University System News:
www.maon.com
Huckabee charged with treating black and white universities differently
http://www.macon.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article81415942.html
As past history clearly shows, the Georgia Board of Regents fails to treat Georgia state universities, such as Fort Valley State University, Albany State University and Savannah State University, in a fair and unbiased manner. Even before the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896, these “Historically Black Colleges/Universities” (commonly called HBCUs) were treated in a separate and unequal manner when compared to “predominantly white institutions.” Many HBCUs were born out of racism. Historically, HBCUs receive disproportionate funding, innovative programs and brick and mortar projects in comparison to their predominantly white counterparts. We often hear Chancellor Hank Huckaby talk about fairness and transparency when dealing with the University System of Georgia’s 31 colleges and universities. However, he does not speak truth to power. The disparity and patently unfair treatment between PWIs and HBCUs continues to this very day. For example, HBCUs receive discriminatory treatment in the presidential selection process when compared to PWIs presidential selection process. Chancellor Huckaby and the regent’s decision-making process or lack thereof signals overt discriminatory behavior.
USG Institutions:
www.mdjonline.com
Interim president for KSU named
Regents withhold employee documents, citing exemption to open records law
Jon Gargis
Since the announced resignation of Kennesaw State University President Dan Papp, the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents announced Papp’s interim successor. Houston Davis, the university system’s chief academic officer and executive vice chancellor, will take over as KSU interim president July 1, USG officials announced recently. Davis, 43, who has been with the USG since May 1, 2012, will serve as KSU’s president until a search committee finds a permanent replacement for Papp. Information regarding a formal presidential search will be announced at a later date. …In an attempt to shed light on Papp’s sudden departure, the MDJ filed an open records request with the Board of Regents asking for documents regarding potential misconduct of a KSU employee. Regents officials said such documents were not subject to state open records laws due to Georgia Code 50-18-72-(a)(8), which states: “Records consisting of material obtained in investigations related to the suspension, firing, or investigation of complaints against public officers or employees until 10 days after the same has been presented to the agency or an officer for action or the investigation is otherwise concluded or terminated, provided that this paragraph shall not be interpreted to make such investigatory records privileged.” Officials so far have not confirmed an investigation that warrants reliance on the open records exception, nor have specified when such documents could be made available. “There is no new information from what we have provided at this time,” Charlie Sutlive, a USG spokesperson, said Thursday afternoon.
www.ajc.com
Outgoing Kennesaw State chief Papp broke financial rules, audit finds
Janel Davis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Outgoing Kennesaw State University president Dan Papp violated state University System compensation policies involving deferred compensation, annual leave payouts and car allowances during his time leading the institution, according to a report released Friday. The executive compensation review, conducted by auditors in the University System of Georgia, comes three weeks after Papp’s abrupt announcement that he was retiring from KSU at the end of this month. The report details more than $577,000 in deferred compensation that Papp received from Kennesaw State’s foundation during his time at the school. The payments violated system policies that require deferred compensation to be paid out when a president leaves the system, such as through retirement or resignation for another job, or in cases of death or disability, and at the discretion of the Board of Regents or system chancellor.
www.wsbtv.com
Former KSU president paid $500K by foundation on top of salary
by: Jodie Fleischer
COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has learned former Kennesaw State University president Daniel Papp was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the KSU Foundation that he had not earned. Channel 2’s Jodie Fleischer filed an open records request which revealed Papp was paid $577,500 between 2012 and 2016. That is prohibited by the University System of Georgia. A Board of Regents spokesman said Papp received the funds prior to retirement and without the required approval from the Chancellor and the Board of Regents. Papp might have earned the money eventually but only after he left the university system and at the discretion of the Board of Regents. The $577,500 payment from the KSU Foundation came on top of Papp’s regular salary.
www.chronicle.com
Appointments, Resignations, Deaths (6/10/2016)
http://chronicle.com/article/Appointments-Resignations/236687
Compiled by Anais Strickland
Appointments …Kelli Brown, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Georgia College & State University, to interim president of Valdosta State University. …Houston Davis, executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at the University System of Georgia, to interim president of Kennesaw State University. …Tobe Frierson, director of admissions at Erskine College, to director of admissions at Armstrong State University. …Ingrid Thompson-Sellers, senior associate dean and professor of business information systems at Georgia State University, to interim president of South Georgia State College. …Tyler Yu, professor of economics and accounting and interim dean, to dean of the School of Business at Georgia Gwinnett College.
www.barnesville.com
GSC positively impacts economy
http://www.barnesville.com/archives/9312-GSC-positively-impacts-economy.html
Posted by Walter Geiger
Gordon State College contributed more than $134 million to the regional economy and provided 1,289 jobs in fiscal year 2015, according to a report released today by the University System of Georgia. The economic contribution is an increase of $7 million from FY ’14. Of the jobs provided, 337 are on campus while 952 are off campus jobs that exist due to institution-related spending. The report also revealed that spending by Gordon students accounted for $76 million of the total $134 million contributed to the economy. There were 4,000 students enrolled at Gordon State College during FY15. “This report shows that Gordon State College and its students have a tremendous – and according to these numbers – an increasing impact on the local and regional economies,” said Gordon State College President Max Burns.
www.georgiastatesignal.com
Top four changes that will affect Georgia State forever
http://georgiastatesignal.com/four-implementations-will-change-georgia-state-forever/
By: Dominique Times, The Signal
The 2015-2016 school year was full of major changes for Georgia State and the Panthers. From campus expansions to security upgrades, the university has become one of the biggest and best universities in the nation. GSU-GPC Consolidation
The growth of our Panther Family. …Security Reform Making the university safer for all. …Turner Field A new home for our Panther Athletics. …We are the real GSU
Get it right, GSU stands for Georgia State University.
www.jbhe.com
The New Albany State University Reorganizes Its Academic Structure
https://www.jbhe.com/2016/06/the-new-albany-state-university-reorganizes-its-academic-structure/
Late last year, the board of regents of the University System of Georgia announced the merger of Darton State College with historically Black Albany State University. The consolidation is expected to be complete by January 2017. The combined institution will be known as Albany State University. But the Darton name will not fade into history. The Darton College of Health Professions will be one of the five colleges of the new combined institution. Richard Carvajal, who is serving as interim president of Darton State College until the merger is complete, stated that “the new college capitalizes on the existing reputation of the Darton name, which has been synonymous with excellence in health science education in Southwest Georgia.” The other four colleges that will be part of the combined educational institution will be the College of Business, the College of Arts and Humanities, the College of Science and Technology, and the College of Education.
www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
First-generation college students: Family can hinder rather than help
John L. Glenn is an assistant professor of English at Atlanta Metropolitan State College.
By John L. Glenn
Many people, including administrators and faculty, wonder just what today’s minority college experience is really like. Most are well-meaning and want the inside scoop so they can determine how best to aid this demographic. Others want to be more culturally aware and objective when they interact with students whose social frames of reference may be at odds with higher education. I’m discussing minority students in particular, but poor whites arrive to campus with similar socioeconomic backgrounds. The campuses I have in mind belong to two-year colleges and smaller four-year institutions. The main thread is their “access” feature, which is there to bring in students who may not have been 4.0 giants in high school, but are outliers with tremendous untapped potential. Then there are middle-aged adults looking to gain job skills or change careers. But my favorite is probably the returning student who decided unskilled labor was a dead-end or that the vast university wasn’t hospitable — or they were just homesick. All the same, there’s one prevailing irony that has found its way back to me every semester over the course of my decade of teaching freshman composition: many students perceive their families to be most detrimental to their education.
www.insidehighered.com
From 4-Year to 2-Year
New report on transfer of struggling students from universities to community colleges finds students benefit from moving in nontraditional direction.
By Ashley A. Smith
Community colleges and universities continue to work toward improving their relationship when it comes to moving students from a two-year campus to a four-year one as they pursue bachelor’s degrees. But a sizable population of students is also moving the other direction. They’re transferring out of four-year universities and into community colleges for a number of reasons. A report from the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment at the Community College Research Center at Columbia University finds that this reverse transfer benefits struggling students. …The students transferring from a four-year to a two-year institution could be doing so for reasons other than academics or finances, said Janet Marling, executive director of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students at the University of North Georgia. Those reasons could be because of the distance of a campus to their home, or the need to be closer to family. What’s important is that the transfers are planned and that community colleges recognize that articulation agreements need to work both ways so students aren’t just accumulating credits they can’t use at either institution.
www.ajc.com
Ex-student accused in 2015 rape on Kennesaw State University campus
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/crime-law/ex-student-accused-in-2015-rape-on-kennesaw-state-/nrbTK/
Alexis Stevens, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The man accused of raping a student inside her Kennesaw State University apartment in May 2015 has been identified and arrested, police said. Anthony Lewis Cochenour, of Buford, allegedly went to party at the Pi Kappa Alpha house with a woman on April 30, 2015, and then returned to her on-campus apartment at KSU Place, his arrest warrant says. The two had alcoholic drinks at the party and additional drinks at the apartment, according to police. Cochenour later followed the woman to her bed, where early the next morning, he assaulted her, police said. He allegedly apologized to the woman the next day in text messages, but denied anything had happened during an initial interview with KSU police, according to the warrant.
www.ajc.com
Indictment alleges man preyed on UGA students
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/crime-law/indictment-alleges-man-preyed-on-uga-students/nrbS8/
Breaking News Staff
A 27-year-old Athens man was accused in an indictment of drugging and assaulting four University of Georgia students and one other college-age male. The indictment against Andre Montez Jones was filed Tuesday in Clarke County Superior Court, according to the Athens Banner-Herald, which reported the alleged assaults occurred between July 2013 and December 2015. An 18-year-old man came forward after the December 2015 incident, prompting officials to begin their investigation.
www.globalatlanta.com
UGA Receives $3 Million Grant to Encourage Mastery of Portuguese
http://www.globalatlanta.com/uga-receives-3-million-grant-to-encourage-mastery-of-portuguese/
PHIL BOLTON
A $3 million grant to the University of Georgia‘s “Portuguese Flagship Program” is bound to increase the number of students who know the difference between “obrigado,” and “obrigada.” In Brazil the men say “obrigato” and the women say “obrigada” to express gratitude. Flagship program director Robert Moser, associate professor of Portuguese in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, should pass along a heartfelt “obrigado” to the U.S. Defense Department‘s National Security Education Program that is funding the $3 million ensuring the UGA program’s existence for an additional four years. “The Flagship Program at UGA is the only one of its kind in Portuguese in the U.S., and it represents, arguably, one of the largest federal investments in Portuguese instruction in the history of higher education in this country,” said Dr. Moser, in a news release announcing the grant May 27.
www.accesswdun.com
University of North Georgia cited as national leader in cyber security education
By AccessWDUN staff
The University of North Georgia (UNG) recently earned designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CDE). The designation is from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Security Agency (NSA) who jointly sponsor the National Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) program. Universities are designated based on their robust degree programs and close alignment to specific cybersecurity-related knowledge units, validated by subject matter experts in the field, according to a news release from the school. CAE graduates help protect national security information systems, commercial networks, and critical information infrastructure in the private and public sectors. In January, UNG launched the Center for Cyber Operations Education to plan, coordinate and support cyber education in the university’s 30-county service region.
www.gainesvilletimes.com
UNG breaks ground on new convocation center in Dahlonega
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/117312/
By Kristen Oliver
With exceptional growth following its consolidation three years ago, the University of North Georgia’s Dahlonega campus needs a new, multipurpose event center. And after years of effort, it is finally getting one. UNG officials and stakeholders broke ground Friday afternoon on a long-awaited convocation center at the Dahlonega campus. “This is a project literally decades in the making that will impact students, student athletes and citizens of the North Georgia region for decades in the future,” said Mac McConnell, UNG’s senior vice president for business and finance. McConnell said the facility will replace the smaller, outdated Memorial Hall as UNG’s primary event center when it opens in 2018. …The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved plans for the Convocation Center in 2014. With leadership from Sen. Steve Gooch and Rep. Kevin Tanner, UNG received $3.5 million last year in funding support from the state for planning and design and $29.3 million in construction funding this year. …Additional private funding is also being sought for the center. Jeffrey Tarnowski, UNG’s vice president for advancement, said in a release that $2.5 million is still needed for the athletics areas of the convocation center.
www.mdjonline.com
KSU’s Sturgis Library to celebrate $4.4M renovation today
Staff reports
Kennesaw State University’s Horace W. Sturgis Library, 385 Cobb Avenue NW in Kennesaw, will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony today at 12:30 p.m. to celebrate its $4.4 million renovation, which includes a new monument sign and entrance across from the student center. Participating in the event will be Dan Papp, outgoing president of KSU; and David Evans, assistant vice president and dean for Library Services. The first phase of the renovation included the creation of the new entrance and a repurposing of the basement level into a massive computer area, complete with a circulation desk and group study spaces. There is a dual-purpose room for teaching space, which will be open to the public if no library classes are scheduled, and a 16-foot data visualization wall for faculty modeling and big data analytics. It’s the same type of wall seen behind anchors on the evening newscast.
www.globalatlanta.com
Georgia State Language Chair Fights Flagging Enrollment
http://www.globalatlanta.com/georgia-state-language-chair-fights-flagging-enrollment/
CARLYN POUNDERS
With the world becoming even more connected, it might be surprising to find that enrollment in language courses is actually down nationally. But at Georgia State University the head of the language department is leading initiatives to make language study more appealing to students in the hope that they’ll be better prepared to compete in the global economy. …A report by the Modern Language Association found that enrollments in all languages on U.S. college campuses decreased by 6.7 percent between 2009 and 2013. …Nevertheless, amid the declining numbers, the department is redoubling its efforts now that students are being lured into majors they believe will guarantee them a well-paid job. Dr. Nichols said he understands this practical approach, but what they may not understand is that adding language capabilities actually makes them more competitive in the job market.
www.wsj.com
Foreign Students Seen Cheating More Than Domestic Ones
Public universities in the U.S. recorded 5.1 reports of alleged cheating for every 100 international students, versus one report per 100 domestic students, in a Wall Street Journal analysis
http://www.wsj.com/articles/foreign-students-seen-cheating-more-than-domestic-ones-1465140141
By MIRIAM JORDAN and DOUGLAS BELKIN
… A Wall Street Journal analysis of data from more than a dozen large U.S. public universities found that in the 2014-15 school year, the schools recorded 5.1 reports of alleged cheating for every 100 international students. They recorded one such report per 100 domestic students. Students from China were singled out by many faculty members interviewed. “Cheating among Chinese students, especially those with poor language skills, is a huge problem,” said Beth Mitchneck, a University of Arizona professor of geography and development… Lanqing Wang, a Georgia Institute of Technology electrical-engineering student from Shanghai, who is distressed by the cheating he sees, said, “In China, it’s OK to cheat as long as you’re not caught.”… At Georgia Tech, the honor code is emblazoned on plaques outside classrooms. Armaan Mehta, an American student there majoring in computer engineering, showed a note on one assignment stating that “you should design, implement and test your own code,” and that not doing so “constitutes academic misconduct.” Despite the warning, he saw “ridiculous amounts of cheating” among Indian and Chinese students, Mr. Mehta said, sitting in Georgia Tech’s futuristic Clough Commons building. A spokesman for Georgia Tech said it works diligently to make sure students know its policies and the consequences of a violation.
www.onlineathens.com
Citing security, privacy, UGA will close online directory to outsiders
By LEE SHEARER
The University of Georgia will limit access to its online directory of student, faculty and staff phone numbers and email addresses. As of Friday night, the university’s “people search” directory will be closed to outsiders, open only to people on the UGA network — basically students, faculty and staff. The barrier is for privacy and security reasons, UGA officials said. “The phishing scam attempts have reached new highs, and one of the major ways they are getting those email addresses is through the public directory,” said David Bill, executive director for communications in UGA’s Division of Marketing and Communication, in an email. Scammers are using automated data searches to get email address to which they can send scams, trying to get passwords and user names, said Tim Chester, UGA’s vice president for information technology. “We see a couple of dozen a week. It’s a huge, growing problem,” he said. “What’s alarming is how many people fall for them (scams),” he said. …UGA is not alone in closing off its phone and email directories to outsiders, Bill said. Many other universities have already taken similar steps, he said in an email. Georgia Tech, Georgia State and Kennesaw State are other universities within Georgia that already restrict access to online contact information, according to the email.
www.npr.org
Coding While Black: Hacking The Future Of The Tech Industry
Tasnim Shamma
At Tech Square Labs in midtown Atlanta, you’ll find glass walls and high ceilings. It follows the typical design trends of today’s “hip” innovation centers and co-working office spaces. It’s also where 14 low-income African-American students are learning Java as part of the Code Start program. Code Start is a free, year-long training program for low-income people between the ages of 18 and 24. Participants must have a high school diploma or GED, but not a college degree. Rodney Sampson started the program. He calls Code Start, “an experiment on whether or not we can take ‘disconnected youth,’ who’ve been labeled by the system, and teach them how to be a junior level software engineer or developer.” Sampson is all about diversifying the tech industry by empowering African-Americans to start their own companies. That’s why the program also focuses on career readiness and teaching students how to be entrepreneurs. Georgia Tech assistant business professor Seletha Butler says mentors like Sampson are crucial to African-Americans who want to make their way in the tech industry. “From the hiring process, if you have that mentor, you have someone to sort of prep you in terms of things that you should be doing in the interview,” she says.
www.automation.com
Is Public/Private Cooperation the Model to Help Solve the Cyber Security Problem?
By Glen Whitley, Director of the Center of Innovation for IT, Georgia Department of Economic Development
Protecting digital information has never been more of a priority for governments, businesses, families and individuals. News headlines are rife with stories of cyber-attacks, and the high-profile nature of these attacks – from the theft of credit card information at major national retailers, to the recent “ransomware” attack at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. As information becomes more accessible online, we must pay more attention than ever to protecting the integrity and security of the information we collect and store. The arms race between those who are seeking to illegally access information and those attempting to safeguard it is intensifying. The state of Georgia is fast becoming a cyber security hub, with more than 25 percent of the worldwide security revenue market share being generated by companies in Georgia… The race to fight back against hackers is real, and we need more recruits on the front lines to combat these nameless, faceless cyber criminals. Georgia Tech is one of the nation’s top-ranked computing and engineering schools, and is producing some of the best information security talent in the industry, thanks to its Institute for Information Security & Privacy, as well as rigorous continuing education for professionals.
www.savannahnow.com
Naked UGA student dives into garbage truck hopper, PCP impairment suspected
By JOE JOHNSON
A University of Georgia student who authorities believed may have been high on PCP last weekend jumped naked into the hopper of a sanitation truck downtown, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report. It took four officers to get 22-year-old Benjamin Abele out of the truck as he violently fought them off, and police said it was difficult to get hold of the student because he was extremely slick from being coated with a foul-smelling liquid. Abele was shocked twice with a Taser as officers attempted to subdue him, but police said the device had no effect. Abele was taken by ambulance for hospital treatment, and police said they were going to take out warrants charging him with felony obstruction and indecent exposure.
www.wsbtv.com
Georgia team to test treatment for bat-killing fungus
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/georgia/georgia-team-to-test-treatment-for-batkilling-fungus/324115022
by: KATHLEEN FOODY, Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) Georgia’s hibernating bat population appears headed for the same decimation of the animals experienced by eastern states. Georgia researchers, though, could produce a treatment that helps other states avoid the same result. The bat die-offs have been blamed on a deadly fungal disease spreading across the country, known as white-nose syndrome. Survey totals released last month in Georgia found the number of bats hibernating in caves and other sites dropped 92 percent during the last six years. “There are really two options: You can count dead bats and watch white-nose spread across the country, hoping some populations develop a tolerance,” Chris Cornelison, a research associate at Georgia State University, said. “Or you can work like crazy to intervene.” Cornelison and other Georgia State researchers picked the latter. This winter, teamed with biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, they plan to test a new treatment at an abandoned railway tunnel outside Clayton, Georgia in Rabun County. Once an annual hibernation spot to more than 5,000 bats, state surveyors found only 220 bats there in March.
Higher Education News:
www.myajc.com
Incoming Emory president focused on access, affordability, cooperation
By Janel Davis – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Renowned public health researcher Claire Sterk initially didn’t think much about applying to become Emory University’s next president. Her colleagues pushed her to apply, and the job description mentioning collaboration and positioning Emory for the future excited her. Still, she said, “it was a tremendous surprise … I never totally allowed myself to believe I would be a finalist.” Sterk, Emory’s current provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, will become the university’s first female president in September. It’s a significant feat — about 26 percent of college presidents are female — but to her, not the most important one. “I’m excited to be Emory’s first female president, but more excited about being Emory’s president,” she said. … On her list of priorities are addressing some of the challenges in higher education including providing better access and making college more affordable for students, improving collaboration between faculty and students and increasing diversity among students and employees, particularly in science and technology fields. Also important is continuing leadership in the health care industry.
www.chronicle.com
Campus Shootings Leave Scars but Also Provide Lessons
http://chronicle.com/article/Campus-Shootings-Leave-Scars/236714
By Robin Wilson
Along with the carnage — the blood on the floor, the lives and careers stopped short — campus shootings leave behind lessons. At the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where 16 years ago a struggling graduate student stormed into his comparative-literature professor’s office and shot the instructor dead before killing himself, the legacy is one of honesty. “Sometimes being honest with a student is very, very hard to do,” says Dorothy Stephens, who now leads the English department at Arkansas. Ms. Stephens was a faculty member there when her colleague, John R. Locke, was murdered by a student who had been trying to earn a doctorate for nearly a decade. If students knew early on that professors believed their chances of success were slim, the thinking goes, they might leave to pursue other options before growing angry, frustrated, and bitter enough to take lives. “We have been able to use what happened to John as an example to say, Look, if in your estimation a student isn’t heading anywhere, it is important for the student to know,” says Ms. Stephens, “before they have spent vast amounts of time and money.” Each time professors like Ms. Stephens hear of a similar tragedy on another campus, they ask: Can such situations be stopped before they happen again?
www.chronicle.com
Report Slams Accreditor as ‘Incapable’ of Assessing College Quality
by Eric Kelderman
Calls are growing for the U.S. Department of Education to reject the authority of a controversial accreditor to be a gatekeeper for federal student aid. A study released on Monday by the Center for American Progress found that the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools has continued to accredit 17 institutions or companies that are under state or federal investigation, taking little or no action to penalize them. During the past three years, those entities have received about $5.7 billion in federal student aid, and 90 campuses of a dozen of the institutions have made it onto the accreditor’s “honor roll” since 2009.
www.insidehighered.com
Final Push for State Authorization Rule
Education Department will push to finalize rule on state approval of online programs before the end of the year.
By Carl Straumsheim
The U.S. Department of Education will make one last effort in the Obama administration to finalize rules governing how colleges become authorized to offer distance education programs to students in other states. The department last week submitted the rule to the Office of Budget and Management, a procedural first step on the path toward the rule taking effect. Many observers had expected the department to leave the issue of state authorization for the next administration to sort out, given its previous unsuccessful attempts and the myriad other items on its to-do list — not to mention the impending presidential election and transition.
www.insidehighered.com
An Unlikely Campaign to Move Beyond GRE Scores
ETS plans to discourage graduate departments from relying in excess on test scores in deciding whom to admit.
By Scott Jaschik
For years, the GRE has faced criticism over its role in the admission of graduate students. Various studies have suggested that departments rely too heavily on the GRE and as a result end up minimizing the chances that they will admit female, black and Latino applicants. And failing to admit more of such applicants may well doom efforts to diversify the faculties of many colleges. Now, a new campaign is about to begin to encourage graduate departments to stop focusing as much as they have been on GRE scores. The campaign is going to be led by the Educational Testing Service, which produces the GRE, among other tests.
www.insidehighered.com
Fight for FAMU’s Future
Florida A&M president’s future hangs in the balance as she tries to plot a path forward in performance-funded state — amid reports some trustees want to remove her.
By Rick Seltzer
More than half the members of the Board of Trustees for Florida A&M University have been appointed in the last six months, while questions have circulated over the future of university President Elmira Mangum — and those questions could soon come to a head. A special trustees’ committee on presidential evaluation is slated to review Mangum on June 9. The proceeding, scheduled for the day before the full Board of Trustees meets, comes at a key time. Board members have to make a decision on the future of Mangum’s three-year contract by the end of June. The contract decision comes as FAMU fights to adjust to headwinds both internal and external. The university is still attempting to recover from a student’s 2011 hazing death and subsequent probation through 2013 by its accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. It’s struggling to adjust to dropping enrollment and new state performance funding model that many see as favoring larger, more prominent institutions. And it’s attempting to forge a path forward at a time when the deck seems to be stacked against historically black colleges and universities.
www.insidehighered.com
Black Colleges Dropped From Bill They Opposed
North Carolina legislation would have cut tuition dramatically, and many at the institutions feared they would lose revenue. Two universities still are covered by bill.
By Rick Seltzer
Historically black universities have been dropped from a controversial North Carolina bill slashing tuition at certain institutions to $500, but worries about the legislation’s effects remain high at two universities still facing tuition cuts — and across the state system. Senate Bill 873 drew flak in May over fears that it focused primarily on historically black universities, seeking to rewrite their identities and deprive them of important tuition dollars. As proposed, the bill would have cut 2018 tuition to $500 per semester for in-state students and $2,500 for out-of-state students, while considering removing North Carolina’s 18 percent cap on out-of-state students.
www.insidehighered.com
Louisiana Voters Will Decide Who Sets Tuition Rates
The Louisiana Legislature has placed an item on the fall election ballots that will allow voters to shift control over public university tuition rates from the Legislature to university governing boards, The Times-Picayune reported.
www.chronicle.com
S.C. Fraternities and Sororities May Soon Face Wide Publicity for Misconduct
by Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz
A bill with sweeping demands for transparency among fraternities and sororities may soon become law in South Carolina. The Tucker Hipps Transparency Act was approved by state lawmakers on Thursday, The State reports. The bill appears to be the first of its kind in higher education, requiring South Carolina’s public colleges and universities to publish reports of student-conduct investigations that find fraternities and sororities responsible for certain types of misbehavior. The legislation must be ratified, a formality, and then it will head to the desk of Gov. Nikki Haley, a Republican. Under South Carolina law, the governor will have five days to sign or veto the bill, or it will automatically become law.
www.chronicle.com
- of Michigan Drags Its Heels on Investigation of Sex-Assault Complaints, Paper Reports
by Don Troop
The University of Michigan has sought several extensions from federal investigators looking into the institution’s handling of sexual-assault complaints filed under the gender-equity law known as Title IX, the Detroit Free Press reports. Lawyers for the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights have expressed frustration with the university’s pattern of delays, according to emails the newspaper obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The Free Press reported that Michigan had also tried to limit the number of cases being reviewed as part of the 27-month-old investigation. OCR, as the Education Department’s investigative office is known, has said it wants to review about 180 cases at Michigan.