This should pretty much sum up how the Republicans plan to run the House. This woman doesn’t need to be anywhere near anything related to education. (Chronicle of Higher Ed):

House Republicans have appointed Rep. Virginia Foxx as chair of the subcommittee on higher education. Representative Foxx, a conservative from North Carolina, previously taught or served as an administrator at Appalachian State University, Caldwell Community College, and Mayland Community College.

From Foxx’s PR shop:

“Education is a cornerstone of a prosperous and secure society and if the United States is to remain competitive in the global marketplace quality higher education will be one of keys to maintaining our edge,” Foxx said.  “So I’m very honored to chair the subcommittee on higher education and am excited to roll up my sleeves and work towards making our higher education system even better while carefully stewarding taxpayer dollars.”

“I’m pleased to welcome Rep. Foxx back to the Education and the Workforce Committee where she will assume a key leadership role for the 112th Congress,” said Rep. Kline, the incoming chairman of the panel. “Her experience as an educator and legislator make her uniquely suited to chair the subcommittee that oversees our colleges and universities and help shape policies that affect students and taxpayers.”

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Let’s do a little rewind to one of the most disgusting acts by the Representative from the 5th district of NC.

Summary: On April 29, 2009, in a speech on the House floor, Rep. Virginia Foxx claimed that Matthew Shepard’s death was merely the result of a robbery gone bad. While his killers Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson did rob him, they also admitted that they were well aware of his sexual orientation and pretended they were gay to lure him away from the bar he was in at the time. The most striking feature of the case, of course, is that during the course of a normal, simple robbery, the victim is not generally beaten, tied to a post, and left for dead.

Rep. Foxx: “The bill was named after a very unfortunate incident that happened, where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay. The bill was named for him, the hate crimes bill was named for him, but it’s, it’s really a hoax, that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”[House Floor Speech, 4/29/09]