University System News:
www.ajc.com
Crime on Campus
http://www.ajc.com/news/education/crimes-on-campus-2009-20014/
As the Georgia Senate debates a bill that will allow students older than 21 and also visitors to carry concealed guns on college campuses, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution took at look at how safe the school grounds are. Here is a list of the numbers and types of serious crimes that have taken place on both Georgia’s two-year and four-year colleges. House Bill 859 will be debated in a senate committee. If the committee approves a version of it, it would go to the full senate for a vote. Any changes to the bill would mean it would have to go back to the state House of Representatives for approval of any changes, as they had initially approved it.
www.myajc.com
‘Campus carry’ gun bill advances in Georgia Legislature
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/ad-targeting-campus-carry-gun-bill-airs-as-vote-ne/nqfYG/
By Kristina Torres – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill legalizing firearms on Georgia’s college campuses passed a key Senate panel on Monday, with no changes to where the legislation says college students could be allowed to carry guns. The move makes House Bill 859 eligible for a floor vote in the Senate later this week, and sets up a scenario that could see final passage well before the Legislature ends its work this year on March 24. It also represents a power move on behalf of the Senate’s GOP leadership in an election year for all state lawmakers, since the Senate in years past has stopped similar measures. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s OK came as a television ad targeting efforts to legalize firearms on Georgia’s college campuses began airing in Atlanta over the weekend as opponents of the ‘campus carry’ effort tried to increase their pressure to stop it.
www.myajc.com
A day after gun vote, panel approves stun guns for Georgia colleges
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/a-day-after-gun-vote-panel-approves-stun-guns-for-/nqgNY/
By Kristina Torres – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A day after voting to legalize guns on Georgia’s college campuses, a state Senate panel on Tuesday approved a measure that would also allow students and staff to defend themselves with Tasers and stun guns. House Bill 792 would legalize carrying what are formally called electroshock weapons onto the state’s university and college campuses. It would require, however, that they only be used for self-defense or the defense of others.
www.thebrunswicknews.com
Guns have no place in schools
http://www.thebrunswicknews.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/guns-have-no-place-in-schools/article_03802d34-9ce5-5381-800b-b56c7db98ddc.html
Representative Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper has introduced HB 859, the “Campus Safety Act that would allow concealed weapons to be carried on college campuses statewide with the exception of athletic facilities and student housing. Apparently he has been able to convince 113 fellow house members that this is a sensible way to fight terrorism. Folks, this isn’t about protecting our school children, it is aberrant stupidity on steroids. It is the final up-thrust finger of the gun lobby in the face of reason. The argument is that an armed student or teacher would be able to take down a man with a gun. Trained police officers, almost weekly, gun down some unarmed suspect. The universal excuse is “I thought he was reaching for a gun.” How much more likely is it for an untrained student to blast away a few of his fellow students?
USG Institutions:
wwwpolitics.blog.ajc.com
Powerful state lawmaker calls for Georgia Tech president’s ouster
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/03/07/powerful-state-lawmaker-calls-for-georgia-tech-presidents-ouster/
Greg Bluestein and Jim Galloway
The war between state Rep. Earl Ehrhart and Georgia Tech over how the way the school handles accusations of sexual assault just got kicked up a notch or two. The Powder Springs Republican, who chairs the House committee in charge of funding Georgia universities, said Tech president Bud Peterson should resign over his school’s sexual complaint process, which he said fails to give accused students due process. Ehrhart also said he tried to send Peterson a message by slashing the school’s request for a $47 million building.
www.ajc.com
Lawmaker calls for Georgia Tech president to go
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/lawmaker-calls-for-georgia-tech-president-to-go/nqf8p/
Maureen Downey
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There has always been an uneasy relationship between the Legislature and the Board of Regents. The Regents have preferred less involvement in higher ed policy by lawmakers, who control the purse strings and thus feel entitled to intervene at times. That is being demonstrated in stark relief by Cobb legislator Earl Ehrhart’s campaign to oust Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson. Angered by Tech’s treatment of students charged with sexual misconduct, Ehrhart has held hearings on the issue and threatened to reduce the school’s funding. Now, Ehrhart says the Regents should not renew Peterson’s contract when it comes up next month. But has Ehrhart gone too far? On the AJC Get Schooled blog on MyAJC.com, you can read what some Tech supporters have to say, including, “Tech will not be able to recruit the kind of faculty talent that it has in recent years, or retain the talent it already has, if this nonsense continues.
www.statesboroherald.com
Fourth GSU presidential contender visits
Mentions debt, sexual assault as campus challenges
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/73282/
BY Al Hackle
Dr. Kelli Brown, latest of five applicants invited to visit the Georgia Southern University campus as they vie to be the university’s next president, spoke of student debt, but also of sexual assault and a need for faculty diversity, as challenges facing higher education. As provost and vice president for academic affairs at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Brown is that university’s second-ranking administrator. Of the four GSU presidential contenders who have visited so far, she was the first woman and the first employee of a University System of Georgia institution. She spoke Monday afternoon in a public forum in the Carol A. Carter Recital Hall.
www2.ljworld.com
KU public affairs leader is candidate for president’s job at Georgia Southern University
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2016/mar/07/ku-public-affairs-leader-candidate-presidents-job-/
By Sara Shepherd
Kansas University’s vice chancellor for public affairs is one of four candidates to become president of Georgia Southern University. Tim Caboni, a familiar face discussing KU matters at the Kansas Statehouse in recent sessions, has been KU’s vice chancellor of public affairs since 2011. …Caboni traveled to Georgia Southern last week, the first of the four presidential candidates to visit, according to the university’s presidential search website. Candidates recommended by the campus search committee are expected to be interviewed by the Georgia Board of Regents this month, according to the site.
www.examiner.com
Support for Albany State University from the heart…
http://www.examiner.com/article/support-for-albany-state-university-from-the-heart
Andrew Snorton, Atlanta Community Activism Examiner
From the efforts of its founder Joseph Winthrop Holley in 1903 to establish an institution of higher learning initially designed to provide elementary education and teacher training to the local black community in Albany, GA, to its current focus of serving the educational needs of an increasingly diverse student population, this historically black institution of higher learning continues to play an integral role regarding higher education. With an alumni base that expands from its “home” in Doughtery County throughout the Southeastern United States and beyond, in light of the ever-changing landscape of higher education, the university, one of the handful of HBCU’s that is part of the University System of Georgia, continues to make its mark across all walks of professional life. In an effort to lend support to current and future students attending Albany State University, the DeKalb County Area Alumni Chapter are doing their part this coming Saturday, March 12, 2016. Taking place at the Georgia International Convention Center at 7pm, they are hosting their 7th Annual Hearts of Fire Scholarship Fundraiser.
www.onlineathens.com
Slim chance that bulldog will be named official state dog
http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-03-07/slim-chance-bulldog-will-be-named-official-state-dog
By JIM THOMPSON
If your blood runs red and black, you’ll have to hunker down during the next few days to see if the English bulldog, mascot of the University of Georgia, has any chance at all of scoring a win in being named the state’s official dog. Senate Bill 410, whose sponsors include UGA alumni Sens. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville, and Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, both of whom represent Athens-Clarke County in the state legislature, specifically notes the dog’s Athens pedigree, reading in part that the “breed has long served as the mascot for the University of Georgia.” However, after being introduced in the Senate, assigned to that body’s Government Oversight Committee, and then read for a second time in the Senate after being favorably reviewed by the committee, the bill stalled, and has not even gotten a Senate vote.
Higher Education News:
www.chronicle.com
On the Path to Graduation, Life Intervenes
http://chronicle.com/article/On-the-Path-to-Graduation/235603?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=7925ee0f1bd24ec89a69553c80bec27f&elq=12aba335758d411e8f8ee793b84fbb9a&elqaid=8167&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=2613
By Scott Carlson
Low-income students are often one car breakdown, one illness, one unexpected mishap away from dropping out of college and not being able to return for a while, if ever. People fret about rising tuition, and much of the public dialogue about the cost of college — and many of the policy recommendations — revolve around those sticker prices. Yet the biggest barrier to poor students’ enrolling or staying in college is not tuition and fees, but everything else: rent, food, child care, gas, phone bills. Living costs represent more than 70 percent of the total cost of attending a two-year college, the College Board estimates.
www.diverseeducation.com
The Plight of Most First-generation College Students
http://diverseeducation.com/article/82124/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elqTrackId=24352efca4e74df499ecdcbdca53ab58&elq=bb5a924542104eababcf67f6b02229dd&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=771
by Joseph Sanacore and Anthony Palumbo
As student advocates for more than three decades, we recognize the vitally important bond between student and college, especially for those who are the first in their families to attempt a college education. As such, we object when colleges engage in unethical practices to balance their budgets, such as accepting “marginal” students who qualify for loans and government-backed financial aid but not providing these students with the services and programs they need to achieve success. Too many low-income students who are often first-generation students find themselves gamed when they meet with admissions counselors who help them to complete loan applications but neglect to explain the difference between being accepted to college and graduating from college—and the subsequent need to repay student loans.
www.diverseeducation.com
ACE and ACUE Collaborate on Program to Improve College Instruction
http://diverseeducation.com/article/82127/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elqTrackId=bab924f5915348eba0d61e1c4c6ab50b&elq=bb5a924542104eababcf67f6b02229dd&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=771
by Catherine Morris
The American Council on Education (ACE) and the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) are collaborating to improve college instruction via ACUE’s professional development and certificate program. ACUE was founded in 2014, and ACE’s president, Molly Corbett Broad, sits on its board of advisors. Matt Goldstein, chairman of ACUE’s board of advisors, said in a call with the press on Monday afternoon that low student retention and graduation rates call for a revised approach to instructor preparation. “This is a serious stain on higher education, that in many places, well under 50 percent of the students actually leave with a degree,” Goldstein said. “Our research, and the research that is in the public domain, speaks very clearly to the fact that good teaching matters.”