University System News:
www.wsbradio.com
University System Chancellor talks campus safety
http://www.wsbradio.com/news/news/university-system-chancellor-talks-campus-safety/nqJfm/
By Sandra Parrish
The head of University System of Georgia told state lawmakers campus safety is priority especially after a recent rash of armed robberies at Georgia State University. Chancellor Hank Huckaby says he’s been in contact with GSU President Mark Becker who assures him steps are being taken to address safety concerns since four students have been robbed on campus, three in the school’s library. “It’s always a challenge,” Huckaby tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish. “It doesn’t help our image any, but I assure you we take keeping our students safe and our staff and faculty safe as a top priority.” In fact, he says safety measures have been added at all 29 college campuses as part of recommendations from a task force he appointed in 2014.
www.news.wabe.org
Ga. Senators Push University System On Sexual Assault Response
http://news.wabe.org/post/ga-senators-push-university-system-sexual-assault-response
By JOHNNY KAUFFMAN
State lawmakers continued on Wednesday to push the University System of Georgia to take a clear stand on how to deal with campus sexual assault. The system’s chancellor, Hank Huckaby, answered questions from a Senate committee on the issue. State Sen. Lester Jackson (D-Savannah), was among the senators who questioned Huckaby. Jackson is behind a bill read on Wednesday that takes sexual assault investigations out of the hands of campus police, and turns them over to local law enforcement. “We put up fences, but putting up fences around our colleges and universities isn’t doing enough, so this bill we think will add some teeth into putting an end to sexual assaults,” he said. Jackson said he hopes his bill, if it doesn’t become law, will at least send a signal to the University System. Huckaby said turning over investigations to local enforcement could discourage students from reporting incidents.
www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Georgia’s ban on undocumented college students puts state on wrong side of history
http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2016/02/04/georgias-ban-on-undocumented-college-students-puts-state-on-wrong-side-of-history/
By Maureen Downey
Angela Stuesse is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida and author of “Scratching Out a Living: Latinos, Race, and Work in the Deep South.” Shannon Speed is associate professor of gender studies and anthropology and director of the American Indian Studies Center at UCLA. Today, they urge Georgia to change its higher education policies toward undocumented students. Georgia bars immigrants without legal status — even if those young people attend Georgia k-12 schools all their lives and graduate at the top of their high school class — from enrolling at some of the state’s top universities and paying in-state tuition at others. The affected students and their allies have sued Georgia’s Board of Regents, lobbied at the state Capitol and staged acts of civil disobedience without success.
www.ajc.com
Photo Vault: Student protests have occurred for generations
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/photo-vault-student-protests-have-occurred-for-gen/nqJDH/
Arlinda Smith Broady, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Many see student protest as a rite of passage of sorts as we cross the threshold from adolescence into adulthood. Whether it’s dissatisfaction with a social, political or academic issue, the ability and willingness to mobilize and communicate this dissatisfaction to the authorities and society in general have become expected of the younger generations. Protests include sit-ins, occupations of university offices or buildings, strikes, etc. One protest 40 years ago was by a group of several hundred students outside the University System of Georgia Board of Regents meeting on Feb. 11, 1976 in Atlanta. They were objecting to tuition increases.
USG Institutions:
www.myajc.com
Georgia State offering $2K reward for information in library robberies
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/georgia-state-offering-2k-reward-for-information-i/nqJs9/
By Janel Davis – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia State University is offering a $2,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest in a string of robberies in the campus library over the past two months. The reward, offered in conjunction with Crime Stoppers, was announced Thursday morning during a campus safety meeting hosted by Georgia State president Mark Becker and other university administrators. In addition to the reward, the university plans to release an updated sketch of a suspect.
www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Good news for Georgia Tech: House approves giving STEM majors bump in their HOPE GPA
http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2016/02/03/good-news-for-georgia-tech-house-approves-giving-stem-majors-bump-in-their-hope-gpa/
By Maureen Downey
It didn’t take long for the House to pass the Rambling Wrecktification bill. In a 167-0 vote today, the General Assembly approved House Bill 801, which gives a half-point boost to the final grades of students in tough science, technology, engineering or math classes. Georgia Tech students, in particular, have long lamented they were losing their HOPE Scholarships because of the challenge of keeping up grades in arduous STEM courses.
www.myajc.com
Tech drops $47M building request after rebukes on students’ due process
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/tech-drops-47m-building-request-after-rebukes-on-s/nqJ27/
Janel Davis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A week after state lawmakers reprimanded Georgia Tech for its due-process practices in punishing students accused of sexual assault and other violations, the university withdrew its request for a $47.4 million library complex renovation. The Tech money, which was slated for the first phase of renovation of the Crosland Tower and Price Gilbert Library, known as Library East and Library West, was the largest construction project the state’s university system requested in its budget proposal to lawmakers.
www.onlineathens.com
UGA Large Animal Veterinary Teaching Hospital temporarily closed
http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-02-03/uga-large-animal-veterinary-teaching-hospital-temporarily-closed
By UGA NEWS SERVICE
The University of Georgia Large Animal Veterinary Teaching Hospital is temporarily closed for quarantine for the equine herpesvirus. The Small Animal Veterinary Teaching Hospital, including the Community Practice Clinic, will remain open and will continue to receive appointments and emergencies for cats, dogs, exotics and wildlife. On the evening of Jan. 31, a horse was admitted to the large animal intensive care unit at the UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital and tested positive for equine herpesvirus-1 after being humanely euthanized on Feb. 1 due to progressive neurological disease.
www.onlineathens.com
UGA virus researchers start work on Zika vaccine
http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-02-03/uga-virus-researchers-start-work-zika-vaccine
By LEE SHEARERupdated
The University of Georgia and four of its scientists signed an agreement with a Smyrna biotechnology company to work on developing a vaccine for the Zika virus now emerging as a global health threat. Virologist Ted Ross, a recent addition to the UGA faculty as a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, will work on vaccine development under an agreement with GeoVax, founded 15 years ago to develop work on a vaccine for HIV begun by an Emory University scientist.
www.southmag.com
Beloved Mascot Uga IX Passes Away
One of our most beloved mascots, University of Georgia’s Uga IX, passed away Monday morning. Uga died in the care of his owners, The Seiler Family, who has been raising Georgia’s mascots for almost 60 years. Russ was officially promoted to Uga IX during the Florida Atlantic game on September 15, 2012, he served as the team’s mascot until November 21, 2015 and left an overall record of 44-19.
www.ajc.com
Clayton State to offer free tax help
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/clayton-state-to-offer-free-tax-help/nqH8j/
Tammy Joyner, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clayton State University’s College of Business Accounting and MBA students are offering free tax help as part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. …Clayton State is the only university in Georgia that has participated in the VITA program for 26 consecutive years.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
White Houses Seeks New Funding for Workforce Training
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/02/04/white-houses-seeks-new-funding-workforce-training?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=430fd40416-DNU20160204&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-430fd40416-197515277
The Obama administration plans to ask Congress to approve $2 billion in new funding to help communities fund efforts to prevent students from dropping out of high school and to get them into postsecondary education. The competitive grant program would be administered by the Departments of Labor and Education and would be awarded to communities “in required partnership with local education, workforce and community organizations,” the White House said. “The departments would encourage proven approaches, such as work-based learning and internships, and re-engagement centers.”
www.chronicle.com
How the Education Dept. Is Confronting Its Information-Security Vulnerabilities
http://chronicle.com/article/How-the-Education-Dept-Is/235173?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elq=35c33eb546314b69997c6ed0b3ba26d0&elqCampaignId=2365&elqaid=7776&elqat=1&elqTrackId=7deecacead194ef596579ee7e7a281b2
By Kelly Field
In hearings this week and last fall, members of Congress warned that the U.S. Department of Education, with its databases containing sensitive information on millions of students and parents, is a prime target of hackers. The lawmakers accused top department officials of failing to secure the agency’s vulnerable information systems. The hearings featured highly technical testimony from government investigators and department officials, along with plenty of finger-pointing and outrage from lawmakers. Yet amid all the anger and acronyms, observers may have been left wondering: Should I be worried? Here are some answers to questions you may have:
www.chronicle.com
In Airbnb Era, Colleges Count on Housing Contracts to Deter Dorm-Room Rentals
http://chronicle.com/article/In-Airbnb-Era-Colleges-Count/235171?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elq=35c33eb546314b69997c6ed0b3ba26d0&elqCampaignId=2365&elqaid=7776&elqat=1&elqTrackId=ff8f9f937e1740e2b0f0f4f6326dd87c
By Courtney Kueppers
Want to spend a weekend in Chicago? At a rate of $320 per night, plus taxes and fees, you could stay at “Samson’s Estate,” which, according to a listing on the popular rental website Airbnb, offers wireless Internet, air conditioning, two beds, and a half-bath, shampoo included. The catch? It’s a dorm room at the University of Chicago. Or, at least, it was advertised that way, featuring an image of the university seal and the description: “a quiet dorm in the middle of Uchicago’s campus in the Max Palevsky dorm.” Citing safety concerns, colleges generally put language in housing contracts that forbids students to rent their dormitory rooms. Even so, that Chicago rental offer is hardly one of a kind.
www.insidehighered.com
Students Sue Google Over Email Scanning
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/02/04/students-sue-google-over-email-scanning?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=430fd40416-DNU20160204&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-430fd40416-197515277
Students at the University of California at Berkeley are launching a class action lawsuit against Google over the company’s automatic scanning of emails for advertising keywords. Google ended the practice in 2014, but students say the company violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 by scanning the emails of more than 30 million K-12 and higher education users between 2010 and 2014 without their consent.