University System News:
www.dailyreportonline.com
Ex-College President Wants Georgia Appeals Court to Revive His Fraud Suit Against State Officials
http://www.dailyreportonline.com/id=1202755006118/ExCollege-President-Wants-Georgia-Appeals-Court-to-Revive-His-Fraud-Suit-Against-State-Officials?kw=Ex-College%20President%20Wants%20Georgia%20Appeals%20Court%20to%20Revive%20His%20Fraud%20Suit%20Against%20State%20Officials&cn=20160415&pt=Morning%20News&src=EMC-Email&et=editorial&bu=Daily%20Report
Katheryn Hayes Tucker, Daily Report
A former college president who claims he was falsely blamed for a $16 million budget shortfall has asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision that his lawsuit against state officials was barred by sovereign immunity for the state.
In April 2012, Anthony Tricoli was ousted as president of Georgia Perimeter College, prior to any investigation, after the sudden discovery of a $16 million deficit, according to his Athens-based attorney, Stephen Humphreys. “It was a sudden discovery because the head budget officer … had reported a $4 million surplus 10 days earlier,” Humphreys said. Tricoli sued officials with the college, the University System of Georgia and the Board of Regents, plus the state attorney general. He alleged fraud, breach of contract and violations of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. He contended that others knew and covered up spending from the college’s reserves, and he alleged they never found all the missing money. Stone Mountain Circuit Superior Court Judge Daniel Coursey Jr. dismissed Tricoli’s lawsuit, saying state officials were protected by sovereign immunity. The judge also held that Tricoli had no breach of contract claim because he had resigned. Tricoli had argued he was threatened and tricked into resigning to take another position, a deal on which the chancellor later reneged. …Humphreys added that, failing a decision to reconsider by the Court of Appeals, he will ask the Georgia Supreme Court to review the matter.

www.politics.blog.ajc.com
Nathan Deal aims to expand needs-based scholarship
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/04/15/nathan-deal-aims-to-expand-needs-based-scholarship/
Greg Bluestein
Gov. Nathan Deal outlined plans this week to dramatically expand a state program aimed at helping financially needy students. The governor said this week he wants the REACH Georgia program to grow from roughly 330 students to some 2,800 scholars by 2020, and that he wants to expand the program to all 180 of Georgia’s school systems. The program, launched in 2012, is a needs-based scholarship that begins in eighth grade. REACH scholars are paired with a mentor and an academic coach through high school and they must maintain good behavior, good grades, good attendance and graduate from high school to stay in the program. Those who complete it are awarded a $10,000 scholarship that can be used at any HOPE-eligible college in Georgia. More than 60 universities and colleges are matching or doubling the scholarship, which can be tacked on other grants or scholarships the student receives.

www.statesboroherald.com
Protesters call for ‘campus carry’ veto
Speaker’s visit to Statesboro attracts demonstration
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/73888/
BY Al Hackle
A campaign event Thursday afternoon for Rep. Jon Burns, R-Newington, Georgia House majority leader, drew House Speaker David Ralston to Sugar Magnolia Bakery and Café, and also drew protesters outside opposed to a pending state law that would allow handguns on college campuses. Protesters, some but not all with connections to Georgia Southern University, chanted “No guns on campus!” and held handmade signs calling for Gov. Nathan Deal to veto “campus carry.” About 50 protesters were in the parking lot one hour into the 2 p.m. event, about the same number of people who crowded into the little bakery shop to hear from Burns and Ralston.

www.valdostadailytimes.com
VSU won’t increase tuition for 2016-17
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/vsu-won-t-increase-tuition-for/article_4e3dfca7-b476-5929-9c5b-1b28f253b8b7.html
By Jennifer Dandron
VALDOSTA – Students at Valdosta State University will not see a tuition increase for the first time in at least two years for the 2016-17 academic year.   The Board of Regents recently approved a “zero percent tuition increase” for all University System of Georgia students.  Tuition for VSU undergraduate students enrolled full-time, taking 12 hours of course credit is $2,613.  Morgan Blough, senior VSU student slated to graduate Dec. 2016, said although she’s glad extra money won’t be coming out of her pockets, it leaves her concerned for the financial status of the university.

USG Institutions:
www.diverseeducation.com
Retention Grant Keeping Dreams Alive at Georgia State
http://diverseeducation.com/article/83351/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elqTrackId=7f79ea742cd548648f60789cade3aa41&elq=e7a19388dc1a4a4e8103651702a27204&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=771
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
With all of his financial aid exhausted by the time he reached his junior year at Georgia State University (GSU), Luis Perez began to wonder if he would ever receive his bachelor’s degree. It’s completely stressful going into your senior year knowing you don’t have the money and everyone else is talking about graduation, Perez says. And it’s like, ˜Will I even make it to that?” Already working as a full-time janitor, Perez took on a second job as an overnight caretaker. So I started doing that and it was awful because I couldn’t focus on school, Perez says. I was making money to pay for school but I couldn’t focus because I was tired.” In dire need of a solution, Perez began to search for scholarships. After applying for a dozen or so, he won a scholarship for $1,000 but it still wasn’t enough to cover the cost of his last few semesters at GSU, where the average annual cost is more than $15,000. Perez continued to search and soon discovered the school’s Panther Retention Grant program. The program was created by GSU in 2011 to fill the gaps between what students have paid and what they owe so that they don’t have to drop out or stop out of school because of small shortfalls in resources, says GSU Vice Provost Timothy M. Renick, who also serves as vice president for enrollment management and student success at the institution. Renick says that thousands of students were ending up in such a situation year after year.

www.wtoc.com
Tybee Island City Council adopts sea level rise plan
http://www.wtoc.com/story/31730949/tybee-island-city-council-adopts-sea-level-rise-plan
By Steven Gallo, Reporter
TYBEE ISLAND, GA (WTOC) – Tybee Island is one of the first communities in Georgia to begin planning for long-term sea level rise. Thursday, city council heard the final presentation on a project that’s been in the works for years. Tybee has seen 10 inches of sea-level rise in the last 80 years, and the idea behind this plan is to think long-term and be proactive. “So often we just react, and this gives us a planning document to move forward,” said Tybee Island City Manager Diane Schleicher. The report was drafted by researchers at the University of Georgia and Stetson University and is the culmination of nearly four years of study.

Higher Education News:
www.chronicle.com
4-Part Plan Seeks to Fix Mathematics Education
http://chronicle.com/article/4-Part-Plan-Seeks-to-Fix/236037?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=8b3f5c18c713478da5dc6b307768fa12&elq=f803a2f1c23c43b6bdbfef2d2c6b4532&elqaid=8680&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=2922
By Dan Berrett
Math is a stumbling block for many students, and instruction may be part of the reason why. Introductory math courses that serve as gateways to majors in science, technology, engineering, and math  can be stultifying bores, a presidential council has said, leaving students “with the impression that all STEM fields are dull and unimaginative.” The council’s members have even suggested assigning faculty members from physics or computer science, for example, to teach the subject. Meanwhile, according to a recent critique, math curricula overemphasize abstract subjects like trigonometry and calculus over more-practical ones, unnecessarily demoralizing students and costing the nation human potential. Many of the field’s leaders acknowledge that math teaching needs to be overhauled. Five disciplinary groups proposed improving curricula and teaching in the first two years of undergraduate math. Nationally, many faculty members are developing promising approaches, but those don’t often go beyond their campuses. That’s where a relatively new player comes in: Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics. The proj­ect is looking not to reinvent the wheel, but to coordinate existing efforts, promote what works, and bring solutions to scale.

www.jbhe.com
New Master’s Degree Program at Lincoln University Will Focus on HBCU Leadership

New Master’s Degree Program at Lincoln University Will Focus on HBCU Leadership

Historically Black Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, announced that it will offer a new master of education degree this fall that will have a concentration in historically Black college and university leadership. The program will educate master’s degree students in higher education leadership with an emphasis on understanding the nuances and issues involved in the administration of HBCUs. Said Sewell, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Lincoln University, stated that “the challenges that HBCUs face require administrators to not only adapt to change, but also understand the historical mission, the culture, human capital, politics, and resource that beset these institutions in the 21st century.

www.chronicle.com
It’s Time for Colleges to Take a Stand on Immigration Reform
http://chronicle.com/article/It-s-Time-for-Colleges-to/236117?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=fcda66c15f69497fac77258e47687a16&elq=f803a2f1c23c43b6bdbfef2d2c6b4532&elqaid=8680&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=2922
By Miriam Feldblum
In a case that could have profound implications for current and future college students, the Supreme Court will consider on Monday a challenge by Texas and 25 other states to the Obama administration’s 2014 creation of the Deferred Action for Parents of American Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents program and to the expanded eligibility of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known respectively as the DAPA and DACA programs. DAPA provides temporary work authorization and relief from deportation to as many as 3.6 million undocumented immigrants; the expanded DACA also would provide, if endorsed by the court, those protections to some 280,000 young adults who came to the United States as minors, adding to the 1.2 million already eligible in the existing program. Most colleges are paying little attention to the legal challenges to the programs. Only 13 of them, plus the University of California system — along with a handful of higher-education associations — joined the hundreds of organizations, business leaders, states, counties, and others that signed amicus briefs in favor of the programs. That’s too bad because it is crucial that we in higher education take a stand in support of them. Here’s why.