Title

Pence, DeVos Hold Call With 14 College Presidents

By

May 14, 2020

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