisco in august.

i thought the system was broken. i did not mean to imply that i was only talking about the federal system. we have problems that go further . i think we need to come up with ways in which we hold people accountable. we also need to come up with ways in which we prevent people from coming in -- becoming involved in the prison system. there are people who have deficits and are in the system so they can be made better and ultimately released and become productive citizens. that's why we need to focus on reentry. we need to have sentences that are, i think, consistent with the conduct the particular defendant is convicted of. i think there has been a tendency in the past two mete out sentences that are frankly excessive. at this point, given the resource constraints we have, i look to the justice department and the amount of money federal prisons consume. we have to rethink our

priorities. we never want to put states at risk without showing you can come up with substantial reform and keep the american people safe and do things in a way that is different. i would hope congress would look at the experience of states and and makehe proposals those 21st century changes that i think we need. >> attorney general eric holder joined by other justice department officials in decision onheir johnson & johnson. back to the senate hearing on the cost of higher education. maryland, newof hampshire and north carolina are talking about what they're doing to lower education costs tummy . >> this hearing has been very helpful.

in my travels around the state of wisconsin, i have visited with a lot of universities and technical colleges and been heartened to see how much innovation is specifically happening to support nontraditional students and, by that i mean, older students and returning adult students, those -- whoht these seeking might be seeking specific occupational certificates or something like that. this population does have unique particular needs. i have met some really inspiring figures --

>> we are having technical issues on the coverage of the hearing on education. we hope to return to that momentarily. [no audio] [no audio] [no audio]

>> we will look in on some of our other live coverage coming up today. the privacy and civil liberties oversight board is holding a discussion on nsa data collection and surveillance programs. c-span2 just wrapped up the morning session and we will be live here on c-span with the afternoon session which is set to get underway at 1:15 p.m. the u.s. senate will begin at 2 p.m. eastern. that will be live on c-span two and they will debate on a workplace nondiscrimination bill lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and they will consider several judicial nominations. live this afternoon on c-span3, a discussion on hospitals and healthcare with former senate republican leader bill frist will talk about the impact of the healthcare care law on hospitals. that will be live at 3 p.m. eastern on c-span three.

>> i'm surrounded by a few of the items that kept mamie on the best-dressed list. she worked with one of her favorite designers for her suits and daywear outfits. this the outfit she wore to the formal opening of the saint lawrence seaway where she and ike met queen elizabeth and prince valium. -- prince philip. .his is the eisenhower tuille these are a few examples of mamie's day dresses. she was fond of the color pink and wore it in many different shades and styles. jackie kennedy is well known for the little black dress and here are two examples of mamie's favorite little backed dress. she said she would never dress like an old lady. these gowns she were well into her 70s and 80s show her love of bright colors and wild fabric. >> first lady maney eisenhower

tonight live at 9 p.m. eastern on c-span and c-span three. also on c-span radio and www.c- span.org. we will move on with our programming. senate armed services committee chair carl levin recently visited afghanistan and gives his thoughts now on how u.s. is going. this is about one hour. welcome to the council on foreign relations. it is a high honor to be here with carl levin.

he actually needs no introduction so i will make my incredibly brief. -- he is theate chairman of the senate arms committee from the great state of chicken and he is just back from a trip to afghanistan where he met with our commanders and also had a one-on-one meeting with president karzai. we will hear about that and senator levin has some remarks about his trip to afghanistan we will have a conversation. senator levin -- >> thank you, john. we appreciate the invitation to join you this morning. i look forward to that conversation as well. i am not just here to share my ideas but hopefully, to receive some of the ideas we all need in the world we live in. as john mentioned, i recently returned from afghanistan. we spent a couple of days

meeting with our commanders and troops and president karzai. we also met with the foreign minister there, the defense minister before we went to afghanistan. basically, we feel that things have significantly improved and changed for the better during the last 10 year period. i have been there perhaps 12 times or so. me laterwill tell today it was only 11 are really 13. [laughter] i have been there a lot. strikinges are pretty particularly in the last few years. that's not the impression the american public have. i will get into that in a moment. that, to me, is the obvious fact, that things have changed and changed for the better in a number of ways in afghanistan. first of all, it's more secure.

it's more secure because we came. it's that simple. we and our allies made a difference. army,owth of the afghan the strength of the afghan army and the police now have grown into much more capable and respected force including the local police which is made a major difference particularly in the villages of afghanistan because they are directly connected to the elders in those villages. perhaps the most feared force our the 25,000 local police, feared by the tell about. -- the taliban. because they aren't so directly connected to their homes, they are protecting their homes and have become a major threat to the tell about -- to the taliban

control and success. is insurgency of the taliban resilient and there's a long way to go in afghanistan in terms of becoming truly a country that is freer of terror. nonetheless, the changes are pretty striking. there have been changes in the economy in afghanistan. to thee across kabul american university in afghanistan. i wish every american could go to the american university. just to visit their -- if every american could go there , or if every american could see what is happening in that one place or drive across kabul t o it would change the view of most americans about what we our accomplished with

allies and the afghan security forces in afghanistan. the city now is full of cars and traffic john's and the shops are opening all over the lice and people are in markets. kabul.d not drive across they would not let us drive across years before. it was simply too dangerous. it is still a dangerous place. i don't want to sound like pollyanna. i don't want to understand to make the difficulties. -- i don't want to underestimate the difficulties. exit changed significantly for the better in afghanistan and the american people, sadly, don't know. relative to the american university itself by way part of the story, the growth of the number of students.

started with three students. now 1000 of them. 3000 are women. courses that iof will not go into but have recently been opened on a new campus. international center for women economic development established with the department of defense. that offove to make the record, but i cannot. i am sure mike some of my colleagues would say what are we using the department of defense dollars to open up the women's economic element school, why isn't that a id dod? thedds significantly to security of the country. basically the answer is because the dod did a number of things. it helped