By Christopher Ross
The University, including the Duke University Health System, spent $430,565 toward lobbying last year, according to OpenSecrets.org. The education industry spent $102,570,446 last fiscal year in lobbying. Last year, DUHS spent about $260,000 toward lobbying, said Paul Vick, associate vice president for government relations.
“If you look at what’s happening in Washington today or really any time, there are few things that happen in Washington that don’t affect Duke in some way or another,” said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations. “Duke is the second largest private employer in North Carolina, so any laws that affect employment, insurance, work place safety and a whole bunch of things that are going to affect Duke we are active on.”
The University’s priorities are in pushing for laws that are beneficial for student access to financial aid and loans, such as Federal Pell Grants and laws that grant additional funding for academic-based research, said Chris Simmons, associate vice president for federal relations.
Last year, Duke lobbied in the areas of immigration, health, education, science/technology, budget/appropriations and defense, according to lobbying reports filed by the University to the federal government.
Immigration is an issue of interest to the University because Duke employs people who are not U.S. residents, Schoenfeld explained. He added that as a nonprofit organization, Duke is concerned with tax laws. Additionally, a commitment to sustainability and a great amount of energy consumption by students, faculty and staff make environmental issues also of lobbying interest to the University, Schoenfeld said.
In general, universities take a more preventative approach when lobbying rather than proactively advocate for an issue, said Mike Munger, chair of the political science department.
“Higher education is more about trying to prevent bad decisions,” he said. “Higher education is inherently more defensive.”
Reporting lobbying expenditures
The more than $400,000 figure the University released for its lobbying efforts last year is nearly four times the amount reported in fiscal year 2007. Prior to last year, Duke reported DUHS lobbying expenditures separately from the rest of the University, which accounts for the higher figure, Simmons said.
Additionally, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, which went into effect last year, requires universities to report a broader array of lobbying expenditures. The act requires all organizations, corporations and institutes to file a report quarterly instead of semi-annually.
Overall, the University did not increased its expenses in lobbying last year, but rather reported it more accurately, Schoenfeld said.
“The definition of what constitutes lobbying has been hazy at best, as much as Congress has tried to clarify,” he said. “So, we make our best effort to gather the information and report it.”
Duke is represented in Washington by its federal relations team. Simmons, Vick and Melissa Vetterkind, assistant director for federal relations, are the registered lobbyists for Duke. Simmons and Vetterkind handle the University’s affairs while Vick deals with matters on behalf of Duke Medicine.
“We meet with faculty, dean and students leaders and find where priorities need to be,” Simmons said.
Duke used to rent an office from another university for some time when it had a federal relations staff member based in Washington. The entire federal relations team is now based on campus, Schoenfeld noted.
“Washington is very accessible and easy to get to,” he said. “One or another of our federal relations team is in D.C. just about every week. I travel to D.C. very regularly.”
Vick recently lobbied to include funding in the stimulus bill for the National Institutes of Health, which is the primary federal funding source for biomedical research in the United States, Schoenfeld added.
Issues on the national scene
Duke also works with other universities to advocate for similar causes on financial aid and research. In the past Duke has partnered with Yale and Stanford universities and Washington University in St. Louis, Simmons said.
Moreover, the University works closely with associations based in D.C., such as the Association of American Universities, American Council on Education and the Association of American Medical Colleges, Schoenfeld said. The associations are not as effective as individual universities in lobbying, he noted.
As a result, the University focuses on educating and informing the North Carolina delegation of senators and representatives about policies that affect Duke, Schoenfeld said.
Private universities have a number of restrictions on their lobbying activities over public universities. While public universities are exempt from Congressional gift and travel restrictions, private universities are not. There are no restrictions, however, on functions or fundraising events for nonprofit organizations.
“As a nonprofit, Duke is prohibited from making campaign contributions,” Schoenfeld said. “We have to be mindful of restrictions. We have to be willing to bend over backwards to stay in line within the spirit of the law.”
Due to the recession, universities are increasingly turning their lobbying efforts toward policies concerning their endowments, Munger said.
“In the past Congress was trying to get universities to spend more of their endowments, but the financial situation changed that,” he said.
Institutions cannot spend from an endowment that has less money than when it was created. Endowments that are losing money or are not growing quickly enough are said to be “underwater,” Munger said.
Universities are lobbying for the right to spend from or borrow against those endowments that are underwater, he said. Nonprofits, especially wealthier colleges, are in greater trouble.
State and local lobbying
In addition to lobbying for Duke Medicine, Vick also represents the entire University in lobbying the state government.
“[At the state level] the issues are a little bit different because they are principally related to health care more so than education,” Schoenfeld said.
Public institutions have greater latitude in lobbying on the national stage than private institutions because they are a part of the state, Vick said. At the state level, lobbying efforts between public and private universities are on a more even plane, he noted.
The pressing issue right now for the University at the state level is the $2-billion shortfall in the state budget, Vick said.
Last month, Gov. Bev Purdue ordered state agencies to cut their budgets up to 7 percent in addition to budget cut requests made by former Gov. Mike Easley before he left office.
“The University’s concern is reimbursement for North Carolina residents attending [Duke], and the hospital’s [concern] is reimbursements for Medicaid,” Vick said.
Private universities in North Carolina get subsidies for students who are residents of the state.
The University is also involved at the local level, where major issues more directly impact the campus environment, such as land use and traffic.
“We operate as a corporation and we do a lot things that are impacted by business regulation,” Vick said.
The University had an economic impact of $3.4 billion on the city and county of Durham, according to the 2007 Duke University Economic Report.
