ATLANTA – Eight Southern state chapters of a national organization of university professors are asking the University System of Georgia to rescind changes in tenure policies they argue would essentially abolish the tenure system.
The system’s Board of Regents voted in October to replace a system that permits professors to be fired only for a specific cause following a peer review with a system that lets professors be dismissed if they fail to take corrective steps following two consecutive subpar reviews.
“The board’s new procedure for post-tenure review exposes faculty to censorship, ideological bias and notoriously fickle criteria like student evaluations and ‘performance,’ ” leaders of the eight state chapters of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Awrote in a letter Wednesday to Teresa MacCartney, the university system’s acting chancellor.
“When implemented, the University System of Georgia will no longer have tenure and, therefore, meaningful academic freedom will cease to exist.”
The letter went on to warn that the new policy will discourage professors from wishing to come to Georgia and motivate those already in the system to leave.
The changes in post-tenure review, which will apply to all 26 of the system’s colleges and universities except Georgia Gwinnett College, emerged from the recommendations of a working group formed in September of last year.
The goal of the changes was to ensure faculty members continue to do their jobs well after they have achieved tenure, the regents wrote in a prepared statement following the October vote.
But about 1,500 professors on university system campuses signed a petition opposing the changes.
The national AAUP is conducting an investigation of the changes that could lead the group to censure the university system. A report is expected before the end of the year.
The chapters signing onto the letter represented the Southern states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Oklahoma.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Democrat Stacey Abrams launched a long-anticipated bid for Georgia governor Wednesday, potentially pitting her in a rematch of her 2018 race against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
Abrams, a former Georgia House minority leader from Atlanta, posted a video Wednesday titled “One Georgia” pledging to work for all Georgians regardless of where they live.
“Opportunity in our state shouldn’t be determined by your zip code, background or access to power,” she said.
“If our Georgia is going to move to its next and greatest chapter, we’re going to need leadership … that knows how to do the job, leadership that doesn’t take credit without also taking responsibility, that understands the pain folks are feeling and has real plans.”
In a news release announcing her candidacy, Abrams accused Kemp of undermining Georgians’ right to vote, failing to expand Medicaid, underfunding the state’s education system and failing to show leadership during the coronavirus pandemic.
After losing to Kemp in a close race three years ago, Abrams founded the voting-rights group Fair Fight Action, which has helped her keep a high profile.
She was on the list of potential vice-presidential nominees President Joe Biden considered last year before picking then-U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California for that role.
Abrams also has made a number of public appearances across the country, fueling speculation that she might run for president.
Abrams had been widely expected to challenge Kemp’s bid for a second term in the Governor’s Mansion.
In fact, she may have a smoother path to her party’s nomination than Kemp, who has been criticized in Republican circles for refusing to help former President Donald Trump reverse the outcome of last year’s presidential contest in Georgia.
Kemp already faces a primary challenge from former state Rep. Vernon Jones, while there’s been open speculation former U.S. Sen. David Perdue will get in the Republican race.
The Republican Governors Association (RGA), which supports Kemp, greeted Abrams’ entry into the gubernatorial contest by accusing her of ulterior motives.
“Stacey Abrams is once again using Georgia to boost her own star while she plots a path toward her real career goal: president of the United States,” RGA spokeswoman Maddie Anderson said.
“Over the past four years, Governor Kemp has exhibited courageous leadership for Georgians and guided his state through a turbulent time. Stacey Abrams spent her time touring the country in search of fame and fortune.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A Georgia man pleaded guilty Wednesday to assaulting two law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Kevin Douglas Creek, 47, of Alpharetta, faces up to eight years in prison, three years of supervised probation and a $250,000 fine.
According to federal court documents, Creek struck the left hand of an officer from the Metropolitan Washington, D.C., police department. The officer was holding a baton at the time.
Creek than pushed and kicked a U.S. Capitol Police officer. Both assaults took place in the West Terrace area of the Capitol.
The attack on the Capitol took place following a rally headlined by then-President Donald Trump. It disrupted a joint session of the U.S. House and Senate, which were counting the Electoral College votes from the November 2020 presidential election that certified Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
In the 10 months since Jan. 6, more than 675 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the attack, including more than 210 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers.
Creek was arrested back in June. He remains free pending sentencing, which is scheduled to take place March 10.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has filed a lawsuit to prod the Justice Department into acting on a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request the state agency submitted last summer.
The request sought information on any communications the Biden administration may have had with prominent liberal groups concerning a Justice Department lawsuit challenging the election law reforms the General Assembly passed last March.
Other than confirmations of receipt, the state has received no response to the FOIA request.
“Considering how blatantly political the Biden lawsuit against Georgia’s common-sense election law was from the beginning, it’s no surprise they would stonewall our request for basic transparency,” Raffensperger said Wednesday.
The administration’s lawsuit, filed in June, claimed Georgia’s election reform law violated the federal Voting Rights Act by discriminating against Black voters.
The new law replaces the signature-match verification process for absentee ballots with an ID requirement. It also restricts the location of absentee ballot drop boxes.
“The provisions we are challenging reduce access to absentee voting at each step of the process, pushing more Black voters to in-person voting, where they will be more likely than white voters to encounter long lines,” Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general overseeing the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said at the time.
Raffensperger’s legal complaint charges the Justice Department stonewalling “is depriving plaintiffs and the public of vital information needed to determine the extent to which and by what methods the government is colluding or conspiring with outside entities to carry out a political agenda.”
The complaint specifically names 62 outside individuals and entities, including Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group founded by 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams; the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
It also argues that states including Delaware, New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland and Wisconsin have similar election rules yet are not being sued by the feds.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Toll lanes on the Northwest Corridor (left) are an example of highway improvements that could lift Georgia in future rankings.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s highway system ranks 14th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition, according to a new study.
The Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based libertarian think tank, in its Annual Highway Report placed Georgia near the bottom in urban fatality rate but ranked the Peach State No. 1 in condition of urban arterial highways and third in condition of rural arterial roads.
“Georgia spends around the national average on its highway system, but this spending is being effectively used to produce high-quality pavement conditions and well-maintained bridges,” the report stated.
“One of the state’s biggest weaknesses – urban traffic congestion – is being addressed by building a network of variably-priced managed lanes in metro Atlanta that could improve the state’s traffic congestion in future reports.”
In safety and performance categories, Georgia ranked 28th in overall fatality rate, seventhin structurally deficient bridges, 34th in traffic congestion, 16th in urban Interstate pavement condition, and 23rd in rural Interstate pavement condition.
Georgia spends $66,994 per state-controlled mile of highway, 20th in total spending per mile and 19th in capital and bridge costs per mile.
Georgia’s highways compare favorably to the neighboring states of Florida, Alabama and South Carolina but placed behind North Carolina and Tennessee.
Georgia ranked high among the nation’s most populous states, easily besting California, New York, Illinois and Florida, and ranking just ahead of Texas.
“To improve in the report’s overall rankings, Georgia could reduce its urban fatality rate and urban traffic congestion,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, the report’s lead author and senior managing director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation.
“The state made progress reducing its administrative costs and improving rural arterial pavement quality leading to a 12-spot improvement in the rankings.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
