Capitol Beat
Kemp issues nearly two dozen legislative, budget vetoes
by Dave Williams
Gov. Brian Kemp has been busy exercising his veto pen. The Republican governor has vetoed 14 bills the General Assembly passed during this year’s legislative session, not including nine vetoes of line items in the $32.4 billion fiscal 2024 state budget he signed late last week. The 14 vetoes were highlighted by legislation sponsored by several GOP legislative leaders to establish a needs-based program of tuition grants for Georgia college students. Legislative Democrats have long argued the state should feature needs-based scholarships along with the popular HOPE program, which awards scholarships based on merit. But in his veto message, Kemp wrote that the legislature didn’t put up the money in House Bill 249 to fund the program. …Other bills Kemp vetoed include: …The nine budget line-item vetoes include several projects on Georgia’s public university and technical college campuses to be financed through bonds. In each case, Kemp wrote the projects had not been requested by the University System of Georgia or the Technical College System of Georgia.
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Gwinnett Daily Post
Georgia Gwinnett College wins conference title with 27-run finals outburst
From Staff Reports
The nationally ranked Georgia Gwinnett College baseball team completed a dominating clean sweep of the 2023 Continental Athletic Conference Baseball Championship tournament with a 27-4 victory over Fisher College (Mass.) in Monday’s championship game at the Grizzly Baseball Complex. The Grizzlies (47-5; ranked No. 4 nationally) scored 60 runs across three straight victories to capture their fourth straight conference tournament championship and seventh title overall.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken delivers Georgia Tech commencement address
By Vanessa McCray
America’s top diplomat on Saturday urged Georgia Tech graduates to look to Jimmy Carter as an example of a public servant willing to take a different path. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken repeatedly referenced the former president, who studied at Georgia Tech for a year, in a keynote commencement address.
Albany Herald
Albany State commissions cadets at spring commencement
From staff reports
During the Albany State University Spring Commencement ceremony on Saturday, cadets MaKayla Lindsay, Taliyah Walker and Jordan Johnson were commissioned as second lieutenants into the United States Army. As part of the university’s 2025 Strategic plan, the Standard, ASU’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program, combines academic rigor with leadership development. Students are provided with training and various opportunities to enhance their leadership and management skills as they prepare for a career as an officer in the United States Army. The commissioning ceremony is a milestone event for a cadet’s ROTC career as it marks their official transition from student to leader.
Statesboro Herald
WTOC’s Dawn Baker to keynote East Georgia commencement
From staff reports
WTOC-TV news anchor Dawn Baker will serve as keynote speaker for East Georgia State College’s Spring Commencement Ceremony on Friday, May 12, at 6 p.m. in the gymnasium on the college’s Swainsboro campus. The ceremony will be held in the gymnasium on the college’s Swainsboro campus. Family and friends of the graduates and community members are all invited to attend the event.
Grice Connect
Attending GS Graduation at Paulson? Here are some helpful local tips
DeWayne Grice DeWayne Grice
Congratulations Georgia Southern University Spring 2023 Graduates. We are thrilled you have completed your journey at GS. Hopefully, Statesboro will always be your “second” home as you move forward into the world. We wish each of you tremendous success. For your parents and relatives we have pulled together some helpful information to make your graduation visit a wonderful one. Most of the information we are sharing has been put together by GS University and can be found here. There are nearly 4,000 students graduating during five different ceremonies broken down by colleges. Three of these will be held in Statesboro at Paulson Stadium. Two more will be held in Savannah on Saturday, May 13th at Enmarket Arena.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
KSU appoints dean to distinguished chair in health and wellness
By Nancy Clanton
Monica Swahn, dean of Kennesaw State University’s Wellstar College of Health and Human Services, was recently installed as the Dr. Betty L. Siegel Distinguished Chair in Health and Wellness. “This collaborative and caring culture is not something we can ever take for granted. It must be cultivated and nurtured, and it’s something I treasure every day,” Swahn told KSU News. …Betty Siegel led KSU’s growth from a small state school to one of the largest in Georgia during her 25 years as president, The Atlanta Journal -Constitution’s Eric Stirgus wrote in 2020, when Siegel died.
The Georgia Virtue
Georgia Southern to host 2023 USA Archery Collegiate Target Nationals
By Press
Georgia Southern University’s Shooting Sports Education Center (SSEC) was competitively selected to host the 2023 USA Archery Collegiate Target Nationals, May 18 – 21 at M.C. Anderson Park in Statesboro, Georgia. This event will bring nearly 450 of the top collegiate archers from across the country to Georgia Southern to showcase their skills. The Nationals features competition across the recurve, compound, barebow and fixed pins divisions. The event includes individual qualification round and elimination matches alongside the popular – and spirited – mixed team and team events. The championship event highlights USA Archery’s grassroots initiatives to grow the sport and develop competitive archers.
WALB
South Ga. professor details his research into ticks and the diseases they carry
By Jim Wallace
Ticks are a problem for anything that lives or spends time outdoors, especially when those ticks are disease-carrying. WALB’s Jim Wallace sat down with an assistant professor at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) who spoke on what he’s found studying the parasite.
Athens Banner-Herald
Can’t wait for Halloween? This Athens festival will celebrate all things dark and spooky.
Andrew Shearer
We’ve all experienced it: the overwhelming sadness that comes with seeing half-empty drugstore shelves cleared of discounted Halloween merchandise well in advance of Oct. 31 to make room for the mountain of holiday decorations that signal the end of the all-too-brief spooky season. Thanks to an enterprising University of Georgia junior, ghouls and goblins alike will converge on Saturday at Rabbit Hole Studios for HauntFest Mayhem, an all-night event scheduled from 5 p.m. to midnight that will serve as a celebration of horrors, oddities, and things that go “bump” in the night. …Roseann enrolled in an entrepreneurship program through UGA where students that have a business idea can develop it, test it and earn a certificate. This week’s HauntFest Mayhem event will be one way to prove if the Athens community would attend a year-round spooky attraction.
Athens Banner-Herald
Motion filed to consolidate rape charges against former Georgia football player
Wayne Ford
Former UGA star linebacker Adam Anderson is expected to go on trial this summer on rape charges. The lawyer for former University of Georgia football player Adam Anderson recently filed a motion asking that a rape charge in Oconee County be consolidated with a rape charge Anderson faces in Athens. Anderson’s case is on the trial calendar for late June. In Athens, Anderson, a former star linebacker from Rome, Georgia, who completed his UGA career in 2021 after being suspended, is charged with an October 2021 rape of a 21-year-old woman. Earlier this year, he was indicted in Oconee County for the alleged rape of a 21-year-old woman at an apartment complex near Watkinsville.
Higher Education News:
Higher Ed Dive
Virginia Republicans request higher ed, DEI spending study on public colleges
Laura Spitalniak, Associate Editor
Dive Brief:
Two top Republicans in Virginia’s Legislature want to know how the state can reduce higher education costs, citing concerns over campus positions focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. In a Thursday letter, House Speaker Todd Gilbert and House Majority Leader Terry Kilgore requested the state’s legislative oversight committee investigate the growing cost of Virginia public higher education and “anecdotal reports” from colleges about the increasing number of administrators in DEI positions. The lawmakers suggested the investigation is needed in the wake of enrollment concerns at some of the state’s colleges. But supporters of DEI efforts say the investigation is focused on defanging institutions’ ability to run such programs.
Inside Higher Ed
From Ending Tenure to Enshrining It
Texas’s Senate has passed antitenure, anti-DEI and anti-transgender sports access bills. But they may face stronger opposition in the state’s House of Representatives.
By Ryan Quinn
Last month, Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick called the State Senate’s passage of four higher education bills “the strongest pushback on woke policies in higher education nationwide.” One of these bills was Senate Bill 15, which would ban transgender people from playing on sports teams matching their gender identity. The others were the triad of SB 16, which would force universities to fire professors who “attempt to compel a student” to adopt a belief that any “social, political or religious belief is inherently superior to any other”; SB 17, which would ban what that legislation defines as diversity, equity and inclusion activities; and SB 18, which would end tenure for future professors. The bills would only affect public universities. …“The Texas Senate has now drawn a line in the sand and stated loud and clear that these woke policies will not be tolerated in Texas,” the Republican stated. “I look forward to the swift passage of these bills through the Texas House.”
Inside Higher Ed
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Totals $42 Billion
By Katherine Knott
The Education Department has discharged $42 billion through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program since October 2021, the agency announced Monday. The department temporarily overhauled the program in October 2021, making it easier for eligible borrowers to apply for forgiveness. More than 615,000 borrowers have since received debt relief. At the end of the Trump administration, about 7,000 borrowers had been approved for relief under the PSLF program, according to the news release. The Biden administration has made many of the temporary fixes permanent through new regulations that will take effect July 1.
Inside Higher Ed
‘Huge Sense of Relief’: How New FAFSA Could Help Homeless Students
On the new form, students will have to answer fewer questions about their status as unaccompanied homeless youth. Advocates are hoping the changes make it easier for students to access financial aid but worry about implementation.
By Katherine Knott
Lexi Geampa didn’t think she would be able to go to college. She was couch surfing with friends during her senior year of high school and needed to be verified as an unaccompanied homeless youth in order to receive federal financial aid because she doesn’t have parents to support her. She did eventually receive that determination and enrolled at Oregon State University, where she’s now a sophomore. But, every academic year, she has to reverify her status with college administrators to continue to receive aid, which she said is frustrating. …When Geampa goes to apply for financial aid for her senior year, she won’t have to go through that experience—one of several changes coming to the new version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid that advocates say will make it easier for students who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness to access financial aid. Among other changes, students will have to answer one question instead of the current three about their status, and they won’t have to recertify their status every year.
Inside Higher Ed
Common App Releases Data on Transfer Applications
By Scott Jaschik
The Common Application is today releasing a report on its applications from students who are seeking to transfer, not gain admission for the first time. In the 2021–22 year, the Common App received more than 400,000 transfer applications. Most of the applicants applied to fewer institutions on average (2.25) compared to first-year applicants (6.22).
Inside Higher Ed
A new certification will acknowledge colleges, universities and organizations that do a particularly good job of serving students with children.
By Sara Weissman
Generation Hope, an organization focused on supporting parenting students, is launching a new certification to identify and reward colleges, universities and nonprofits actively supporting students with children. The three-year certification, called the FamilyU Seal, is open to two-year and four-year nonprofit higher ed institutions and organizations that demonstrate a dedication to serving student parents. Applications are due in July, and one standout college or university and one nonprofit organization will also earn cash awards, of $25,000 and $15,000 respectively, with winners to be announced in September. Nicole Lynn Lewis, founder and CEO of Generation Hope, said her organization is frequently asked whether there’s a directory of colleges successfully supporting students with children.