University System News:
Athens Banner-Herald
University System of Georgia advisory group on renaming buildings, colleges begins work
By Dave Williams, Capitol Beat News Service
Deciding whether to rename buildings or academic colleges on the 26 University System of Georgia campuses will be a complicated process fraught with emotion, system Chancellor Steve Wrigley warned Thursday. “You will face some complex choices,” Wrigley told the five members of an advisory group formed last month to review those names and recommend any changes. “Be deliberate and thoughtful. Those are not words we hear a lot today. We want you to be persuaded only by the facts.” The advisory group, which held its first meeting Thursday, was created amid a backdrop of protests across the country over centuries of racial injustice in America that have been marked by the removal of statues of Confederate leaders and public calls for renaming buildings honoring historic figures connected with the South’s history of slavery and racial discrimination and violence.
WGXA
University System of Georgia holds first meeting on review of college, building names
by Ryan Weaver
A special advisory group set up by the University System of Georgia met today to hold their first meeting on the review of the names of colleges and buildings on the systems 26 universities. In light of recent events in the country there are growing movements calling for end to police brutality and greater push for racial equality. Among those movements is the call to remove Confederate and controversial figure monuments and names from buildings, prompting the USG review of names. …As for what the group discussed in the first meeting, it was over the time frame they are looking at for collecting feedback and making a report to the USG board of regents. Other topics briefly touched on were how the group would go about judging names, what their evaluation and deliberation process would look like.
The Times-Georgian
Kelly era at UWG begins with unprecedented challenges
By Stephanie Allen
Dr. Brendan Kelly has officially passed the 100 Day mark as president of the University of West Georgia. Kelly is now the eighth president of the university, succeeding Dr. Kyle Marrero. July 1 was the 100th day of office for Kelly, who joined UWG earlier than anticipated on March 23.
Patch
Finding His Vocation: An Education Graduate Works With Special Needs Students
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia Southern University Double Eagle Benjamin Mitchell has worked with special needs students.
In May, Benjamin Mitchell graduated with a Master of Arts in Teaching in special education after enrolling in the fully online program while teaching, coaching and raising a family. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia Southern University Double Eagle Benjamin Mitchell (’11,’20) has been teaching students with disabilities from home. Mitchell is a special education teacher at Wacona Elementary School in Waycross, Georgia, where he has worked with fourth and fifth grade students for four years. “The worry is of course that they don’t have the constant support they need,” said Mitchell. “But we continue to reinforce the basic concepts and reinforce fundamentals. At the end of the day, I care about their success, and I make sure they know that.” Mitchell and his students check in at least once a week via Google or Zoom.
Global Atlanta
North Georgia Gets $1.2M to Continue Chinese Flagship Program
Trevor Williams
A Mandarin Chinese program underwritten by the U.S. Department of Defense has renewed its commitment to the University of North Georgia with another $1.2 million grant over four years. The Georgia military college is one of 13 institutions across the country selected to offer the Chinese Language Flagship, a five-year program intended to develop professional-level proficiency through four years of intensive study followed by a “capstone” year at partner institutions in Taiwan or mainland China. In 2011, its first year with the flagship program, UNG began offering $20,000 scholarships to ROTC cadets for extended study domestically or abroad. Last year, the scholarship was opened to civilian students as well. Civilians had already overtaken cadets as Chinese flagship participants by 26 to 18 margin in the spring of 2019. So far, 14 students overall have completed their capstone year.
Southeast Ag Net
Lee Nunn named 2020 Georgia Farmer of the Year
By Josh Paine for UGA CAES News
Lee Nunn of Madison, Georgia, planted his first wheat crop on 50 acres of his wife’s family farm when it became available to rent just over a dozen years ago. He quickly realized his passion for farming and began renting more land, now growing wheat, soybeans, field peas, corn and cotton on more than 1,500 acres. Nunn’s relatively quick success and community involvement have led to him being honored as the 2020 Georgia Farmer of the Year. He’s now in the running for the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition/Swisher Sweets Southeastern Farmer of the Year award. He was nominated by Lucy Ray, Agriculture and Natural Resources agent for University of Georgia Cooperative Extension in Morgan County.
ABA Journal
SCOTUS will consider free speech damages in case of evangelizing college student
BY DEBRA CASSENS WEISS
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to decide whether an evangelizing college student may receive nominal damages from a state college for an alleged free speech violation that happened under a policy that has since been discarded. Georgia student Chike Uzuegbunam twice tried to distribute religious literature at the Georgia Gwinnett College, according to his cert petition.
Food Management
University of Georgia Dining plans to push takeout this fall
While dining halls will have a dine-in option with limited seating, the (mobile) order of the day will be meal requests through Grubhub picked up and taken away.
Mike Buzalka
The University of Georgia (UGA) is expected to have pretty much a full complement of students on campus this fall, or at least that is the expectation of Bryan Varin, executive director of UGA Dining Services. That means Varin and his staff will have to deal with feeding just about the same number of students as in previous years—except that this time around it will have to be with the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. Varin’s solution involves a combination of preordering, takeout and limited dine-in, with the biggest adjustments coming to the all-you-care-to-eat residential dining halls. “Retail is simple,” he notes. “Of course, we’ll have to manage people and crowds and use queueing, but much of it already was takeout” and already had offered the Grubhub app that allowed customers to preorder their food, then come pick it up and go. In fact, only a couple of retail dining units at UGA even had seating, and these are now being removed in order to provide more queueing space.
MSN
Hospitals handle rise in COVID-19 cases here, but say we’re not safe yet
Brady Trapnell
As cases and hospitalizations rise, it raises more questions about how and if our hospitals are starting to feel the burden. Local doctors say if we continue at this rate, we could be in danger. Officials say they are handling those increases alright for now, but this trend can’t continue forever. All you have to do is look at the testing line to understand what’s going on. “It is certainly concerning. It is reflective of the infection burden in our community,” Dr. Loana Chirca, medical director for infection prevention at University Hospital. Sixty-four patients are hospitalized at University Hospital for COVID-19, the highest since the start of the pandemic. “We were on standby waiting for this. I think we are as prepared as we can be in the situation that we are facing,” Chirca said. And over at Augusta University Health, the situation is similar. AU even suggests there are fewer severe cases. “Currently right now, I think 19 of our 20 COVID patients in the ICU are on the ventilator,” Dr. Phillip Coule, chief medical officer, said. According to Coule, 600 people were scheduled for drive-up testing Thursday. But there is good news, as both AU and University say hospital stays are going down due to better treatment options like remdesivir.
Knowridge Science Report
This study shows new way to avoid immune inflammatory overreaction, the main cause of COVID-19 death
Cytokine storms created by COVID-19 are causing major organ destruction and death. In a recent study at Augusta University, researchers found that replacing the usual filter in a kidney dialysis machine with a filter known to trap these tiny proteins may help avoid the devastation. One leader of the study is Dr. Azeem Mohammed, a nephrologist at the Medical College of Georgia and Augusta University Health System. Cytokines are supposed to destroy the virus, but there is such a high level of cytokines that they are actually destroying organs. The researchers were already working with patients with COVID-19 who, like many critically ill patients, needed dialysis because their kidneys were failing.
Athens CEO
UGA Report Helps Rural Healthcare Providers Prepare for COVID-19 Pandemic
Aaron Cox
Healthcare professionals in Colquitt County have been better able to plan for their providers’ and patients’ needs during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to a customized report from the University of Georgia. Produced by the College of Public Health (CPH) in coordination with the Archway Partnership, a UGA Public Service and Outreach unit, the report outlined the number of weekly, confirmed COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations expected for Georgia’s 14-county Southwest Public Health District (SPHD) — a region that stretches from Lee to Decatur County and includes more than 340,000 people. The information included in the report provides regional hospitals with more accurate estimations than the national or state-wide reports and can help administrators prepare for their specific needs, said Grace Bagwell Adams, an associate professor in the College of Public Health.
Other News:
Fox5
Cities in Georgia requiring or considering requiring face masks be worn in public
A growing list of cities in Georgia have issued or plan to issue mandates or ordinances requiring face masks be worn in public. The Georgia Department of Public Health reported the state has seen more than 100,000 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kemp’s office: Mask mandates in Georgia are ‘unenforceable’
By Greg Bluestein
Gov. Brian Kemp’s office said Thursday that mask requirements adopted by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and leaders of other Georgia cities are “unenforceable” but stopped short of threatening legal action to block them. “Like all of the local mask mandates, Mayor Bottoms’ order is unenforceable,” said Kemp spokeswoman Candice Broce. “We continue to encourage Georgians to do the right thing and wear a mask voluntarily.” The remarks were the most direct response from the Kemp administration to the wave of local governments in Georgia that were adopting requirements to wear face coverings to contain the coronavirus.
11Alive
Dr. Danny Branstetter with WellStar Health System tells 11Alive the state and hospitals around Georgia have better plans in place and treatments, unlike months ago.
On Thursday, the Georgia Department of Public Health reported an additional 2,837 new COVID-19 cases. Fewer than the day before, but still the fifth-highest single-day number on record. Perhaps more concerning is the number of patients in the hospital because of the virus. On Thursday the state reported there were 2,322 patients statewide, the highest total since the pandemic began. “We aren’t immune to the phenomenon we are seeing across the state,” said Dr. Danny Branstetter with WellStar Health System. Branstetter is WellStar’s Medical Director of Infection Prevention. He said the statewide trends are also happening at WellStar hospitals. “Good news is so far the trend has been more medical, surgical admissions than ICU admissions compared to the first part of this first surge of COVID infections.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated July 9, 3 p.m.)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
DEATHS: 2,930 | County is determined by the patient’s residence, when known, not by where they were treated. CONFIRMED CASES: 106,727 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
Higher Education News:
WSB-TV
As Georgia college classes go online, some international students could lose visas
There’s academic uncertainty for thousands of international college students in metro Atlanta, with the pandemic leaving the fall semester up in the air. The Department of State said this week it won’t issue visas for students taking classes fully online. Channel 2 Anchor Lori Wilson talked with Terry Hartle from the American Council on Education about what that could mean for the economy. …Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Tuesday that by July 15, colleges and universities would have to outline their plans for reopening in the fall. Students with international visas would have to be in an in-person program if they were allowed to stay in the country. Under the new guidelines, students who are not in an in-person program either have to transfer to another institution or leave the country
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Colleges Are Making Masks Mandatory. But They’re Not an Option for Everyone.
By Megan Zahneis
Many campuses that plan to return to in-campus instruction this fall will do so with mandatory mask-wearing policies. Those spotted without a mask might be stopped by a campus “public-health ambassador” and asked to don one, or cited for a conduct-code violation. Students might be asked to sign pledges confirming to abide by safety protocol or called out by a professor for going maskless in the classroom. The expectation on many campuses is clear: Wear a mask, or get in trouble. It’s a sweeping policy that’s consistent with guidance from top public-health officials: Masks have been shown to help slow the spread of Covid-19. But for some people, masking up presents extra challenges. Accounting for those populations makes the question of community safety more complicated. Jaipreet Virdi, an assistant professor of history at the University of Delaware , counts herself among that number. Virdi is deaf and relies on lip-reading to communicate. Most masks, of course, make lip-reading impossible, and in turn pose a significant communication barrier to Virdi and others who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Over 450 Colleges Are in Coronavirus Hot Spots
By Audrey Williams June
Cases of the novel coronavirus are spiking in counties in the southern and western regions of the United States, and these hot spots are home to about 450 colleges, some of whose leaders have recently signaled that they might modify their plans for the fall as cases rise. “If I had to say today would we would reopen, no, because … the ICUs are full,” Robert C. Robbins, president of the University of Arizona, said late last month. …The university is in Pima County, which, on July 7, had 29.7 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people on a rolling seven-day average, according to a new interactive map and dashboard created by Harvard University researchers. Pima County is at a high risk level, which the researchers define as 25 or more new daily cases per 100,000 people. Other high-risk counties with colleges include: Miami-Dade, Fla.; Charleston, S.C.; Maricopa, Ariz.; and Lubbock, Tex. …Meanwhile, local and college leaders and public-health experts in other, less-hard-hit regions of the country have expressed concern that outbreaks among college students this summer will presage further spread of the disease when more students return in the fall.
Inside Higher Ed
COVID-19’s Forceful Financial Hit: A Survey of Business Officers
By Doug Lederman
Throughout the decade that Inside Higher Ed has been asking chief business officers how confident they are in their institution’s financial stability over five and 10 years, they’ve historically been quite a bit more confident in the near term than over the longer term. That makes sense, in many ways, given that most business leaders have a clearer line of sight into the next few years than over a decade, when who knows what might happen. This year is different (is that an understatement or what?). Respondents to this year’s Inside Higher Ed Survey of College and University Business Officers were actually slightly likelier to express confidence in their institution’s stability over 10 years (53 percent) than over five (52 percent).
Inside Higher Ed
Ed Department Civil Rights Head to Step Down
By Greta Anderson
Kenneth Marcus, assistant secretary for civil rights for the U.S. Department of Education, will step down from his position at the end of the month, a news release from the department said. As head of the Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, Marcus led the department’s overhaul of rules for how colleges must respond to reports of sexual misconduct as well as the department’s “vigorous enforcement” of a controversial December 2019 executive order from President Trump that instructed officials to consider some anti-Israel sentiment on campus to be anti-Semitic when investigating civil rights complaints, the release said. Marcus said in a tweet that he will be returning to “private life.”
Inside Higher Ed
Biden and Sanders’s Joint Higher Ed Recommendations
By Kery Murakami
The attempt by Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to unify his party with former challenger Bernie Sanders brought no major surprises in higher education policy. A 110-page set of policy recommendations on a range of issues from climate change to education, crafted by representatives of both campaigns, called for canceling up to $10,000 in student debt relief per borrower during the coronavirus pandemic. That’s far short, though, of Sanders’s plan to cancel all of the nation’s $1.6 trillion in student debt. In addition, the joint proposal repeated Biden’s previous proposal to excuse those making less than $25,000 from making monthly payments on student loans, without interest. For those making more, payments would be capped at 5 percent of their discretionary income. For both groups, any remaining loan balances will be forgiven after 20 years.