Repeal of Net-Neutrality Rules Disappoints Higher-Ed Associations
By Julia Martinez and Sam HoisingtonDecember 14, 2017
Demonstrators rally on Thursday outside the Federal Communications Commission building in Washington to protest the decision to end net-neutrality rules. Higher-education associations joined in the criticism of the commission’s 3-to-2 party-line vote.Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday repealed Obama-era regulations that required internet-service providers to treat all online traffic equally. The move is widely seen as a shift in power toward big internet providers like Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Those hoping to see so-called net neutrality untouched under the Trump administration warned that the change would allow internet-service providers to throttle some online traffic and allow companies to pay extra for faster delivery of their content.
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Demonstrators rally on Thursday outside the Federal Communications Commission building in Washington to protest the decision to end net-neutrality rules. Higher-education associations joined in the criticism of the commission’s 3-to-2 party-line vote.Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday repealed Obama-era regulations that required internet-service providers to treat all online traffic equally. The move is widely seen as a shift in power toward big internet providers like Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Those hoping to see so-called net neutrality untouched under the Trump administration warned that the change would allow internet-service providers to throttle some online traffic and allow companies to pay extra for faster delivery of their content.
The decision came in a party-line vote, with three Republican commissioners voting to scrap the regulations and two Democrats voting to retain them. Several higher-education associations had spoken out against the move by Thursday evening. Some submitted opinions during the four-month public-comment period, urging the FCC to keep the regulations in place.
In sounding the alarm about the vote, the associations said the decision to deregulate the industry could have serious ramifications for their members.
“The higher-ed community and a pretty significant number of other sectors expressed a lot of concern over the repeal of net neutrality,” Megan Schneider, assistant director of federal affairs for the National Association of College and University Business Officers, said in an interview. “And I don’t think it’s surprising to anyone that colleges and universities as nonprofit institutions were certainly concerned about this.”
The American Association of Community Colleges, which called the internet “a transformative force in higher education,” expressed disappointment in the decision.
“Community colleges provide an on-ramp to the middle class for many Americans,” the association said in a statement, “and they deserve equal access to the resources needed to succeed in today’s global economy.”
Jody Feder, director of accountability and regulatory affairs for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said the vote by the commission to scrap net neutrality would affect research, instruction, and communication on every campus, and would have detrimental effects “on students, research, and faculty at America’s private colleges and universities.”
