University System News:
Athens CEO
Board of Regents Elects Officers for ‘21
The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) today elected Regent Sachin Shailendra to a second one-year term as the Board’s chair and Regent Cade Joiner to a one-year term as the Board’s vice chair. Regent Shailendra will serve as Board chair from Jan. 1, 2021, through Dec. 31, 2021. Representing the 13th district on the Board of Regents, Shailendra is the founder and president of SG Contracting, Inc. His company has an extensive portfolio of new construction and renovation projects in which he works with property owners, subcontractors, architects and designers. Shailendra has served on the Board since 2014. …Joiner will serve as the Board’s vice chair from Jan. 1, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2021. He is a 2001 marketing graduate from the University of Georgia and the founder of Shred-X Secure Document Destruction, one of the largest independent shredding companies in the Southeast. The company was named as one of the 100 fastest growing businesses in Georgia. Joiner has served on the Board since earlier this year.
Albany Herald
University System of Georgia elects officers
From staff reports
The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia has elected Regent Sachin Shailendra to a second one-year term as the board’s chairman and Regent Cade Joiner to a one-year term as the vice chairman. Shailendra will serve as board chair through Dec. 31, 2021. Representing the 13th district on the Board of Regents, Shailendra is the founder and president of SG Contracting Inc. His company has an extensive portfolio of new construction and renovation projects on which he works with property owners, subcontractors, architects and designers. Shailendra has served on the board since 2014. … Joiner will serve as the board’s vice chair through Dec. 31, 2021. He is a 2001 marketing graduate from the University of Georgia and the founder of Shred-X Secure Document Destruction, one of the largest independent shredding companies in the Southeast. The company was named as one of the 100 fastest growing businesses in Georgia. Joiner has served on the board since earlier this year.
Statesboro Herald
After averaging 61 new cases per day since Aug. 28, 31 recorded Wednesday
From staff reports
After dropping under double-digit new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, Bulloch County saw a bump of 31 cases Wednesday, but Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn said he remains hopeful Bulloch will begin a trend of dwindling coronavirus cases. Despite the jump in cases from nine on Tuesday to 31 on Wednesday, Wynn said the increase was still much better than the 61 new COVID cases per day Bulloch has averaged since Aug. 28. …Georgia Southern
Georgia Southern University has seen a big drop in cases the past three weeks. The school reported 508 cases for the week of Aug. 24–30, 363 for Aug. 31–Sept. 6, and 95 new coronavirus cases on Monday for Sept. 7–13. That number represents an 81% drop from the cases reported Aug. 31. …At East Georgia State College, officials reported 28 cases, both confirmed and self-reported, on the Statesboro campus and 66 cases overall on its three campuses as of Wednesday.
WRDW
How AU is using antibodies to ‘block the front door’ for coronavirus
By Tradesha Woodard
Augusta University Medical Center is working on a new drug that gets antibodies to fight COVID-19. The antibodies will not eliminate the virus but could prevent it from spreading. According to AU Health infectious disease expert Dr. Jose Vazquez, antibodies could be a new treatment for people with active coronavirus infections. “They are called neutralizing antibodies. What they do is they neutralize the virus,” Vazquez said.
WFXG
Colleges face COVID-19 concerns
By Danielle Ledbetter
Multiple reports indicate colleges are becoming COVID-19 hot spots. Augusta University says they’ve noticed that trend but that they’re fairing pretty well. Augusta University medicine professor, Dr. Roger MacArthur says compared to the numbers they’re seeing in Clarke County, which is where Athens is. MacArthur cites multiple roommates and student parties as the cause of these outbreaks. He thinks Augusta University has been successful so far because they’ve planned for months. The university says they have social distance reminders all around campus and lecture halls only filled to forty percent capacity.
Tifton CEO
Garrett Boone on ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture Response to COVID-19
Director of ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture Garrett Boone talks about following the guidelines to allow for a safe reopening.
WGAU
UGA reaffirmed as Innovation and Economic Prosperity University
By Tyler Wilkins
The University of Georgia has been reaffirmed as an Innovation and Economic Prosperity University by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. The Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) designation recognizes institutions that demonstrate a substantive, sustainable and institution-wide commitment to and strategy for regional economic engagement, growth and economic opportunity. UGA was one of only 16 universities in the country to receive the initial designation in 2013. “This recognition by APLU is a symbol of the University of Georgia’s national leadership among land-grant institutions,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “I commend our faculty, staff and students for their hard work and commitment to strengthening the state of Georgia through innovation and economic development.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UGA under pressure to allow in-person early voting on campus
By Greg Bluestein
School will review its policy amid pushback
Student groups, politicians and one of the state’s top elections officials urged the University of Georgia to reverse course Wednesday and allow early voting on campus, prompting the school to review its policy. School spokesman Greg Trevor said late Wednesday that UGA is “more than willing” to consider Stegeman Coliseum or another site that’s approved by local elections officials and the Secretary of State’s office. The outrage followed a Wednesday statement from UGA Votes, a student-led voting rights group, that it was “deeply saddened” that the school would not allow on-campus, in-person voting at a student center over concerns social distancing would be unenforceable.
The Red & Black
UGA faces criticism for not allowing on-campus early voting at Tate Student Center
Evan Lasseter | Contributor
The University of Georgia’s decision to not allow in-person early voting at Tate Student Center drew criticism from the UGA and Athens communities after UGA Votes, a student-led voter engagement group that hosted on-campus voting for the 2016 and 2018 elections, announced the decision on Wednesday morning. UGA released two statements later Wednesday in response to social media criticism. The first statement noted concerns about “long voting lines and insufficient indoor space” to safely conduct in-person voting at the Tate Center amid the coronavirus pandemic. The second stated that UGA was “more than willing to make a safer site” available if approved by the Secretary of State and local election office.
The Georgia Sun
Clayton State University to get $30,000 data analytics lab
Clayton State University has received a $30,000 gift thanks to the generosity of the SunTrust Trusteed Foundations: Nell Warren Elkin and William Simpson Elkin Foundation. The gift will expand computer science and information technology education at Clayton State through the development of a data analytics lab. The lab will host a big data processing platform and software focusing on data mining, machine learning, cybersecurity and cyber forensics.
Patch
‘Hamilton’ Musical Prompts Discussion During Constitution Week At UNG
Fans of the Broadway musical “Hamilton” and experts on the U.S. Constitution will join forces to celebrate the Founding Fathers and commemorate the nation’s founding document during Constitution Week at the University of North Georgia (UNG). UNG President Bonita Jacobs2 issued a proclamation marking Sept. 17 as Constitution Day at the university in honor of the 233 anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. “UNG commemorates this historic day through educational activities and by encouraging civic engagement among our students, faculty and staff,” Jacobs said in the proclamation.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OPINION: A generation endured test-centric schooling. Did it help?
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Teachers and students ought to focus on genuinely interesting work to better understand world at large
Those who have followed school reform in Georgia will recognize the name Carl Glickman. A professor emeritus of the University of Georgia Mary Frances Early College of Education, Glickman is author of the noted 1993 book, “Renewing America’s Schools,” along with 15 other books on school leadership, democracy and the moral imperative of public education. Twenty years ago in Georgia, when an education reform committee crisscrossed the state in search of good ideas, Glickman was among the experts consulted. His advice was not always followed, including his cautions to the committee not to overinflate the value of test scores or base promotion on a single exam. …Now, Glickman and Ian Mette, an associate professor at the University of Maine, have co-written a new book, “The Essential Renewal of America’s Schools: A Leadership Guide for Democratizing Schools from the Inside Out.” In this guest column, the education researchers discuss the impact of testing and offer a template for schooling that could foster a more profound, decent and intelligent democracy. By Ian Mette and Carl Glickman…
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Sept. 16)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
DEATHS: 6,419 | Deaths have been confirmed in all counties but one (Taliaferro). County is determined by the patient’s residence, when known, not by where they were treated.
CONFIRMED CASES: 299,056 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
Higher Education News:
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
by Sara Weissman
Last Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Education issued its final rule on religious liberty and free inquiry, which details protections for faith-based institutions and religious student groups at public universities and seeks to bolster campus free speech. The rule reflects – and sometimes contradicts – a fraught, growing body of case law about religion and free speech in higher education. The final rule, which came after 17,000 public comments, requires universities to give equal treatment to religious student groups, which means equal access to university facilities, recognition and funding from student fees, among other things. The rule also defines what it means to be a religious higher education institution so that these schools can continue to be officially exempted from adhering to Title IX where it conflicts with a religious creed. Plus, it reaffirms that these institutions can benefit from department grant programs, so long as the funding isn’t going to religious instruction, worship or proselytization.
Inside Higher Ed
The Big Ten, a big-time college football conference, reversed its decision to postpone fall sports and will resume football on Oct. 23, citing changed medical evidence and improved testing protocols.
By Greta Anderson
For several weeks, it appeared that the Big Ten Conference would weather waves of criticism from athletes, parents, football coaches, state governors and federal officials and stick with its original decision to postpone fall sports because of the pandemic and consider spring competition instead. But the league announced Wednesday that it would instead begin football competition in October, a reversal that college crisis analysts and athletic experts found surprising and potentially damaging to the conference and its institutions’ reputations.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Vimal Patel
The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor faculty has flirted with voting no confidence in its president a few times in the institution’s 200-year history. In 1954, faculty members wrist-slapped President Harlan H. Hatcher’s handling of the dismissal of a trio of professors for their alleged Communist affiliations. Most recently, in 2002, they threatened a no-confidence vote over a faculty grievance process. But it appears they always stopped short of using the ultimate — albeit symbolic — faculty admonishment tool.
That changed on Wednesday — well, maybe. During a meeting attended by more than 2,000 faculty members — an eye-popping number that’s the product of both inflamed passions and the ease of attendance in the Zoom era — 957 faculty members voted in favor of a motion of no confidence in President Mark S. Schlissel for his handling of the university’s reopening, narrowly edging out the 953 who voted against it. But it was unclear on Wednesday night whether the motion had passed, because 184 faculty members abstained. If an abstention counts as a negative vote — and that’s how a senate secretary said it works, to the uproar of many faculty members — the motion failed because it didn’t get majority support.