University System News:
www.politics.blog.ajc.com
Nathan Deal suggests he’ll veto campus carry measure unless changes are made
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/03/14/nathan-deal-suggests-hell-veto-campus-carry-measure-unless-changes-are-made/
Greg Bluestein
Gov. Nathan Deal wants substantive changes to a measure that would allow college students to carry concealed guns onto campuses, suggesting on Monday that he might veto the controversial proposal if lawmakers don’t take a second crack at it. The governor’s office said in a statement on Monday that he wants lawmakers to exempt on-campus child care centers from legislation that would legalize firearms at all public colleges in Georgia. It also said he’s concerned about high school students who are joint-enrolled in college courses on campuses that allow firearms, and said universities and technical colleges should have discretion to set their own rules regarding disciplinary hearings for weapons-related charges. “Addressing these issues is an important step in ensuring the safety and freedoms of students, faculty and staff in our institutions of higher learning throughout our state,” said the statement from Deal’s office, which didn’t use the word “veto” in the statement but implied it nonetheless.
www.myajc.com
Georgia passes ‘campus carry’ bill legalizing guns at colleges
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/georgia-passes-campus-carry-bill-legalizing-guns-a/nqjH4/
By Kristina Torres – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Senate on Friday gave final passage to a bill that for the first time would legalize firearms on all public colleges in Georgia, following an emotional two-hour floor debate over the wisdom of letting students carry concealed guns on campus. House Bill 859 now goes to the desk of Gov. Nathan Deal, who with a sweep of his pen can sign the measure into law. The legislation would allow anyone 21 or older with a weapons license to carry a gun anywhere on a public college or university campus, except for inside dormitories, fraternities and sorority houses, and at athletic events. HB 859 also would mandate that those weapons be concealed — something proponents say makes it safer — since Georgia requires gun owners to apply for gun “carry” permits that include fingerprinting and background checks. If it becomes law, the bill would make Georgia the ninth state to allow campus carry, with nearly two dozen others allowing individual schools to decide.
www.savannahnow.com
Editorial: Gov. Deal should veto campus carry bill
http://savannahnow.com/opinion/2016-03-11/gov-deal-should-veto-campus-carry-bill?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=SMN%20Morning%20Headlines
It’s discouraging but not shocking that a majority of state senators put their own political futures ahead of protecting Georgia’s college students by approving a bill Friday that allows licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons on public college campuses. The measure passed the state Senate in a 37-17 vote and is headed to the desk of Gov. Nathan Deal for his signature. …No one in Georgia’s University System was pushing for a change. Indeed, Chancellor Hank Huckaby testified against it before a Senate committee. The chancellor, who knows more about the day-to-day campus environment than lawmakers who might show up for an occasional college football or basketball game, said that allowing concealed weapons on campus would make campus police officers’ jobs more difficult during emergencies. But a majority of senators, apparently spooked by the thought of the NRA opposing their re-election bids, dismissed the chancellor’s concerns.
www.accesswdun.com
Debate persists over cost of ‘concealed carry’ on Georgia campuses
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/3/377000/debate-persist-over-cost-of-concealed-carry-on-georgia-campuses
Georgia college students may soon be able to carry concealed firearms on campus, and some detractors are focusing on the financial impact along with safety concerns. The bill sent Friday to Gov. Nathan Deal would allow anyone age 21 and over to carry a concealed firearm on a college or university campus with the proper permit. Those opposed to the bill say allowing concealed carry on campus would give the schools no choice but to expand security personnel, which could cost millions in taxpayer dollars.
USG Institutions:
www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Who got into Georgia Tech today? And who didn’t due to rising selectivity?
http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2016/03/12/who-got-into-georgia-tech-today-and-who-didnt-due-to-rising-selectivity/
If your child did not get into Georgia Tech today, blame heightened competition for spots due to a widening and more talented applicant pool: Here is what Tech has to say about the students admitted today to the Class of 2020: High school students from around the world received notification today of whether or not they were invited to join the class of 2020 at Georgia Tech. This year, applications hit a record high of 30,520 — a 12 percent increase over last year. Of that number, around 25 percent were offered admission (between early action and regular decision rounds). The academic profile of accepted students continues to be more impressive each year. This year, the average SAT is 1445 (out of 1600), with 10 college-level courses completed.
www.ajc.com
Protester arrested at Georgia Capitol over ‘campus carry’ gun bill
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/protester-arrested-at-georgia-capitol-over-campus-/nqh93/
Kristina Torres, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Capitol police arrested a Kennesaw State University professor Friday morning who tried to display a sign protesting a bill that for the first time would legalize firearms on all public colleges in Georgia. Witnesses said the woman had a sign critical of the bill on the fourth floor of the Capitol near the audience gallery of the state Senate, which is scheduled later Friday to debate House Bill 859. Signs, however, are banned in some areas of the Capitol, according to police. Witnesses said the woman resisted when officers tried to grab the sign from her. They then took her to the ground as they arrested her.
www.ajc.com
Will guns on campus drive out high-demand faculty?
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/will-guns-on-campus-drive-out-high-demand-faculty/nqjf7/
Maureen Downey, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the wake of the Senate passage of campus carry Friday, a Georgia Tech professor wonders: Why does the legislation forbid guns in dorms yet allow them in classrooms, including hers? In an essay on MyAJC.com, Ellen W. Zegura, a professor of computer science, writes: “The professor is vulnerable, by virtue of location in the room, the activities of teaching and the role assigning grades. More guns do not make for a better classroom learning environment. More guns mean more potential for violence. How could that be good for learning, the core mission of the university?”
www.statesboroherald.com
Last GSU president hopeful displays seriousness, humor
Guns on campus legislation shared issue for Texas, Georgia
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/73381/
By AL HACKLE
Dr. Jaimie Hebert, the last of five contenders who have visited Georgia Southern University in their quest to be its next president, exhibited a sense of humor but also made serious statements about issues ranging from education’s importance in his own life to legislation allowing guns to be carried on campus. Hebert, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, spoke at a public forum Thursday afternoon on Georgia Southern’s campus in Statesboro. …Incidentally, his last name is of French origin and is pronounced like “A-Bear.” … Also, there was the ever-present question about legislation to allow guns on campus, and how a new GSU president will deal with it. …But Texas, where two of the GSU applicants work, and Kansas, home of another of the candidates, have recently enacted legislation allowing guns on college campuses. All five candidates ended up saying that the university will have to deal with measure thoughtfully if it becomes law, but Hebert was the most outspoken on having opposed it. “You’re kidding. This is why I wanted to leave Texas,” he said. Hearing his tone, the crowd understood this as a joke, and while laughter was subsiding, he added, “I’ve been waiting for that question all day.” Then Hebert said, “It’s been one of the toughest semesters of my life, of my career, going through the concealed carry legislation.”
www.myajc.com
Albany State students protest to keep HBCU status in mission statement
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/albany-state-students-protest-to-keep-hbcu-status-/nqjNc/
By Janel Davis – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hundreds of Albany State University students walked out of a presentation Friday by the school’s president in protest of the school’s new mission statement. Students are upset that the new statement lacks any reference to Albany State’s status as an historically black college or university, according to a report by local news station WALB. The students wore all black and left the building at the same time, the station reported. The new mission statement, approved this week by the state’s Board of Regents, is part of a merger between Albany State and Darton State College.
www.albanyherald.com
EDITORIAL: Building a strong foundation for a new Albany State University
Focus should be on creating a regional university to benefit generations to come
http://www.albanyherald.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-building-a-strong-foundation-for-a-new-albany-state/article_34bf379e-31ca-5eff-af10-9cb3b0d56869.html
By The Albany Herald Editorial Board
We all knew this Albany State University and Darton State College merger was going to be a challenging proposition. The merger of two institutions is challenging enough, but when one of the institutions has an historically black colleges and universities designation, it adds to the concerns, both from those who want the HBCU designation to remain and from those who think it should go away. That point boiled over Friday when ASU students, angry that the new ASU’s mission statement didn’t include the HBCU term in it, held an on-campus protest, demanding an audience with Dr. Arthur Dunning, ASU president. … The decisions being made as this merger progresses — and there are no indications that state officials have any plans to back off and scuttle a consolidation — must be methodical, inclusive and aimed toward the long-term service of the new ASU to the Southwest Georgia region. It is a remarkably complex, difficult job, one that will most assuredly have more short-term pain. The committee won’t get every detail exactly right, but, in the end, it will build a solid foundation — one that serves all segments of Southwest Georgia.
www.gainesvilletimes.com
UNG simulation lab a ‘safe place’ for mistakes
Nursing students practice their craft in replica of hospital setting
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/115628/
By Ron Bridgeman
Jessica Hill, nursing faculty member for the University of North Georgia, described how a baby simulator works in the Center for Clinical Simulation. “The simulator actually tells the instructor if the students are doing it correctly,” Hill said about the practice nursing students can get in the university’s birthing suite in the lab. That kind of simulator was not available when she was training to be a nurse, Hill said. The experience in the simulation lab is “priceless” because, as retired airline pilot Augie DeAugustinis, said, “This is where we want them to make mistakes.” …The a 3,600-square-foot area mirrors a hospital environment with hospital-grade equipment. …Bonita Jacobs, the president of UNG, said the nursing program needed to expand to Gainesville because the Dahlonega campus could not accept as many qualified candidates as it receives. She said UNG nursing graduates “are not quite at 100 percent” in passing the licensing exam, “but we are darned close.”
www.chronicle.augusta.com
Georgia hopes new residency slots help with doctor shortage
Primary care positions make up most of slots
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/health/2016-03-13/georgia-hopes-new-residency-slots-help-doctor-shortage
By Tom Corwin, Staff Writer
After examining Aaron Kimbrough’s left knee, where a ligament was reconstructed in December, Harley Hendrix asks how he hurt it. “Playing intramural football,” said Kimbrough, a physical therapy student at Augusta University. …While he was doing his clinical rotation in sports medicine, Hendrix was also thinking ahead to Monday, when he will find out whether he matched with any of the residency programs where he interviewed to further his career, and then to Match Day on Friday, when he will find out where he will go for his residency in family medicine. …There will be more opportunities this year for Georgia medical students to stay in the state for their crucial residency training, which increases the state’s chance of retaining them as practicing doctors.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
Medical College of Georgia students interested in rural health
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/health/2016-03-02/medical-college-georgia-students-interested-rural-health
By Tom Corwin, Staff Writer
Growing up in Soperton, Ga., population about 3,000, Josh Wickstrom knew what it was like to want for doctors. “When I was in high school, we didn’t have a physician,” said the second-year student at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. “After I graduated high school, they had a guy who came down from Dublin a couple of times a week, but he no longer does that. There’s a clinic that has a PA (physician assistant) there, but that’s all.” Wickstrom is one of the first three MCG students in the Rural Health Track who are splitting $15,000 from Wellcare of Georgia to help defray tuition and expenses. They are beginning their third year in the rural health track at the satellite MCG campus in Albany. The idea is to try to encourage providers to become interested in practicing underserved areas of Georgia, which, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration, is just about every area away from the bigger cities.
www.ajc.com
Valdosta State students say they were not protesting at Trump rally
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/valdosta-state-students-say-they-were-not-protesti/nqjjj/
Janel Davis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Valdosta State University students ejected from a Donald Trump rally last month appeared on CNN Saturday morning to talk about what happened on their campus. Mia Rawls and Tatum Schindler told Saturday morning with CNN’s New Day Weekend host Christi Paul that their ejection from the event has been incorrectly portrayed as a protest. “We wanted to stand in solidarity as classmates and students in regard to the lack of communication and poor communication with our university, and the fact that we did not agree with Donald Trump coming to our campus and university,” Rawls said. …A day after the rally, Valdosta’s interim president Cecil Staton issued a statement to the campus community calling what happened to the students “disturbing,” but noting that the rally was a private and not school-sponsored event.”
www.bryancountynews.com
Skidaway lecture on climate change
http://www.bryancountynews.com/section/6/article/43088/
Special to the News
SAVANNAH — A vast storehouse of carbon, frozen in the Arctic permafrost for millennia, may play a role in future global climate change. University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography professor Aron Stubbins will discuss his research into this evolving issue in an Evening @ Skidaway program Tuesday. The program will be presented in the McGowan Library at the UGA Skidaway Institute, beginning with a reception at 6:30 p.m., followed by the lecture at 7:15. While climatologists are watching carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, Stubbins is one of a group of scientists exploring how ancient carbon, locked away for thousands of years, is now being transformed into carbon dioxide and released into the atmosphere. Stubbins will describe his research, which has taken him from Skidaway Island to the Siberian tundra.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Opening Up the ‘Black Box’ of Higher Ed Finances
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/03/14/opening-black-box-higher-ed-finances?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=1d2ac6a14c-DNU20160314&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-1d2ac6a14c-197515277
Colleges and universities should embrace a new financial model in which campus financial data are linked to student outcomes information and shared much more transparently with key campus constituencies, a new report from the American Council on Education and the TIAA-CREF Institute argues.
www.insidehighered.com
Sexual Violence: Responding to Reports Is Not Enough
As institutions improve their ability to receive and respond to reports of sexual violence, they must be sure not to neglect the actual prevention of it, argues Joseph Storch.
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/03/14/colleges-must-not-only-respond-reports-sexual-violence-also-prevent-it-essay?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=1d2ac6a14c-DNU20160314&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-1d2ac6a14c-197515277
By Joseph Storch
The elevated attention paid to sexual and interpersonal violence, coupled with new legislative requirements, is leading colleges and universities to improve the ways that victims and survivors can report incidents of such violence. Providing additional resources and educating students about reporting options can lead to a significant increase in those reports. That is a positive step forward. However, surges in reporting can, in turn, stress institutional resources and delay or stop colleges and universities from shifting their focus to actually preventing sexual violence and bringing reporting numbers back down.