June 14,2006

Grassley Welcomes Student Views on Improving American University’s Leadership

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Reporters and Editors
Re: American University students’ letter
Da: Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, today made the following
comment on the American University students’ letter regarding the school’s leadership.

“The letter from the AU student president, Ms. Mushnick, makes clear that the AU board has
far to go in regaining the confidence of its most important constituents, the students. The AU board,
and particularly the new board members, should take seriously the students’ ‘substantial distrust’ of
the trustees who voted to award Ben Ladner millions of dollars in severance. I’ve recently released
a significant number of AU documents on the Finance Committee web site that only add to the
questions of why the AU board decided to pay millions of dollars for Ben Ladner’s severance. The
students’ letter shows that the AU board needs to take real steps to engage the student leadership and
gain the students’ confidence that the board is putting their interests first. I appreciate the students’
proposal for congressional action. I’ll consider it closely as I monitor the board’s next steps.”