University System News:
www.statesboroherald.com
Hebert: Georgia Southern pacing itself
Launches final year before Armstrong consolidation
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/81143/?utm_source=Statesboro+Herald+Subscribers&utm_campaign=b6cb0a8ccf-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f96307a68f-b6cb0a8ccf-180440017
BY Al Hackle
Recreational runner Jaimie L. Hebert, Ph.D., made “Setting the Pace” the watchword as he welcomed faculty who will teach Georgia Southern University’s almost 21,000 students this year before consolidation with Armstrong State University adds over 6,000 more. Starting his second academic year as Georgia Southern’s president, Hebert had a video clip of a runner’s feet pacing uphill shown on the big screen behind him.  His “State of the University” speech capped the fall 2017 convocation ceremony Wednesday in the Performing Arts Center. Many of the university’s approximately 850 faculty members and some of the 1,900 support staff attended and then had lunch together. Classes start Monday. “Running is really about pace. You can’t sprint a 5K,” Hebert said. “If you did, you’d either seriously injure yourself or worse, you’d fail to finish. I pace myself. I pace myself for long runs. I pace myself for small runs, short runs. I pace myself when I’m running up the hill.” Companies and institutions of higher learning also need to pace themselves, he said. …Then, near the end of his speech, Hebert addressed the consolidation of Georgia Southern and Armstrong directly, calling it “a momentous change” and the current moment “a pivotal point.”

www.wtoc.com
Georgia Southern faculty, staff kick off academic year
http://www.wtoc.com/story/36100046/georgia-southern-faculty-staff-kick-off-academic-year
By Dal Cannady, Reporter
Georgia Southern University students move onto campus later this week to start a new school year, but faculty and staff met Wednesday morning to formally kick off the academic year. This year was a little different due to the consolidation of Georgia Southern and Armstrong State University going into full effect Fall 2018. This school year will mark lots of transition to prepare for that. Faculty and staff gathered Wednesday morning for the annual convocation program that kicks off the fall semester and the new year. Speakers, including university President Dr. Jaimie Hebert, talked about the challenges and the opportunities of the consolidation announced in January. University leaders say departments from both universities have spent the spring and summer working out hundreds of details of how the schools will join forces and resources to be one university.

www.insidehighered.com
Georgia College Will Maintain Flannery O’Connor’s Home
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/08/10/georgia-college-will-maintain-flannery-o%E2%80%99connor%E2%80%99s-home?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=62d7be1946-DNU20170810&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-62d7be1946-197515277&mc_cid=62d7be1946&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Scott Jaschik
Andalusia (at right), the home and farm where the writer Flannery O’Connor lived for 13 years before she died in 1964, will be maintained and managed by her alma mater, Georgia College.

www.albanyherald.com
University System of Georgia revamps Student Conduct Policy
USG tweaks sexual misconduct policies in place since July of 2016
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/university-system-of-georgia-revamps-student-conduct-policy/article_7b85f539-b02b-5636-a940-9885700bc0d5.html#utm_source=albanyherald.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1502366581&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline
Staff Reports
The University System of Georgia, in response to sexual assaults on college campuses nationwide, has revamped its Student Conduct Policy for the system’s 28 campuses statewide. The original policy has been in place since July of last year. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia on Tuesday approved revisions to board policies 4.1.7 Student Sexual Misconduct and 4.6.5 Standards for Institutional Student Conduct Investigation and Disciplinary Proceedings. “The goal of these policy updates is to improve campus safety and to ensure consistency and quality in student conduct investigation across the university system,” said Chancellor Steve Wrigley. “We are working closely with our institutions and using their experience and insights to make sure we are putting best practices in place for the safety of our students and campus communities.” The USG said in a news release that the new policies will establish increased oversight of investigations by the system office and provide a consistent approach for handling all student misconduct matters through the same procedure.

www.myajc.com
College debt without the degree having impact on students, economy
http://www.myajc.com/news/local-education/college-debt-without-the-degree-having-impact-students-economy/oWYkLr90yZJkflcAYKuZAO/?ecmp=newspaper_email&
By Sarah Butrymowicz and Meredith Kolodne – The Hechinger Report
DeAngelo Bowie goes to work every day at 1 p.m. at a pet store warehouse and stacks boxes until the work is done. On a good day, he’s out by 9 p.m. On a bad day, he won’t leave until 1 a.m. He’s trying to figure a way to stretch his meager paycheck to pay back college loans for a degree he never finished. Bowie navigated a daunting obstacle course of family and health crises during his teenage years and made it to his dream school – Georgia State University. But he left in the middle of his sophomore year, with $12,000 in federal student loans. In doing so, he joined more than 108,000 other students who withdrew from Georgia’s public colleges and universities between 2013 and 2015 with thousands of dollars in federal student debt but no degree. These former students have few prospects for good-paying jobs yet the loans they racked up mean earning a decent wage is even more imperative. However, many find themselves working in retail jobs or warehouses, scraping by to make monthly loan payments. And many, like Bowie, may want to go back to school but can’t because they’ve defaulted, or they fear sliding further into debt.

www.wtoc.com
Police arrest man wanted for armed robbery, kidnapping of a Georgia Southern student
http://www.wtoc.com/story/36102332/statesboro-police-looking-for-wanted-23-year-old-male
By Paige Phillips, Digital
The Statesboro Police Department have arrested 23-year-old Trevon Cray. Cray was wanted for the armed robbery and kidnapping of a Georgia Southern University student that occurred on August 6 on Robinhood Trail. The Statesboro Police Department reports Cray turned himself in Wednesday night. He is being charged with one count armed robbery and one count kidnapping.

Higher Education News:
www.insidehigherd.com
Mixed Prospect for Growth of Competency-Based Ed
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/08/10/mixed-prospect-growth-competency-based-ed?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=62d7be1946-DNU20170810&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-62d7be1946-197515277&mc_cid=62d7be1946&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Paul Fain
Most competency-based education programs remain nascent, highly localized and of limited size, according a new report from Eduventures, Ellucian and the American Council on Education. Last year the three groups surveyed 250 institutions that either offer competency-based programs or are working to create them. This version featured qualitative research on seven institutions from the survey. It explores barriers to program growth, including technology and platform challenges, financial aid processing, and scheduling.

www.chronicle.com
Big-Time Sports Programs Tighten Rules on Athletes With Sexual-Assault Records
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Big-Time-Sports-Programs/240892?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=969070aa40444c70ade7018d9e536eaa&elq=7a7387ae9a6b401c801d68d764eff69d&elqaid=15093&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6426
By Sarah Brown
Two months ago, Brenda Tracy sent a letter to every college president and athletics director in the “Power Five,” a group made up of the five wealthiest collegiate athletic conferences. Ms. Tracy implored them to do something she sees as common sense: ban athletes with a history of sexual misconduct. She has launched a national campaign against violent athletes because she doesn’t want other students to have the experience she did at Oregon State University. In 1998, she reported to police that four men, including two Oregon State football players, had gang-raped her. “There is a hyper-awareness of the need to put policies in place that are effective both in changing student-athlete attitudes and in influencing their behaviors.” The response from institutions has been mixed, Mr. Tracy said. Some didn’t respond to her; others said they already had a campuswide policy on past student misconduct and didn’t need to go further. But a few colleges indicated that they were looking into the possibility. Institutions like Baylor University, the University of Oregon, and Vanderbilt University have faced scrutiny for high-profile sexual-assault cases, including situations in which athletes facing serious allegations were allowed to continue playing. As such cases have attracted public attention, some universities and athletic conferences are now trying to head off future scandals by keeping problem players off of their campuses to begin with.

www.insidehighered.com
High-Deductible Plans Rise in Higher Ed
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/08/10/high-deductible-plans-rise-higher-ed?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=62d7be1946-DNU20170810&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-62d7be1946-197515277&mc_cid=62d7be1946&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Rick Seltzer
Colleges and universities increasingly offered high-deductible health plans, health-care benefits for part-time employees and stand-alone vision plans in 2017, according to a new survey. They continued to offer health-care benefits to domestic partners at high rates. But in a move that some employees probably won’t like, colleges and universities also demonstrated more interest in wellness programs. Those are key points in a report released this month by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. The report covers survey responses from 358 institutions of different classifications and affiliations from across the country.

www.insidehighered.com
DeVos Reflects on Her Comment on Black Colleges
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/08/10/devos-reflects-her-comment-black-colleges?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=62d7be1946-DNU20170810&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-62d7be1946-197515277&mc_cid=62d7be1946&mc_eid=8f1f949a06
By Andrew Kreighbaum
In an interview with the Associated Press Wednesday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos aimed for further conciliation with African-Americans alienated by her remarks in February describing historically black colleges as “pioneers” of school choice. “When I talked about it being a pioneer in choice it was because I acknowledge that racism was rampant and there were no choices,” DeVos told the AP. “These HBCUs provided choices for black students that they didn’t have.”