University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC On Campus: Lawmakers call for tuition decrease; HBCUs get big gift
By Eric Stirgus
There may be good news for many of Georgia’s college students, if some state lawmakers have their way. A group of them want to see a tuition drop at Georgia’s major universities. Here’s more about that, how the coronavirus is impacting student travel and other items in the latest edition of AJC On Campus. You may remember Gov. Brian Kemp hinted in his budget presentation last month that he didn’t expect the state’s Board of Regents to raise tuition at the University System of Georgia’s 26 schools, as they did last year. Some state lawmakers were blunt about the topic last week.
WGAU
UNG president appointed to national task force
By: Tim Bryant
There is a new assignment for the president of the University of North Georgia: UNG’s Dr. Bonita Jacobs has been appointed to the American Council on Education’s National Task Force on the Transfer of Credits. From UNG… Dr. Bonita Jacobs, president of the University of North Georgia (UNG), has been appointed to the American Council on Education (ACE) National Task Force on Transfer of Credit. The task force is focused on improving transfer and award of credit practices to spur student success and reduce the time it takes to graduate. ACE announced members of the task force, which include presidents and chancellors of two- and four-year, public and private nonprofit colleges and universities from across the country, on Jan. 30. The task force will produce a report containing best practices and emerging strategies in early 2021.
The Griffin Daily News
Gordon holds first annual address
By Jennifer Reynolds
Gordon State College held its first annual State of the College address Friday in the Nursing and Allied Health Sciences building. The address was given by Gordon State President Dr. Kirk Nooks. He outlined the college’s three strategic imperatives to build a distinct identity, focus on student success and strengthen both community engagement and partnerships. Nooks said the main purpose of the school is to support students and “placing students at the heart of everything we do.”
Gwinnett Daily Post
GGC, Gwinnett Tech earn ‘Tree Campus USA’ honors
By Taylor Denman
The Arbor Day Foundation named Georgia Gwinnett College and Gwinnett Technical College as 2019 Tree Campus USA recipients. The program honors colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals. The Arbor Day Foundation is a non-profit that recognizes cities, K-12 schools, colleges and universities for promoting healthy trees and community involvement.
WJBF
USDA grant given to MCG changes how doctors treat patients in rural emergency rooms
By: Ashley Osborne
Georgia consistently ranks in the top 10 as far as population size. The peach state also ranks in the bottom 10 for various healthcare categories. Of Georgia’s 159 counties, 58 of them have no emergency medicine doctor. A federal grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture given to the Medical College of Georgia aims to improve the gap between population and quality of healthcare. The $369,000 paid for telemedicine equipment in the emergency department at AU Health and for telemedicine carts for emergency departments in 5 rural hospitals. The ER telemedicine carts will go to hospitals in Swainsboro, Washington, Sandersville, Colquitt and Cordele. With the emergency telemed carts, doctors at MCG can virtually be in the ER in these rural hospitals.
The Brunswick News
College kicks off celebration of Black History Month
By Lauren McDonald
Black History Month is a time to celebrate the contribution of African Americans throughout history.
College of Coastal Georgia offered an opportunity to reflect on their history Monday during a Black History Month kickoff event, where students were asked to think about their own connections to black history. “It’s about being intentional in our celebration,” said Quinton Staples, who recently joined CCGA’s staff as director of diversity initiatives. “We know that black people are making history every day of the year. But it’s about intentionally celebrating the contributions of black and African American people to our greater history as a country.”
The Bell Ringer
Grammy-nominated musician Branford Marsalis hosts Q&A with AU’s Wycliffe Gordon
By Sam Turner
Staff writer
Augusta University kicked off the spring semester with a Lyceum Series featuring Grammy-nominated jazz artist, Branford Marsalis on Jan. 16. The Lyceum Series was designed by Wingate and is a program that is meant to expose college students to ideas and opportunities they may not have in the classrooms. The Lyceum Series at Augusta University will include different concerts put on by the Department of Music, as well as different plays.
WJBF
Augusta University’s goal to recruit more African-American male teachers to the classrooms
by: Devin Johnson
Augusta University is trying to address the need for more teachers in the classrooms. The College of Education has started several programs to tackle the problem. Now, they want to focus on the lack of African African male teachers. “We need more male role models in our school systems,” said AU’s director of athletics, Clint Bryant. “No matter what their color is, the male models would make a better environment in the classrooms for our kids to learn.” The College of Education Dean and The Director of Athletics have teamed up to address the absence of minority male teachers.
WMAZ
Middle Georgia State students bring 1980s computers back to life
Students find old computers and gaming machines and revive them to add to the college’s Museum of Technology.
Author: Pepper Baker
Sounds from the classic game of Frogger may be, familiar if you remember playing video games on a 1982 Commodore 64. “This is probably the most influential computer we have in this room, this thing changed everything,” Middle Georgia State Information Technology student Ryan Ashford said. Ryan, a 17-year-old Middle Georgia State student, knows everything there is to know about a machine that’s nearly twice his age. …He and his classmates collect old computers and gaming systems through donations, state sales, or in dumpsters and bring them back to life for the college’s Museum of Technology. Augusta University’s goal to recruit more African-American male teachers to the classrooms.
Edscoop
Georgia State U. joins civic tech network
Written by Jake Williams
Georgia State University will join the Public Interest Technology University Network, the school announced last week. The Public Interest Technology University Network, or PIT-UN, was created by New America, the Ford Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation, and is designed to promote collaboration between 21 universities and colleges around public interest or civic technology efforts. The network launched in March 2019. GSU will be the network’s 22nd member.
The Sentinel
SGA director proposes Student Disability Services name change
Emily Rubin
Kennesaw State Student Government Association Director of Academic Affairs J.J. Lopez proposed changing the name of Student Disability Services to Student Accommodation Services at an SGA meeting Wednesday, Jan. 22. Lopez said she started advocating for the name change because she felt uncomfortable with the negative connotations associated with the term “disability.” “I think that I would have been much more willing to go get the services had it just been called Accommodation Services,” Lopez said. Lopez qualifies for SDS accommodations but she said it took her time to get the services she needed due to the name.
The Bell Ringer
Are college students misrepresented?
By Tyler Beatty, Staff writer
One of the least represented (or misrepresented) populations in the United States, within the media, are college students. Whether that is from forgetting to vote, complications with voting, or just being completely generalized by the public, there is a great difference in numbers when it comes to the representation of college-aged students. As we enter the new decade, we all know that the 2020 Census is coming up. This is the perfect time for young adults to get their information in and be represented correctly with the rest of the country.
News.newsedge
SaportaReport
Nearly 60 freshmen cadets complete Freshman Recruit Orientation Group training as they are introduced to Corps of Cadets life at the University of North Georgia through physical challenges, team-building exercises and information sessions. During this January 2020 session two sets of siblings among the group, including twin sisters Laurana and Bellana Bradley (pictured), from Powder Springs, Georgia.
The Epoch Times
Christian Students Ask Supreme Court to Review Case Over Free Speech Rights on Campus
By Janita Kan
Two Christian students have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lawsuit against a Georgia College, claiming that the college’s speech zone and speech code policies violated the students’ First Amendment rights. Chike Uzuegbunam and Joseph Bradford, who were both students at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) at the time when the lawsuit was filed, sued multiple GGC officials challenging two policies in the GGC’s Student Handbook: the “Freedom of Expression Policy” and the “Student Code of Conduct” that they say prevented them from exercising their freedom of speech and freedom to exercise rights, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the religious rights law firm representing the students in the case.
WGXA
Proposed Georgia bill seeks to limit number of patients nurses can be assigned
by Nick Gibson
A bill proposed in the Georgia House of Representatives may limit the number of patients a nurse can be assigned at one time. Representative Sandra Scott sponsored House Bill 801, and says she was inspired to do so after hearing from too many Georgia nurses who say they’re overwhelmed by the number of patients they’re tasked with taking care of. If HB 801 passes and hospitals fail to adhere to it, they’d be fined up to $25,000 for each day of the violation, Scott says. …Dr. Shirley Camp, Nurse Practitioner and assistant professor at Middle Georgia State University, says if put into action there could be pros and cons of this bill.
Fox 13
New study reveals concussions in high school athletes might be a risk factor for suicide
By Greg Coy
…A new study finds concussions in high school athletes may be a risk factor for suicide. A concussion is the most common form of a traumatic brain injury and it can happen while playing competitive sports at any age level. “You can’t wrap your child’s head in bubble wrap to protect them,” said Dr. David Schwartz of Northside Hospital Duluth. …Darin Wilson is the Athletic Director at Georgia Gwinnett College, which works closely with Northside Hospital’s Concussion Institute. Wilson’s belief is “I’d rather lose a game than lose a kid.” Wilson said any student athlete who has signs of a concussion goes through a protocol before returning to the field because “We’re not going to take a chance of putting a player back on the field or quarter competition without making absolutely sure that they are as healthy as they can possibly be.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Teachers gain computer science savvy as kids apply skills to problems
By Arlinda Smith Broady
Grandparents of children now in school may remember the space race that began in the mid-1950s. Competing with Russia to be the first with a man on the moon, the United States pushed for more math, science and technology courses. While there may be no comparable quest to lure the best technological minds nowadays, just about every country, state and city realizes that its future depends on how well it integrates computer technology. To help metro Atlanta in that endeavor, the Honeywell company partnered with Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) to host the 2020 Honeywell STEM Challenge Showcase. The competition is for students, but a goal is to increase the number of certified computer science teachers in the state.
Fits News
South Carolina ‘Bird Poop’ Deputy Finally Gets The Boot
Case exposes troubling gaps in discipline of law enforcement officers …
deputy who infamously mistook bird feces for cocaine during the arrest of a Georgia Southern University football player is no longer employed by the Saluda county, South Carolina sheriff’s office. But questions surrounding deputy Charles Browder – whose wife is an assistant solicitor in a nearby county – go much deeper than the error that made national headlines following the July 2019 arrest of quarterback Shai Werts. Last week, Browder was the focus of an extensive investigative report by Liz Owens of WRDW TV-12 (CBS – Augusta, Georgia). According to Owens, his case provides a perfect example of how a broken system “allows deputies with questionable past(s) to keep their badge(s).”
GPB
Political Rewind: The Morning After Iowa
By BILL NIGUT
On this morning’s edition of Political Rewind, Democratic candidates for president are campaigning in New Hampshire this morning even as they await the delayed results of the Iowa caucuses. Confusion in reporting from precincts across the Hawk Eye state left the Democratic field without a clear front runner and without winnowing the field. The turmoil in Iowa could potentially make Georgia’s late March primary even more important in picking a Democratic nominee. Panelists:
(Live From Iowa) Greg Bluestein — Politics Reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Carl Cavalli — Professor of Political Science, University of North Georgia
Andra Gillespie — Professor of Political Science, Emory University
Amy Steigerwalt — Professor of Political Science, Georgia State University
The Gainesville Times
UNG professors explain why most impeachment opinions are so biased
Megan Reed
As the U.S. Senate prepares to vote in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial on Wednesday, the Republican-led legislative body is expected to acquit the president, according to The Associated Press. The Democrat-majority U.S. House of Representatives voted in December, largely along party lines, to impeach Trump. The impeachment process has shown how partisan politics have become, both in Congress and among friends and family, Glen Smith, a professor of political science at the University of North Georgia, said.
Growing America
Georgia Peanut Commission Research Report Day set for Feb. 5
The Georgia Peanut Commission will hold the annual Research Report Day, Feb. 5, 2020, beginning at 9:00 a.m. at the National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory (NESPAL), located on the University of Georgia Tifton campus at 2360 Rainwater Road, Tifton, Georgia 31793. The event provides growers and industry representatives an opportunity to hear the latest reports and newest information available on peanut research projects funded by GPC in 2019. “The commission works to wisely invest peanut farmers’ dollars into research projects across Georgia in an effort to reduce production input costs and improve agronomic techniques,” says Donald Chase, GPC Research Committee chairman. “Although some of the findings are preliminary, the projects are exciting and many times new recommendations or observations are announced.” …GPC awarded $653,901 to peanut research facilities in the state during 2019. This effort funds 35 research projects from the University of Georgia, the USDA Agricultural Research Service and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Request to Analyze Dual Enrollment
By Madeline St. Amour
Two U.S. senators, joined by 17 of their colleagues, are pushing to include dual-enrollment programs and early college high schools in a planned analysis of K-12 education. Senators Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, and Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education asking it to study the use, outcomes and best practices of college-in-high school programs that receive Elementary and Secondary Education Act funding, according to a news release. The department plans to analyze money spent by 400 school districts on five federal programs. This would be the first analysis of education spending since 2009, according to the release.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Is It Fair to Judge a College by Its ROI?
By Bennett Leckrone
Recent headlines proclaiming the long-term payoff of liberal-arts colleges were greeted enthusiastically by advocates for those institutions, which are often derided as impractical destinations for students concerned with finding jobs and paying off debt after they graduate. But the analysis prompting the headlines, which was conducted by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce and calculated the 40-year return on investment for 210 liberal-arts colleges across the country, also cast a harsh light on a subgroup of institutions — those that serve higher numbers of Pell Grant recipients or are located in less-prosperous regions of the country.
Inside Higher Ed
Student Loan Relief for Disabled Vets
The Trump administration is forgiving loans for disabled U.S. military veterans. But consumer groups say loans should be discharged for all who are too disabled to work.
By Kery Murakami
The federal government plans to forgive hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding loan debt for roughly 25,000 disabled veterans in July. But while consumer and veterans’ groups are applauding the move by the U.S. Department of Education, they also don’t think it goes far enough. They want the department to discharge the student loans of nearly 400,000 other borrowers who have also been deemed too disabled to work by the federal government but don’t qualify for the relief either because they are not veterans or because their injuries were not service related.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Danielle McLean
When President Trump signed an executive order aimed at stopping anti-Semitism, in December, colleges were suddenly faced with a new burden: Police anti-Jewish rhetoric on campus, or risk being investigated for a civil-rights violation. But what qualifies as anti-Semitism, and when does a college have a duty to intervene? The writings of one U.S. Education Department official may hold the key to an answer. For more than a decade, Kenneth L. Marcus, the assistant secretary for civil rights, has led a crusade to clamp down on anti-Semitism in academe, in a fashion that aligns with the directives in the executive order.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
This University’s Board Now Has the Power to Fire Anyone — ‘Even Down to the Janitor’
By Lindsay Ellis
Texas Southern University’s regents last year gave themselves the unusual power to fire any and all campus employees, a move that flouts best-practices recommendations on higher-education governance and may raise red flags for the institution’s regional accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges. The board’s new powers came to light as the university’s leadership is itself in flux. Regents last month placed the university’s president, Austin A. Lane, on administrative leave amid an investigation into admissions improprieties. A special board meeting called for Tuesday will include discussion, in executive session, of a “notice of termination of the university president.” The same day Lane was placed on leave, his special assistant was fired. Approved in October, the new bylaws allow the board to “remove any professor, instructor, tutor, or other officer or employee connected with the institution” if required by “the best interests” and “proper operation” of the institution. The board can also “approve the termination of any position” including a dean, officer, or other employee.
Inside Higher Ed
House Democrat Threatens to Subpoena DeVos
By Kery Murakami
Representative Carolyn Maloney, the Democratic chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, threatened on Monday to subpoena Education Secretary Betsy DeVos if she does not appear before the committee in March to discuss issues like campus sexual assault policies.