Pence, DeVos Hold Call With 14 College Presidents

Vice President Mike Pence held a call Wednesday with leaders of 14 colleges and universities. They were joined by Betsy DeVos, the U.S. secretary of education, and Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, in a discussion about "best practices to get students back to school in the fall," according to a news release from the vice president's office.

The group discussed a guidance document the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released earlier this year about how colleges should plan, prepare and respond to COVID-19.

"These college and university leaders discussed possible options to re-open their campuses for students, faculty and staff safely and responsibly," the release said. "Many participants on the call discussed working groups they developed on campus to provide data-driven strategies for re-opening. Participants discussed the importance of opening and maintaining research labs to assist with COVID-19 research, testing and tracing."

Participating in the call were:

• President of Purdue University and the 49th governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels Jr.
• President of the University of Texas-El Paso and the 24th secretary of the Air Force, Heather Wilson
• President of Hillsdale College Larry Arnn
• President of Marquette University Michael Lovell
• President of the University of Virginia James E. Ryan
• Chancellor of the University of Alabama system Fess St. John IV
• President of the University of Florida W. Kent Fuchs
• President of the University of Notre Dame Reverend John Jenkins
• President of Carnegie Mellon University Farnam Jahanian
• President of the Ohio State University Dr. Michael V. Drake
• President of Stanford University Marc Tessier-Lavigne
• President of Wake Forest University Nathan Hatch
• President of Arizona State University Michael Crow
• President of Hampton University William R. Harvey