A MHERST C OLLEGE B AYLOR C OLLEGE OF M EDICINE March 7, 2018 B ERRY C OLLEGE B OWDOIN C OLLEGE B ROWN U NIVERSITY B RYN M AWR C OLLEGE C ALIFORNIA I NSTITUTE OF T ECHNOLOGY C LAREMONT M C K ENNA C OLLEGE C OLBY C OLLEGE C OLORADO C OLLEGE T HE C OOPER U NION FOR THE A DVANCEMENT OF S CIENCE AND A RT C ORNELL U NIVERSITY D ARTMOUTH C OLLEGE D ENISON U NIVERSITY D E P AUW U NIVERSITY D UKE U NIVERSITY E MORY U NIVERSITY F RANKLIN AND M ARSHALL C OLLEGE G RINNELL C OLLEGE H AMILTON C OLLEGE The Honorable Mitch McConnell U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Paul Ryan U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Charles Schumer U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Orrin Hatch U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Kevin Brady U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Ron Wyden U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Richard Neal U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 H ARVARD U NIVERSITY H AVERFORD C OLLEGE I CAHN S CHOOL OF M EDICINE AT M OUNT S INAI Dear Mr. Speaker, Leaders McConnell, Schumer, and Pelosi, Chairmen Hatch and Brady, and Ranking Members Wyden and Neal: J OHNS H OPKINS U NIVERSITY T HE J UILLIARD S CHOOL M ASSACHUSETTS I NSTITUTE OF T ECHNOLOGY M EDICAL C OLLEGE OF W ISCONSIN M IDDLEBURY C OLLEGE We write together to express our deep objections to Section 4968 of P.L. 11597, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which will impose an unprecedented and damaging tax on the charitable resources at our and other American colleges and universities. We urge Congress to repeal or amend the tax to preserve resources that support students, teaching, and research. N ORTHWESTERN U NIVERSITY P OMONA C OLLEGE P RINCETON U NIVERSITY P RINCETON T HEOLOGICAL S EMINARY R ICE U NIVERSITY S MITH C OLLEGE S TANFORD U NIVERSITY S WARTHMORE C OLLEGE We serve as presidents and chancellors of diverse higher education institutions – medical schools, research universities, women’s colleges, liberal arts and performing arts colleges, among others – which represent a range of academic fields and research interests. Nonetheless, we share a dedication to excellence in education and developing talent, as well as a commitment to affordability for students from all backgrounds, and a responsibility to serve our communities and the country. T RINITY U NIVERSITY U NIVERSITY OF C HICAGO U NIVERSITY OF P ENNSYLVANIA U NIVERSITY OF N OTRE D AME U NIVERSITY OF R ICHMOND V ANDERBILT U NIVERSITY V ASSAR C OLLEGE W ABASH C OLLEGE W ASHINGTON AND L EE U NIVERSITY W ASHINGTON U NIVERSITY IN S T . L OUIS The net investment income tax will impede our efforts to help students, improve education, expand the boundaries of knowledge, advance technological innovation, and enhance health and well-being. Each year we spend funds from our endowments to support this critical work. Endowments are not kept in reserve to be drawn on only occasionally or on a rainy day. In fact, across our institutions, endowments support a significant and growing portion of our operations; for many, endowments provide almost half of annual revenues. W ELLESLEY C OLLEGE W ILLIAMS C OLLEGE Y ALE U NIVERSITY S Students are the leading beneficiary of these resources with each of us committed to significant efforts to enhance affordability. Yet this tax will not address the cost of college or student indebtedness, as some have tried to suggest. Instead, it will constrain the resources available to the very institutions that lead the nation in reducing, if not eliminating, the costs for low- and middle-income students, and will impede the efforts of other institutions striving to grow their endowments for this very purpose. At the same time, the new tax establishes a precedent that threatens all charities. This is not simply an extension of policy from private foundations to colleges and universities. Colleges and universities are entirely unlike those private foundations that are subject to an investment income tax. Only non-operating foundations – which carry out their missions mainly through grant making – are required to pay an excise tax. Where foundations have their own operations, like an art museum or library, they are exempt from taxation. Colleges and universities, by definition and like other public charities, have significant operations, and that is to the benefit of us all. Taxing college and university resources will reduce not just these resources, but also the impact of our institutions, and the impact of our students. We will each have less to give in aid, less for research and less to support public engagement in the lives of our communities. We urge you to revisit this misguided policy in the near term and look forward to working with you to advance the goals of access, affordability and success for students across the country. Sincerely, Biddy Martin President Amherst College Paul Klotman President and CEO Baylor College of Medicine Stephen R. Briggs President Berry College Clayton S. Rose President Bowdoin College Christina H. Paxson President Brown University Kimberly W. Cassidy President Bryn Mawr College 2 Thomas F. Rosenbaum President California Institute of Technology Hiram E. Chodosh President Claremont McKenna College David A. Greene President Colby College Jill Tiefenthaler President Colorado College Laura Sparks President The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Martha E. Pollack President Cornell University Philip J. Hanlon President Dartmouth College Adam S. Weinberg President Denison University D. Mark McCoy, Ph.D. President DePauw University Vincent E. Price President Duke University Claire E. Sterk President Emory University Daniel R. Porterfield, Ph.D. President Franklin and Marshall College 3 Raynard S. Kington President Grinnell College David Wippman President Hamilton College Drew Gilpin Faust President Harvard University Kimberly W. Benston President Haverford College Dennis S. Charney, MD Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System Ronald J. Daniels President Johns Hopkins University Joseph W. Polisi President The Juilliard School L. Rafael Reif President Massachusetts Institute of Technology John R. Raymond, Sr., MD President and CEO Professor of Medicine Medical College of Wisconsin Laurie L. Patton President Middlebury College Morton O. Schapiro President Northwestern University G. Gabrielle Starr President Pomona College 4 Christopher L. Eisgruber President Princeton University M. Craig Barnes President Princeton Theological Seminary David W. Leebron President Rice University Kathleen McCartney President Smith College Marc Tessier-Lavigne President Stanford University Valerie Smith President Swarthmore College Danny J. Anderson President Trinity University Robert J. Zimmer President University of Chicago Amy Gutmann President University of Pennsylvania Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. President University of Notre Dame Ronald A. Crutcher President University of Richmond Nicholas S. Zeppos Chancellor Vanderbilt University 5 Elizabeth H. Bradley President Vassar College Gregory D. Hess, Ph.D. President Wabash College Will Dudley President Washington and Lee University Mark S. Wrighton Chancellor Washington University in St. Louis Paula A. Johnson President Wellesley College Protik K. Majumder Interim President Williams College Peter Salovey President Yale University 6