University System News:
www.ledgerenquirer.com
Columbus State crowdfunding campaign helps raise nearly $300K
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article141811484.html
BY MARK RICE
A new method of fundraising for Columbus State University has helped generate nearly $300,000 in donations through crowdfunding, CSU announced Thursday. On the crowdfunding website Give Campus, CSU collected $198,080 Nov. 9-12 during a 58-hour online drive to symbolize the institution’s founding year, 1958. The drive met 52 percent of its 1,958-donor goal with 1,020 donors. But combined with donations before and after the drive, the crowdfunding effort called CSU GIVES has helped raise more than a quarter of a million dollars for the university’s $105 million First Choice comprehensive campaign, which has attracted $100.9 million as of Thursday, according to its website, since its quiet phase in 2014 and its formal launch in March 2015. CSU GIVES was the largest concentrated online fundraising campaign in Columbus State’s history, the university said in its news release.
www.ajc.com
Atlanta colleges offer flexible schedules after I-85 bridge collapse
http://www.ajc.com/news/local/atlanta-colleges-offer-flexible-schedules-after-bridge-collapse/7Rj75MHGBg7cQll8kiNy6N/
Janel Davis The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta’s downtown universities are offering their students and employees flexible reporting and working schedules on Friday following a massive fire Thursday night on I-85 that led to a portion of the highway collapsing. Emory, Georgia Tech and Georgia State universities posted alerts on their websites late Thursday encouraging their campus communities to discuss alternate arrangements with their supervisors, instructors and fellow students. “Likewise, supervisors and faculty are asked to be flexible in accommodating employees’ and students’ needs during this unusual time,” read the alerts from Georgia State and Georgia Tech.
www.wgxa.tv
National honor society for nursing chartered at MGSU
http://wgxa.tv/news/local/national-honor-society-for-nursing-chartered-at-mgsu
by Maggie McGlamry
Middle Georgia State University’s nursing program chartered a new honor society on Thursday evening. Thirty-five people were inducted into the Psi Rho chapter of Sigma Theta Tau at the Macon campus’ Professional Sciences and Conference Center. Marleigh Harris, a senior nursing major, says the society will help her network as she begins a career in nursing this spring. …The national honor society was founded 90 years ago and includes faculty, students and working nurses. The national honor society was founded 90 years ago and includes faculty, students and working nurses. There are 135,000 members across 500 chapters in 90 countries. Twenty-one people also transferred their membership to the Sigma Theta Tau chapter on Thursday.
www.medicalxpress.com
More access to opioid treatment programs needed in Southeast, says study
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-03-access-opioid-treatment-southeast.html?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=6c9b338111-eGaMorning-3_31_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-6c9b338111-86731974
by Leigh Beeson
In 2015, more than 30,000 Americans died from overdosing on opioids, and a new study led by the University of Georgia shows that one of the hardest hit populations-low-income Americans on Medicaid-isn’t getting the help it needs to combat opioid addiction. The researchers analyzed data from the 2012 National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services to compare county-level distributions of opioid use disorder rates with opioid treatment programs that accept Medicaid. The study, published in Health Services Research, found that large portions of the Southeast don’t have enough opioid treatment programs to match their high rates of opioid use disorder, or OUD. In many of the counties, there aren’t any treatment programs, and where there are programs, they are more likely to be run by for-profit providers, the majority of which do not accept Medicaid.
www.politics.blog.ajc.com
What bills from the 2017 session will Nathan Deal sign into law
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2017/03/30/what-bills-from-the-2017-session-will-nathan-deal-sign-into-law/
Greg Bluestein
The 40-day legislative session came crashing to a halt early Friday, and state lawmakers who spent the last three months hashing out hundreds of measures now await Gov. Nathan Deal’s decisions on their priorities. Friday marks the start of a 40-day period to sign measures into law or veto them. And Deal has shown he’s not afraid to wield the red pen. He nixed the two most consequential bills of last year’s session: A “campus carry” measure and a “religious liberty” bill. Both those ideas were back this session, in various forms, and at the center of last-minute fights in the General Assembly. So were a range of other high-profile measures that are already waiting on Deal’s desk. And he’s already signed a handful of other proposals, including a $24 billion midyear spending plan …
www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Legislature approves guns on campuses. No vote on controversial campus rape bill.
http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2017/03/31/legislature-approves-guns-on-campuses-but-fails-to-vote-on-campus-rape-bill/
Updates on two bills that we discussed on the blog:
The AJC reports Georgia lawmakers gave final passage early this morning to a law legalizing guns on the state’s public college and university campuses, sending it to Gov. Nathan Deal for his signature. House Bill 280 would allow anyone with a concealed weapons permit to carry firearms on public college and university campuses, with exceptions that include dormitories, fraternity and sorority houses, and buildings used for athletic events. On-campus child care centers would also be excluded, as would areas on some college campuses where high school students attend class. The governor may sign this bill — he vetoed a similar campus carry bill last year. But the bill that came out a House-Senate conference committee early this morning contained the additional exempted areas on campuses that Deal had sought — classrooms used by high school students in dual enrollment programs; and offices or rooms used for disciplinary hearings. …HB51/SB71 — the campus rape bill that appeared dead and then revived by a legislative sleight of hand — never got a vote last night or this morning in the final hours of the General Assembly. I expect this bill will come up again next year, and opponents say they will be at the Capitol again every day to fight it once more.
www.goldenisles.news
Mixed reviews on campus carry at CCGA
http://goldenisles.news/news/local_news/mixed-reviews-on-campus-carry-at-ccga/article_43b48b07-72b7-5ecd-a6bc-fa247d43022a.html#utm_source=goldenisles.news&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1490967106&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline
By LAUREN MCDONALD
The “campus carry” bill, which would allow concealed firearms to be brought onto Georgia’s public college campuses, was kept alive until the final hours of the 40-day state legislative session. As of press time Thursday, the bill was under consideration in a conference committee. House Bill 280 would allow anyone with a concealed weapons permit to carry firearms on public college and university campuses. …Sentiments were mixed among students on CCGA’s campus regarding the campus carry bill.
Higher Education News:
www.albanyherald.com
HBCUs to rally in Washington in support of black institutions of higher learning
Group seeks help in alleviating funding issues that plague many historically black colleges
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/hbcus-to-rally-in-washington-in-support-of-black-institutions/article_f3e453ea-4144-5aca-aaac-c3ece8cb2d80.html
From Staff Reports
WASHINGTON — Concerned alumni, students and friends of historically black colleges and universities are set to gather on Capitol Hill on April 27 for a national day of action to increase support for black institutions of higher learning. The direct action was organized to ensure accountability by the White House and members of Congress to not only maintain funding, but increase resources to HBCUs. The HBCU National Day of Action is organized by the HBCU Collective, a group of alumni, students and friends of HBCUs who work in politics and advocacy and are determined to preserve, support and grow the historically black institutions. …At next month’s rally, the HBCU Collective expects to galvanize support from more than 100 HBCUs across the nation on Capitol Hill to advocate to their members of Congress. The group also plans to engage thousands through an online and social media-based outreach to urge them to call, write and tweet their federal and state elected officials to make HBCUs a priority in state legislative sessions and in Congress.
www.insidehighered.com
Key Financial Aid Tool Could Be Down for Months
After briefings with congressional committees, federal agencies deliver more bad news on the status of the IRS data retrieval tool.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/03/31/irs-tool-financial-aid-applicants-could-be-down-until-next-aid-cycle
By Andrew Kreighbaum
The Department of Education and the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday that an important online tool for financial aid applicants could be down for months while protections are added to protect the security of users. That means a more time-consuming process for students and their families completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and, potentially, a more burdensome verification process after students submit the application. The impact of the IRS data retrieval tool’s continued outage will extend far beyond first-time college students, affecting current students renewing the FAFSA as well as student loan borrowers seeking to enroll in or update information for income-driven repayment plans.
www.chronicle.com
Trump Proposal to Cut Indirect Research Payments Would Hit State Universities Hardest
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Trump-Proposal-to-Cut-Indirect/239653?cid=wcontentlist_hp_latest
By Paul Basken
The Trump administration’s plan to cut billions of dollars in research spending by eliminating indirect cost reimbursements would devastate university science, especially at public institutions, experts warned. The U.S. secretary for health and human services, Tom Price, told Congress this week that the idea is to save taxpayers money while giving them the same amount of research activity. Indirect cost payments are funds spent on “something other than the research that’s being done,” Dr. Price told a House of Representatives subcommittee on health appropriations on Wednesday. But university representatives made clear Thursday that it simply does not work that way. Indirect costs reflect the legitimate expenses of providing scientists with labs and complying with a host of essential services that somehow will still need to be paid, the representatives said.