USD Magazine, Summer 1995

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"I'm a very strong believer in self– accreditation," asserts Hughes, who, as a member of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, has taken part in individual campus accreditation evalua– tions for more than 20 years. "It's an institution being judged by its peers and I think that's very healthy." Closer to home, Hughes has devoted many years to the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities, for which a fundamental issue has been Cal Grants, or rather, the waning availability of these grants for independent college students . When the grant program was established in 1956, 100 percent of the grants were awarded to independent college students. Today, only 28 percent of the grants go to inde– pendent college students; the majority are awarded to public college students. In March, Hughes participated in AICCU's Independent College Day, in which presidents from California's inde– pendent institutions met with their legis– lators in Sacramento to convince them of the need to reform the Cal Grant program. "We know that there will be a new tidal wave of college students beginning in 1997," Hughes says. ''Yet there isn't a single new California campus on the drawing board, public or private. Where are these students going to go?" While there is some room in the inde– pendent sector, Hughes says, many of the students can't afford the fees. "The state is well-advised to fund the Cal Grants program to enable these kids to go to independent schools," he explains, "so it won't have to build a new campus until it is able to." It's participation and passion such as this that has earned Hughes - and by association, USD - respect among his peers. "I can look at every major organi– zation - national, regional and statewide - and see that Art has been a key force," says Jonathan Brown, executive director of AICCU. "He does it because he really wants to contribute. His basic philosophy is that his role as a leader is to make an organization better while he's there."

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