REMARKS OF REED HUNDT
                                 CHAIRMAN
                     FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

                 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION
                              WASHINGTON, DC

                        (AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY)

                              APRIL 25, 1996


    Communications and Higher Education: Bridging the Past and Future


     Thank you the opportunity to offer some brief remarks tonight.  The leadership
of the higher education community has a central and critical role to serve in ensuring
that the tremendous potential of technology and telecommunications for educating our
citizenry are realized.

     Last week, I had the privilege of speaking at the celebration of the Library of
Congress's project to digitalize its collection.  As leaders of Congress and the private
sector gathered in the beautifully renovated hall of the Library, what struck me most
is the potential for technology to reinvigorate and restore.  After all, here we were in
one of our great institutions marveling at the prospect of bringing some of our most
historic, significant documents to all Americans.

     As we enter the Information Age, we often have a tendency to focus on the
future and the futuristic.  Terms such as ISDN, compressed digital, the Internet, and
Local Multipoint Satellite Distribution Systems convey a sense of the new and the
unknown.
We are dazzled by images technology that only a few years ago were the stuff of
science fiction movies.

     But the real power of technology and communications is the power to build
upon and expand the strengths of our institutions.
The ability to communicate and disseminate information enables us to take what is
best and share it widely and effectively.

     Nowhere is this more true than for our institutions of higher learning.  It is not
just from nostalgia that I remember a time when our colleges and universities were
the dominant shaper of community, culture, and politics as well as education.  They
created visions for progress and led the implementation of those visions.


     The higher education community must now be a leader in the shaping of the
Information Age.  I know of no more influential way to improve education for all
Americans and to restore community than to bring the best minds of our country to
the task.  

     I have seen the wonder in the eyes of young children in a poor school as they
have the chance to listen to and watch the best, most engaging professor impart his
knowledge over a distance learning system.  And I have seen the spark of creativity
and true learning as those students have worked to pose questions to the professor
through interactive technology.

     That, however, is just the small image that must drive our efforts.  Our vision
must be big and bold.  We must work together to find ways to link our universities,
libraries, and primary and secondary schools in order maximize learning.  We must
develop the most effective curriculum for use in conjunction with the new
technologies.  We must bring the works of our libraries to all Americans.

     Much already is underway to define bold visions.  Virginia Tech is undertaking
an ambitious program to create a wired community that links its resources to the
whole town of Blacksburg.  The Chicago 21st Century Community Learning Centers
Project is connecting high schools, elementary schools, colleges and community
groups to serve students of all ages in that city's empowerment zones.  San Diego
University has partnered with Clear View Elementary School to bring computer-
assisted learning to a school where English is a second or new language for 68% of
the school's students.  

     Fortunately, Congress has given us a strong mandate and mechanism to
assist you in the mission.  The Telecommunications Act of 1996 calls upon the
Federal Communications Commission to develop and implement rules that will ensure
that all libraries and primary and secondary schools have access to
telecommunications services.  For the first time, the law guarantees that all teachers
and children in every classroom have a right to access to advanced technology.  

     By November 8th of this year, a Joint Federal-State Board must issue its
recommendations to the Commission on implementation of universal service, and the
Commission must take final action by May of next year. So one of the key tools
should be in place in the near future.  

     The Commission is committed to getting the universal service system right. 
We want to ensure that it facilitates learning and that it enables effective links
between all institutions of learning as well as libraries.  We must work to guarantee
that the system energizes and complements the training of teachers and the
development of curriculum.


     To make sure that we get it right, we have encouraged comments in our
rulemaking from educators as well as telecommunications providers.  We are
heartened that in the first round of comments we received input from members of the
higher education community as well as the library and elementary and secondary
school communities.  We hope that you and other education leaders will submit reply
comments which are due May 7th.

     If I sound as if I bring a certain zeal to this effort, I do.  As a government
leader, I believe that we have the best opportunity in many years to reinvigorate
education.  But my commitment also has a personal dimension.  I was a teacher
before I became a lawyer.  My mother was a teacher, my brother and his wife are
teachers, my sister is a librarian.  

     I know from experience that education matters.  I know that the higher
education community shares that commitment and will continue to offer leadership
and bold vision.        



                                   -FCC-