University System News:
The Times
What UNG campuses look like on first day of 2020 fall semester
By Kelsey Podo
A smaller number of students than on the typical first day of school walked into their classes at the University of North Georgia’s Gainesville campus Monday, Aug. 17, their expressions hidden by mandatory masks. The common spaces were quiet as students focused on their laptops. Courses have been altered at the university to involve both virtual and face-to-face instruction.
The Brunswick News
CCGA students return to campus for fall semester
By Lauren McDonald
College of Coastal Georgia’s campus looked almost normal again Monday, except for the face masks worn by students and staff and the array of signs promoting social distancing and hand washing. Students returned for the first day of the fall semester, and “Welcome Week” activities were in full swing at the Brunswick campus Monday. Under a tent outside the student center, college staff handed out face masks, snacks, water bottles, maps and schedules of the week’s worth of events planned to welcome students back to campus.
Athens Banner-Herald
UGA begins COVID surveillance testing, will report summaries of results weekly
By Lee Shearer
The University of Georgia has stopped its daily update of COVID-19 cases among members of the UGA community, but says it will resume weekly reporting beginning Wednesday. Thursday is the first day of fall semester classes. Before halting its daily reporting last week, UGA’s University Health Center had been compiling numbers from two sources: voluntary reporting and test results from people who went to the University Health Center for testing.
Greensboro News & Record
In Georgia, a strange return to college for some students
By Jeff Amy (Associated Press)
Regents that oversee 26 schools have mandated at least some on-campus classes for the system’s 330,000 students. The university system agreed to mandate masks under faculty pressure and made it a little easier for professors to work from home. But some faculty say they are still being forced into the classroom.
The Washington Post
‘We’ve got to do better than this’: College students raise alarm by packing bars, avoiding masks
By Tim Elfrink
Music blared outside a row of off-campus houses on Saturday near the University of North Georgia as hundreds of students packed the streets and front yards. Virtually no one wore a mask. The huge party in Dahlonega, Ga., captured in a viral Twitter video, was one of a number of mass gatherings around the country this weekend as tens of thousands of students returned to college towns already on edge amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Local officials from Georgia to Alabama to Oklahoma reacted with horror and anger on Sunday, warning that unless students take social distancing and mask rules seriously, the fall semester could come to a swift end.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Maskless student gatherings mar return to Georgia colleges
By Eric Stirgus and Kristal Dixon
Several more Georgia universities reopened Monday for fall semester classes amid renewed calls for schools to conduct all classes online as videos and photos showing large groups of students putting themselves in greater exposure of COVID-19 by partying in close spaces, many of them not wearing face coverings. The University of North Georgia said in a statement Monday it was disappointed after a video surfaced on social media showing what appeared to be several hundred students partying in an off-campus apartment complex near its Dahlonega campus Saturday night. No one in the video appeared to wear a face mask. The university has reported 19 students who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since Aug. 1 as some students returned to their dorms in preparation for the semester, which began Monday.
Inside Higher Ed
By Elizabeth Redden
As fall fast approaches, a steady stream of colleges have backed away from plans for an in-person semester in favor of a largely virtual one, citing the worsening course of the coronavirus pandemic. But many other colleges are pushing ahead with plans for in-person classes, and students have already started moving in at some colleges that have implemented mask mandates, installed Plexiglas barriers in communal bathrooms and classrooms, and placed hand-sanitizing stations throughout their campuses. Observers are questioning how college leaders are balancing the health and safety of faculty, staff, students and members of surrounding communities with the financial and political pressures driving the push to reopen campuses. Are they striking the right balance? Some don’t think so.
11Alive
Kaitlyn Ross
Georgia Tech students hosted a “die-in”on campus to protest COVID-19 safety standards as classes begin. Some students back on campus are really concerned about their safety.11Alive spoke with a former resident assistance on Monday who said he was so worried about what he saw the first few days back, he quit his job and went home.
WJBF
State gives the go ahead to 3 Augusta hospitals to build emergency rooms
By Katherine Wideman
The Georgia Department of Health has now awarded a certificate of need to all 3 of Augusta’s hospitals. Augusta University Health as well as University Hospital have had their certificate of need approved by the state regulatory agency. The CON filed by Doctors Hospital earlier this year has also been approved. The move comes as the battle over who will be the main healthcare provider in Columbia County, Georgia continues. Doctors Hospital was the first to have its plans to build on Belair Road near the old Fatz Cafe approved. Augusta University, which also has plans to build a hospital in Grovetown, had approval for its separate free standing ER facility approved for farther out Washington Road near the Knob Hill Farm Road intersection.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
COVID-19 testing sites expand to Kennesaw State
By Kristal Dixon
Pop-up COVID-19 testing sites will open this week at Kennesaw State University’s two campuses, the Cobb & Douglas Health Department said.The testing is being done in conjunction with the agency and Community Organized Relief Effort, an international organization founded by actor Sean Penn that provides emergency relief to people affected by natural disasters. Testing sites will rotate on a weekly basis.
Other News:
The Brunswick News
Education forum explores plans, concerns for new school year
By Lauren McDonald
A recent forum brought together local candidates, educators and parents for a discussion about the upcoming school year. Holdsworth and all Glynn County Schools teachers returned to schools Aug. 4 to prepare their classrooms and to receive training for the new year, when some teachers will be providing in-person instruction and others will teach virtually for students who opted to learn from home at the start of the school year. A concern Holdsworth shared is that the system informed parents in the initial survey, which asked if they’d like their child to participate in virtual learning this fall, that households would have to supply their own technology equipment. In the spring, schools distributed computers for students to use.
The Red & Black
ANALYSIS: Athens, state see death rate increase while cases decline
By Stroud Payne
Last week, the death rate rose in Athens and the state of Georgia, a reflection of the surge of cases since June. According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, Athens-Clarke County recorded three deaths from Aug. 10-16, the highest number recorded since mid-April. ACC has recorded six deaths over the past three weeks.
Savannah Morning News
Georgia historian: Voting barriers fell 100 years ago; others remain today
By Lisa Landers
Tuesday marks the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. One hundred years ago, for the first time, the United States government officially recognized women as political citizens. It marked the single largest expansion of the American electorate to date. But simply marking the day falls short of recognizing the long, 70-year struggle of the women’s suffrage movement and of understanding how the struggle for voting rights in America has continued long after this anniversary.
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
UNC Pulls the Plug on In-Person Fall. Will Other Campuses Follow?
By Francie Diep and Andy Thomason
Two weeks after moving students into the dorms for an in-person fall, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced that it’s moving mostly online for the rest of the semester. The university is encouraging those students who can return to their family homes to do so, and it will release them from their housing contracts penalty-free. The move comes after a three-day stretch during which the university saw three separate clusters of coronavirus infections in residence halls, plus one cluster in a fraternity house. In total, 135 students and staff tested positive for the coronavirus last week.
The Gainesville Sun
COVID-19 has colleges desperate for donations as fall semester 2020 looms
Miranda S. Spivack – Special to USA TODAY
Critics fear the economic downturn could give donors more leverage to quietly influence curriculum, hiring and scholarships. Open government laws in many states already allow donors to demand that the public — including students and faculty — be kept in the dark. The pandemic has presented universities a triple whammy: Reduced tax revenues slashing government support, online-only courses gutting dormitory and cafeteria revenues, and — with more students and families out of work – less ability to offset that loss with tuition increases.
Diverse: Issues In Higher Education
Creating Antiracist Spaces Where Black Students Can Breathe and Thrive
By Traci Dennis
2020 besieged us with two deadly viruses: COVID 19 and racism. Both have proven disproportionately deadly for Black bodies. Black students in colleges and universities around the country, who are already dealing with the pandemic, anti-Black racism and police brutality, are often subjected to microaggressions and unsafe classroom spaces. These conditions have a cumulative impact of inflicting more trauma, stress, and emotional exhaustion on Black students. In order to succeed and thrive, Black students need vocal and committed antiracist educators who are intentionally creating antiracist spaces for them. The time for faculty to do this work is now because Black students on our campuses are not okay.