Furloughs for Georgia professors?

The AJC reported today that University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll B. Davis told a House budget panel that furloughs may happen for University System employees if drastic spending cuts have to be made quickly. This comes after Davis' statement in January that he was "philosophically opposed" to furloughs.

I found this interesting because in a Jan. 30 article I wrote for The Red & Black, I referenced that very comment and even asked UGA President Michael Adams what he thought of furloughs. At the end of the article, I wrote:

The Board of Regents has no intentions of furloughing higher education employees in the state, Chancellor Erroll B. Davis said to the Georgia General Assembly Appropriations Committee last week. Furloughs place employees on a temporary non-pay and non-duty status during times of low funding.

"It's pretty difficult to furlough professors," Adams said. "We basically have a contract with [students] to teach whatever four or five classes [they] have registered for. We have hired faculty on contract to teach those courses."

"Those are things that unless the Regents were to declare a financial exigency, we have no option but to honor," he said.

© Copyright 2009 The Red and Black

I'm interested to see where this goes. I don't think it's enough to call for a follow-up story, but if more cuts are made soon and the prospect of furloughs grows, then I will suggest running one. I believe the state legislature ends its session next month, so the next budget - and its cuts - should be finalized around then.

I really like working the administration beat. Even though crime was interesting in a voyeuristic kind of way, nothing beats covering pertinent topics that a lot of readers care about.

It's snowing in Georgia!

I usually don't update with non journalism related topics, but it rarely snows in Georgia, so this is warranted.

I haven't seen snow in years and I haven't seen snow stick to the ground in even longer. It's such a pretty sight to see the ground covered in white. It's beautiful.

Here are some of the pictures I've taken today.

My thoughts on the "dying dinosaur"

It made me very sad to see today that The Rocky Mountain News will no longer be publishing. I wrote a paper for one of my classes last spring about the News and the Denver Post's JOA and how each newspaper compared to the other. Though I've never been to Denver and never was able to see the actual print version of the News, I did spend quite a bit of time on its Web site, analyzing its content and looking over its media kit.

It's a difficult time in journalism right now, especially print journalism (particularly newspapers). I'm trying to stay positive and one of my wise former-professors has drilled into my mind that newspapers are some of the most lucrative businesses in the U.S. - it's just the credit hole that they're all in that's making this economic time particularly trying.

As a journalism student looking at my career options come May, the prospects aren't looking too bright. I got a late start due to transferring in the middle of my college career and trying to do in two years what everyone else in my major does in three. I've worked hard to get the writing and editing experience I need, but that might just not be enough. It's competitive out there and even the best and brightest aren't getting jobs right now.

But I believe newspapers will survive. I think their purpose and what they give back to society is too great for them to fail. It's going to be rough, but I think in the end newspapers will come out strong. In the past few months my appetite for news has grown to an almost insatiable level and I find myself constantly checking for the newest headline.

I've begun seeking out more and more news outlets just to find out what is going on in different places. Maybe it's because I'm just becoming a "news junkie" - or maybe it's something else. Maybe others are realizing, too, that this service provided to citizens by journalists is a worthy service and one that cannot die.

It needs to survive.

State lawmakers to debate house bill for commuter rail

So Athens might be getting a commuter rail that links it to Atlanta. This is something that's been talked about for over 20 years and has been in the news at least since 2006.

On Thursday the House Transportation Committee passed a bill which includes a project that could create an Atlanta to Athens commuter rail in 10 years. When my editor told me about this, I figured the best place to start (since there was hardly any information about it in the AJC), was to go straight to the source. I contacted the chairman of the committee and after a little waiting period, was able to talk to him and get some information about the rail.

Click here to read more about what the chairman had to say about the bill.

Policy amendments approved

Yesterday's Educational Affairs Committee meeting taught me a lot. Most notably, that I really need to work on my consolidation/synthesizing skills. I'm still getting used to going into a meeting where multiple subjects are being discussed and being able to come out of it knowing where I want to take the story. It's difficult (definitely not impossible though).

I also bought a new audio recorder over the weekend and was still trying to figure out exactly how to use it, so that didn't help. Note to self: don't put it close to my notepad. The loudest thing I could hear when I went back to listen was my pen scribbling away on the paper. On the whole, I like the article though.

Click here to read about the new policies approved by the Educational Affairs Committee at UGA.

University transitions to new fundraising effort

This article is a a follow-up to President Adams' statement in his State of the University speech, where he mentioned that UGA will be moving from a university-wide fund raising campaign to a unit (or school and college)-based effort.

He also mentioned the transition in a media briefing a little over a week ago, so I wanted to find out what this would mean for the individual schools and colleges. I spoke with representatives from the Terry College of Business and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, two of the larger colleges at UGA.

Click here to read the article and find out what they had to say.

Regents authorize two parking decks

I reported on Jan. 29 that the UGA Real Estate Foundation Board of Trustees voted to enter into a ground lease agreement for two new parking decks at the University, and this article is a follow up to that.

After the Board of Trustees voted to approve that request, they had to send it to the Georgia Board of Regents for the official OK. Yesterday the Regents approved that request, so the two parking decks are beginning construction and are scheduled to be functional and open to students, faculty and staff in the fall.

Click here to read more about what the Regents approved yesterday.

HOPE book money not in immediate jeopardy

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday that HOPE scholars' book money may be in jeopardy because state officials predicted that HOPE and pre-K programs might exceed lottery revenues for the fiscal 2010 year. HOPE is funded by the Georgia lottery and many students at UGA depend on it to pay for their tuition and to help with the cost of textbooks.

University President Michael Adams spoke to the media in a briefing the next day and answered questions about the possibility of students losing their HOPE book allowance. But during the briefing the Georgia House of Representatives passed legislation that will allow students to continue to receive their book allowance, at least for now.

Click here to continue reading and find out what else President Adams had to say on issues pertinent to UGA.

Curriculum reform cuts eight majors

The Executive Committee of UGA's University Council voted Jan. 20 to terminate eight graduate majors and the University Council made those terminations official yesterday.

But the word "termination" is slightly misleading in this context, because students can still receive comparable degrees in different departments, or in some cases the programs were just consolidated to make things easier for the departments.

Click here to read more about the major terminations.

Auxiliary revenues to fund academics

I was able to sit down for an interview with UGA President Michael Adams to talk to him about the university's budget issues. During his State of the University speech last week he said he would ask for auxiliaries to contribute funds to support the university's academic mission. I asked him how he plans to do this and what will happen with the auxiliaries. Click here to read what he had to say.