The NRSC recently released a TV ad in New Hampshire targeting Maggie Hassan for the state’s high college tuition costs and for Hassan’s absences from University system board meetings. Despite Maggie Hassan’s best efforts to spin the facts, PolitiFact reported that the ad is accurate:
“Looking back at the minutes, the Republicans are correct: Hassan has missed every single USNH board meeting since she took office, except one on June 28, 2013, when she briefly called in and made a motion to freeze tuition, according to meeting minutes provided by a USNH official.”
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PolitiFact: Did Hassan skip university meetings?
PolitiFact | By Lola Duffort
With New Hampshire students perennially saddled with one of the highest tuition rates in the country, Republicans are using higher education to attack Gov. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat who is challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte for her Senate seat this November.
An ad put out by the National Republican Senatorial Committee reminds viewers that Granite State students attending New Hampshire’s public colleges will pay more than in-state students do in basically every other state in the country.
“Hassan raised college tuition making New Hampshire the highest in America,” the narrator says, “Today, New Hampshire students are leaving to find affordable education, taking jobs with them.”
The ad suggests that Hassan has been oblivious as the situation reaches a crisis point.
“Hassan missed nearly every University system board meeting. Maggie Hassan failed our students. She just hasn’t done her job,” the ad concludes.
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As governor, Hassan is an ex-officio member of the 27-member board of trustees that oversees the University System of New Hampshire. She can make motions and vote at meetings. The USNH oversees the University of New Hampshire, Plymouth State University, Granite State College and Keene State College.
The board of trustees is responsible for strategic planning, setting policies, and ensuring the system’s financial health. It usually meets about four times a year, excepting special meetings.
Looking back at the minutes, the Republicans are correct: Hassan has missed every single USNH board meeting since she took office, except one on June 28, 2013, when she briefly called in and made a motion to freeze tuition, according to meeting minutes provided by a USNH official.
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The National Republican Senatorial Committee says Maggie Hassan “missed nearly every university system board meeting.”
The governor is a sitting member of the University System of New Hampshire’s board of trustees, which gives her the power to make motions and vote. Hassan missed all but one meeting during her tenure as governor, and even the meeting she participated in came via phone call.
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