University System News:
www.washingtonpost.com
College initiatives seek to combat sexual assault
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/06/12/college-initiatives-seek-to-combat-sexual-assault/
By Nick Anderson
Here are some things college and university officials are saying about efforts to prevent sexual violence and help those who report it. Dozens of current and recent students who participated in a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll on sexual assault spoke with Post reporters about their experiences in college with unwanted sexual incidents. The students said they attended these schools, among others. What is listed here is only a sampling of initiatives and comments and is not meant to be comprehensive. (This file will be updated.) … Savannah State University (Ga.)
This school is part of the University System of Georgia, which just launched a statewide safety initiative developed through a committee that oversees that issue. The initiative will centralize the implementation and oversight of campus safety policies, procedures and requirements and mandate system-led training on sexual violence for faculty, staff and students. There also will be a system-wide campus climate survey, to gauge student experiences, at least every two years.

www.getschooled.blog.ajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2015/06/15/is-georgia-overpaying-its-college-presidents-while-underpaying-faculty/
Is Georgia overpaying its college presidents while underpaying faculty?
Generous raises to Georgia public college presidents come at a time when tuition is rising and professors are lamenting yet another round of measly raises. The leader of the state’s public college system defended the raises, saying high administrative salaries are essential to keep top talent. According to the AJC’s higher ed reporter Janel Davis:

www.myajc.com
Cobb receives $875,000 from property sale
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local/cobb-receives-875000-from-property-sale/nmb4p/
By Carolyn Cunningham – For the AJC
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will receive $875,000 for the sale of 1 acre at 3051 George Busbee Parkway to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia — although the asking price was $1.2 million. The money will go into the 2005 special purpose local option sales tax program fund for transportation improvements. Sitting on that site, near Kennesaw State University, is a 12,400-square-foot building that was a former Kids R Kids child care facility.

USG Institutions:
www.redandblack.com
Catching up with the former university president
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/catching-up-with-the-former-university-president/article_a26b7820-1193-11e5-a5a5-eb6b33ee0397.html
Nicolle Sartain
Before the University of Georgia, there were other schools Michael Adams held positions at, and of course there are some after too. Adams had been UGA’s president for 16 years, ending in 2013. Before that he was at Centre College in Kentucky, but he was Pepperdine University’s vice president for university affairs first and has now decided to return as chancellor.

www.41nbc.com
Middle Georgia State College prepares for official university status
http://www.41nbc.com/story/d/story/middle-georgia-state-college-prepares-for-official/23295/0C8Y7cEQB0ikcHdOZLRhJw
Taylor Terrell
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – With less than a month before Middle Georgia State College turns into a university, officials with the school prepare to market and re-brand. Student Brittany Ramos says it’s a much needed change. “I’m really excited. I’ve been to this school since 2010. We’ve been waiting for opportunity to have more programs.” Student Markeith Sims adds it’s a great change. “And I think that it would bring a lot of benefits the community.” On July first signs, posters, banners and wayfinders will come down and the new brand will go up.

www.dodgecountynews.com
City approves proclamation
http://www.dodgecountynews.com/archives/6204-City-approves-proclamation.html
By Taelor Rye
Middle Georgia State College will become Middle Georgia State University on July 1, according to Henry Whitfield, director of the institution. At the Eastman City Council meeting on June 8, Whitfield presented the upcoming university’s proclamation, gaining the approval of the council. The proclamation not only called attention to the institution as Georgia’s only public school of aviation, but also noted the Eastman campus’s proximity to the Heart of Georgia Regional Airport, commending the college’s ability to “transform individuals,” according to Whitfield. Additionally, Whitfield announced July 8 as Middle Georgia State University Day, with an event at the university to be held.

www.jacksonporogress-argus.com
University of Georgia breaking ground on turf facilities
http://www.jacksonprogress-argus.com/news/2015/jun/12/university-of-georgia-breaking-ground-on-turf/
By Stephanie Schupska
State, industry and University of Georgia officials will take shovel to soil at 2 p.m. June 24 as they officially break ground on three new turfgrass research and education facilities. The largest of the facilities will be located in Griffin on Higgins Road, just west of the main parking lot, where the ceremony will take place. UGA campuses in Athens and Tifton will house additional structures.

www.checkorphan.org
UGA researchers find potential treatment for fatal lung diseases
http://www.checkorphan.org/news/uga-researchers-find-potential-treatment-for-fatal-lung-diseases
Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered that the drug triciribine may reverse or halt the progression of pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension, two respiratory diseases that are almost invariably fatal. They published their findings recently in the British Journal of Pharmacology.

Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
1 in 5 After All?
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/15/new-survey-finds-1-5-college-women-have-experienced-sexual-assault
By Scott Jaschik
For years, advocates for colleges to do more to prevent and punish sexual assault on campus have cited a 2007 federal statistic that one in five female students experience sexual assault in college. President Obama and members of Congress have used the statistic, as have many others. But the statistic has been questioned for as long as it has been around. It is based on a survey of only two colleges and includes a definition of sexual assault so broad that, critics say, an unwanted kiss is effectively counted the same way as a rape.

www.chronicle.com
To Get More College-Ready Students, Drop the GED
http://chronicle.com/article/To-Get-More-College-Ready/230819/?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en
By John Schlueter
I teach in, and coordinate, a General Educational Development program at a community college just south of Chicago. Every week I say hello to a student I had in a class and who has been taking classes with us for the past year and a half. This student knows exactly what he wants to do: get his commercial driving license (we have a great program on campus) and find employment driving trucks. He’s hard-working, smart, punctual, and respectful. He’d have no trouble getting through the program. There is only one thing standing in his way: the GED exam. …If we really want more students to succeed in college or in advanced vocational courses, then we must consider a free program — one whose sole purpose is exactly this, not one subservient to a test that does not actually help students prepare for either college or careers, and certainly not one that financially penalizes underserved students for being underprepared for college.

www.chronicle.com
Colleges Should Share the Risk for Student-Loan Defaults
http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Should-Share-the-Risk/230717/?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en
By Douglas Webber
National student-loan debt is $1.3 trillion, and delinquency rates on student loans are roughly equal to those on subprime mortgages before the great recession. Given these grim statistics, policy makers are increasingly asking whether colleges should shoulder some of the financial burden, which now falls only on the taxpayer. As I told the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions during testimony last month concerning the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, it is in the best interest of students, taxpayers, and the economy that colleges have “skin in the game” when it comes to their students’ future economic success. The most straightforward way of doing this would be to impose a penalty on colleges equal to some proportion (e.g. 20 percent) of the value of the student loans that past students have defaulted on.

www.diverseeducation.com
Louisiana Higher Ed System Avoids Major Pitfall
http://diverseeducation.com/article/73770/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=84af113134304c2181013cd3598c4a59&elqCampaignId=415&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=d160cab83db84ba9afbdf9cc42602ed7
by Catherine Morris
Louisiana’s public higher education system avoided a bleak fate with the new state budget the legislature passed on June 11. Gov. Bobby Jindal’s initial proposed budget for fiscal year 2015-16 would have substantially reduced the amount the state invests. In a worst-case scenario, Louisiana’s state investment in higher education would have dropped by 82 percent. The proposed cuts would have been a disaster for the state’s public higher education system, which has already experienced a substantial reduction in funding since 2008. Many believed that the system was not equipped to handle further cuts.