70th year : a brief history, 1932-2002 : Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

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H5 A Brief Histor
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Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia
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Uluversities University of Georgia Georgia School of Technology Medical College of Georgia
Senior Colleges Georgia State College of Agriculture
and the Mechanic Arts Georgia State Teachers College Georgia State College for Women Georgia State Woman's College Georgia State College for Men South Georgia Teachers' College
Junior Colleges North Georgia College Middle Georgia College South Georgia College
Experiment Stations Georgia Experiment Station Georgia Coastal Plains Experiment Station
A&M Schools 4th District A&M School 7th District A&M School 8th District A&M School 9th District A&M School 10th District A&M School Bowden State Normal and Industrial College State Agricultural & Normal College Georgia Industrial College The Georgia Vocational & Trade School
Colleges for Blacks Georgia State Industrial College Agricultural, Industrial & Normal College State Teachers & Agricultural College

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Chancellors of the University System of Georgia: Charles M. Snelling, 1932-33 Philip Weltner, 1933-35 Steadman V. Sanford, 1935-45 Raymond R. Paty, 1946-48 l-Iarmon W. Caldwell, 1949-64 George L. Simpson, 1965-79 Vernon Crawford, 1979-85 I-I. Dean Propst, 1985-1993 Stephen R. Portch, 1994-2001 Thomas C. Meredith, 2002-present
I n January 2002, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia marks the 70th anniversary of the beginning of official business - a fitting time to review the triumphs and challenges that have shaped the lives of countless Georgians over the past seven decades.

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A Brief History Iv:Y'm

For nearly 220 years, Georgia has invested in public higher education. Such an investment hasn't always been easy. The history of higher learning in Georgia is one of struggle and accomplishment, of setbacks and achievements - of conflict and compromise. It is a story of how ideas and philosophies and personalities interacted to forge a system serving the needs of a populace as diverse as Georgia's topography.

The history of public higher education in Georgia is

best defined in two eras. The first is the 147-year peri-

od before the creation of the Board of Regents in 1932

- a time when the term "higher education" was syn-

onymous with a single insti-

The history of higher

tution, the University of Georgia. During that period,

learning in Georgia is one of struggle and accomplishment,

all postsecondary efforts in the state revolved around the university in Athens. It was from this flagship insti-

of setbacks and achievements -

tution that a foundation was built and a system grew.

of conflict and compromise.

The second era brings us from 1932 to the present - a period of significant growth

in public higher education

and an era of unified gover-

nance and policy setting. Public higher education now

encompasses 34 colleges and universities, ranging from

two-year colleges to doctorate-granting research univer-

sities. All are governed by a single body: the Board of

Regents. With the 2000 U.S. Census results, the board

will grow to total 18 regents, all appointed by the gover-

nor. Thirteen are selected from Georgia' congressional

districts and five are at-large members. Additionally,

three officers serve the board: the University System

chancellor, the board's secretary, and the treasurer.

The Birth of a University

T he roots of the University of Georgia go back to 1784, when the Georgia General Assembly set aside 40,000 acres of land in two new counties, Franklin and Washington, for the specific purpose of starting a "college or seminary for learning." The follOWing year, the lawmakers had one. A man named Abraham Baldwin, a tutor from Yale University and later a U.S. Senator, drafted a charter for what was to become Franklin College (indirectly named for Benjamin

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Franklin). On January 27, 1785, the General Assembly approved the charter. The first seeds were sown.
With the inception of Franklin College, Georgia became the first state in the South to charter a state university. The school grew slowly at first, mostly because Georgia was an agricultural state where planting crops took top priority. After the Civil War, state legislators came to recognize the value of better schools, but attention first had to be directed toward rebuilding Georgia's ravaged economy. Improvements in education would have to wait.
Nevertheless, Franklin College acquired in 1867 the Lumpkin Law School, a private school named for Judge Joseph Lumpkin - a man who, ironically, once turned down the presidency of Franklin College. As the first professional school in the state, Lumpkin Law School proved a valuable addition and added prestige to the college. Soon thereafter the college was renamed the University of Georgia.
While the acquisition of a law school in 1867 was helpful, nothing benefited the university more than a document passed by the Georgia Assembly 10 years later. The Constitution of 1877 gave all money for education (with the exception of the "elementary branches of an English education") to the University of Georgia. The constitution also paved the way for the establishment of four extensions to the university.
These four branches were created over the next 30 years, and people living in Atlanta, Milledgeville, Savannah and Valdosta were given a chance to attend college locally. The names and purposes were diverse, too: the School of Technology (now Georgia Institute of Technology) was founded in Atlanta, 1885; the Georgia Normal and Industrial College for Girls (now Georgia College & State University) was founded in Milledgeville, 1889; the Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youths (now Savannah State University) was founded in Savannah, 1890; and the South Georgia Normal School (now Valdosta State University) was founded in Valdosta, 1906.
The State Gets Involved
With the passage of congressional legislation in 1890, Georgia was getting two-thirds of its education funds from the federal government. By 1906, the General \ssembly had become more involved in postsecondary education by establishing 10 A&M schools -

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one in each congressional district. These schools were additional branches of the University of Georgia, falling under the umbrella of the university's College'of Agriculture; thus, all funds were appropriated to the university for allocation to the various institutions.
While beneficial to many, the AMi[ schools had their share of problems. Their course offerings were not really postsecondary, but rather at the high-school level. Also complicating matters was the fact that each had a president and board of trustees.
Over the next three decades, the higher education picture in Georgia became even more confusing. The University of Georgia now had its own campus in Athens, four branches across the state and 10 A&},t[ schools. At the same time, a number of junior colleges blossomed in locales across the state. By 1930, some 26 institutions were clamoring for funds from the General Assembly. It seemed no one person or group of persons knew where all of the schools were located or how they operated or what courses were being taught. Adding to the chaos were other factors - namely, the state's low rate of taxation and the economic downturn after World War 1. Something had to be done.
The cry for reform was not first heard in 1930, however. Nine years earlier, Gov. Thomas Hardwick had presented a plan to the General Assembly that called for the restructuring of higher education in Georgia. Specifically, the plan proposed substituting the separate boards of trustees with a seven-member Board of Regents to govern the University of Georgia and its branches. Although a good idea, the plan lacked detail and fell victim to a legislative tug-of-war in the House and Senate chambers.
Little changed as the 1920s faded, but at the end of the decade the need for reform had become painfully evident. Charles M. Snelling, the University of Georgia's chief executive, agreed it was time to reorganize, as the branches had begun to drain the school of its resources. M.L. Brittain, who presided over the School of Technology in Atlanta, argued that too many schools weakened everybody. If the present system were to continue, Brittain contended, "we'll ruin every hope for Georgia to hold up her head with her sister commonwealths in the field of higher education."
Talk turned to action in 1929. Gov. Lamartine G. Hardman appointed a commission headed by Atlanta businessman Ivan Allen to study the complex bureau-

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cracies in state government. In a report, the commission found that the state needed to "centralize" its financial management and reorganize the system of higher education under a Board of Regents. According to the commission's report, the newly created board would solicit an appropriation from the General Assembly and distribute it based on needs and education priorities.

The next year, Atlanta attorney Philip Weltner drafted a bill based on the commission's recommendations. While the measure cleared the state Senate, it failed to pass in the House. It would take nothing less than the governor's race that year to bring higher education to the front lines of public consciousness.

A New Day

O ne man seized upon the Allen Commission's report as a major campaign issue: Richard B. Russell, Jr. Formerly the Speaker of the House, Russell based his gubernatorial platform on reforming state government, and chief among his aims was reforming the management of higher education. Shortly after his eleCtion, he appointed a joint legislative committee to study reorganization. The result of the committee's efforts was the Reorganization Act of 1931 -legislation that marked the turning point for higher education in the state.

The new law simplified

state government and called The Reorganization

for the creation of an 11member Board of Regents to oversee a University System

Act of 1931 marked the turning point for

of Georgia. Ten of the mem- higher education

bers were to come from congressional districts in

in the state.

the state and the 11th was

to serve at large; the governor was to sit on the board

as an ex officio member. The 10 members from the

districts were to serve six-year terms each, while the

at-large member served a term concurrent with the

governor's term.

The new Board of Regents included a group of Georgia's outstanding leaders - household names in the state: Hughes Spalding, Cason Callaway, Richard B. Russell, Sr., M.D. Dickerson, A. Pratt Adams, W.J. Vereen, T.F. Green, Martha Berry, W.D. Anderson, George C. Woodruff and Philip Weltner. The composition of this first board set a high standard that has last-

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ed throughout the board's 70-year history: a strong Board of Regents made up of the state's most prestigious individuals. The new board first met on December 14, 1931. Five committees were established at the meeting, and after some formalities the regents adjourned.
The next meeting, however, was different. On January 1 and 2, 1932, the board got right to work, meeting no less than 30 hours. William Anderson was named chairman, Philip Weltner was elected vice chairman and Charles Snelling was appointed the first chancellor of the University System. The regents drafted a Statement of Plan, which dictated a shift in emphasis from individual institutions to the interests of the state as a whole.
But perhaps the most significant action emerging from the regents' first meeting involved the University of Georgia, which had been the lone guiding force of higher education in the state. At the time, there was intense competition between UGA, the State College of Agriculture and the State Teachers College in Statesboro. After much discussion, the board voted to break down UGA into seven schools, keep the State College of Agriculture a separate but cooperative entity and leave the State Teachers College as it was.
Immediately, the board found itself facing other formidable problems. The core curriculum in the System had been poorly planned and was, in many instances, repetitive. There were debts, too - a deficit of more than $1 million - and rampant disorganization. Moreover, the power of the regents was limited; they lacked the authority to request lump-sum appropriations from the legislature, and although they were allowed to create institutions they had no power to disband existing ones.
Such problems took time to solve, but the first years proved helpful. In 1933, the General Assembly passed a bill that gave the board power to operate the System as it saw fit through eliminating or rearranging institutions. The new law also discontinued the practice of giving separate appropriations to the schools and charged the regents with the responsibility of dividing a single appropriation.
I-laving secured the support of the legislature, the regents set about reorganizing the System. The 10 A&M schools were abolished, as were the Bowdon State Normal and Industrial College and the Georgia State

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College for Men. All engineering courses were transferred to the Georgia School of Technology in Atlanta, and that institution's School of Commerce was established separately in Atlanta for mostly adult education. The School of Veterinary Medicine at UGA was abolished, North Georgia College became a junior college and two new junior colleges - Abraham Baldwin at Tifton and West Georgia at Carrollton - were established. The University System was now made up of 18 institutions and had a solid universal curriculum of survey courses.

Conflicts with the Governor

While the board was off to a good start, it wasn't long before it faced its first crisis. The year 1934 brought the re-election of Eugene Talmadge as governor, and soon the board encountered a contlict with the state's chief executive. In January, the regents received a list of conditions which, if met, qualified them for a $3.57 million Public Works Administration loan. The board had applied for the money in December 1933 to build and renovate structures at some of the schools.

A staunch conservative, Talmadge opposed the idea of federal funds - New Deal money - going to the board, and he succeeded in getting the state legislature to prohibit the regents from borrowing the money. A conciliatory $1 million appropriation from the General Assembly did not soothe the board's wounds, and in June 1935, Chancellor Philip Weltner resigned in protest. He was replaced by former University of Georgia President Steadman V. Sanford.

The biggest clash came ... when Talmadge's involvement with the Board resulted in a political upheaval, the loss of accreditation for 10 University System schools and, ultimately, the loss of the governorship.

The conflict over the PWA loan was only the beginning of a period of major confrontation between the governor and the Board of Regents. The biggest clash came a few years later, when Talmadge's involvement with the board resulted in a political upheaval, the loss of accreditation for 10 University System schools, and ultimately, the loss of the governorship.

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In 1941, a secretary at the University of Georgia made a sworn statement that Dr. vValter Cocking, dean of the university's department of education, advocated the coeducation of whites and blacks. At the May 30 meeting, Talmadge asked the board to fire Cocking, who by all accounts was a capable and effective administrator. The regents, many of whom wanted to appease the governor, at first voted 8-4 to fire Cocking, but reconsidered when UGA President Harmon Caldwell threatened to resign in protest. The board said Cocking would be allowed to answer charges at a special executive session hearing two weeks later.
Cocking appeared before the regents on June 16, defended himself, and was exonerated by an 8-7 vote. The decision to let him stay infuriated Talmadge, and he again vowed to have Cocking fired. Almost immediately, the governor undertook the task of "packing the board." He demanded the resignations of three of his appointees, regents Sandy Beaver, Miller Bell and Ormonde Hunter. They refused, but Talmadge managed to coerce two other appointees, regents Clark Howell and Lucien Goodrich, to resign. According to the 1941 Annual Report, "the Board of Regents was reconstituted for the specific purpose of serving the governor's will," and the new board voted to replace Regent Bell with another Talmadge appointee.
With a new, more sympathetic board, Talmadge again moved to try Cocking, as well as terminate Marvin Pittman, the highly respected president of Georgia State Teachers College (now Georgia Southern University). Pittman had incurred the wrath of a professor at the college, a recently demoted friend of Talmadge. He also had angered another Talmadge acquaintance, the city clerk of Statesboro, and Pittman soon found himself on the governor's hit list with Cocking. The hearing before the board on July 14 was, according to witnesses, a "mockery of democratic procedure." By a 10-5 vote, Cocking and Pittman were removed.
The Cocking Affair had caught the attention of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools - an accreditation body that had been monitoring other incidents in the System, such as the board's firing of Vice Chancellor J. Curtis Dixon and seven other instructors and administrators. By the end of the year, SACS had held a convention, at which its 400 delegates voted unanimously to strip 10 University System schools of their accreditation.

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New leadership committed to preserving a strong

University System came in the form of Ellis Arnall, the

young and aggressive state attorney general. In 1942,

Arnall set his sights on the governorship and decided

to run against Talmadge on a

platform that included removing the University

New state leadership

System from political inter-

committed to

ference. He won the election, and in August 1943 succeeded in securing passage of a

preserving a strong University System

constitutional amendment in came in the form of

the General Assembly that

Ellis Arnall.

gave the board constitutional

status. The accreditation of

the 10 System schools was later restored, and the

regents rehired Pittman as president of the Statesboro

school. The events signaled a new beginning for the

board.

After the War

While America was at war from 1941 to 1945, the University System had to adapt to conditions at home. Enrollment during those years fell drastically, from 13,736 in 1940 to 6,496 (civilian) in 1944. The drop in enrollment brought a financial crunch as well, since the institutions received most of their revenue from student fees. The regents also changed the curriculum somewhat to accommodate those students called into service, in many instances making exceptions to certain graduation requirements.

Following World War II, Congress passed a GI Bill, a piece of legislation that gave student financial aid to those who had served in the war. With the bill, college enrollment across the country boomed - up to 25,000 for the University System in 1947, half of whom were veterans. The sudden influx of students brought a need for new programs, buildings and equipment, and just after the war Chancellor Sanford became a driving force behind a new expansion program for the System. He also stressed the need for more agriculture and graduate research in sciences, technology and liberal arts.

Although Sanford initiated rebuilding efforts in the System, he was unable to see them carried out. During a presentation at the board's September 1945 meeting, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Three days later he was dead. Sanford was replaced, temporarily, by former

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board Chairman Marion Smith until a permanent replacement could be found.

A few months later, a new chancellor was appointed:

Raymond R. Paty, former president of the University of Alabama and a respected academician. Paty's term as

chancellor was brief - only two years - but during his

administration construction began on a School of

Veterinary Medicine at UGA and a School of Textile

_ Engineering at Georgia Tech. On October 15, 1948,

The calm of the 1950s was not to last. The dawning of the 1960s

he tendered his resignation to the board to take a public relations position with Rich's department store.

signaled the beginning of an explosive decade for higher education in the United States, and in

Paty was replaced by Harmon W. Caldwell, who at the time was president of the University of Georgia. Caldwell was the third chief officer at UGA to become

Georgia as well.

chancellor of the University System, and he presided

_ over a decade of slow but steady growth in the 1950s.
Although enrollment in that period remained fairly

constant - those enrolled under the GI Bill had gradu-

ated, and the Baby Boom generation had not yet

reached college age - the Fifties did bring a marked

increase in building projects and faculty salaries.

At the outset, professor salaries in the System averaged $4,221, or 12.5 percent below other southeastern states; by the end of the decade, the average salary was up to $6,235. As for building projects, the regents spent some $79 million on new construction - a figure that didn't include government-sponsored structures such as the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Hospital at the Medical College of Georgia. A special repair and rehabilitation fund for older buildings also was established.

The calm of the 1950s was not to last, however. The dawning of the 1960s signaled the beginning of an explosive decade for higher education in the United States, and in Georgia as well.

Color Barrier at UGA is Broken

J ust before the opening gavel of the 1961 session of the Georgia General Assembly, two students took the first steps toward integration of the University System.

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Hamilton Holmes, a 19-year-old student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, and Charlayne Hunter, an 18-yearold student at Wayne State College in Detroit, attempted to enroll in classes at the University of Georgia. Both were denied entry at first, but Judge William A. Bootie of the U.S. District Court in Macon forbade the university to refuse their applications for reasons of color. On January 7, 1961, the two were admitted.
What followed was a period of tension at the university and in the statehouse. Citing a state law that disallowed funds to integrated institutions, Governor Ernest Vandiver closed the university. The Board of Regents, along with some members of the state legislature, opposed the closing - as did Judge BootIe. The next day, Bootie ordered the restoration of funds to UGA, and at the same time the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request by Gov. Vandiver that the admission of the two students be delayed.
Judge BootIe's decision brought almost immediate campus-wide opposition. A demonstration of 2,000 students and townspeople led to the expulsion of the two students on January 11, since their safety could not be assured. However, Judge BootIe ordered Holmes and Hunter reinstated the next day, and he charged Gov. Vandiver with the responsibility for their protection.
The governor complied with the judge's order. To restore calm, Board of Regents Chairman Robert O. Arnold banned visitors and newsmen from the Athens campus for a while. That same week, four other blacks announced their intentions to apply to Georgia Tech. The integration of the University System of Georgia had indeed begun.
The 1960s also saw rapid enrollment growth in Georgia's public colleges and universities as the Baby Boom generation graduated from high school. Officials in the University System and members of the Board of Regents wanted these graduates to have a chance to go to college, and with the help of federal funds they created eight additional junior colleges from 1960 to 1970. Students now could attend college in such places as Dalton and Brunswick. As a result, enrollment in the System tripled during the decade.
One other significant event occurred during this period. On July 1, 1964, Chancellor I-Iarmon W. Caldwell retired after 36 years in public education in Georgia. He was temporarily replaced by S. Walter Martin, the System's vice chancellor at the time. A few
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months later, the board unanimously elected a new chancellor: George L. Simpson, an official with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Washington. Dr. Martin later became president of Valdosta State College.
The Seventies Under Simpson
For the first five years, Simpson concentrated on helping the University System cope with the booming enrollments of the Sixties. But as the decade passed into the 1970s, the task of managing the System became more formidable. Soon the enrollment and building explosions ceased, and the board and the chancellor found themselves working to continually upgrade a network of colleges and universities growing at a steady, if slower, pace.
This meant changes in the System. Some of them were academic, such as the Rising Junior Test policy (later named the Regents Exam) approved in November 1972; it tested sophomores on reading and writing skills. Others were more structural, such as an agreement with the state board for Vocational Education that provided vocational education at some public junior colleges.
None of the changes, however, was as sweeping as the movement to desegregate the University System. Although it had been 10 years since the University of Georgia took the first steps toward integration, more had to be done. As of 1974, almost half of the 12,500 black students in the System still were attending the three traditional black institutions - Savannah State, Albany State and Fort Valley State. In a process that involved the federal courts and the U.S. government, the Board of Regents worked to develop a policy that provided for the fair accommodation of all students.
The movement to accelerate desegregation can be traced to 1970, when the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) notified Chancellor Simpson of a need to "improve efforts of eliminating patterns of segregation." In his reply to OCR, the chancellor noted that some improvements had been made - indeed, minority faculty had increased eight-fold in five years - but that the priorities in the Sixties had been controlling and managing the enormous growth.
As enrollment and building growth in the System settled down in the early Seventies, more attention was given to desegregation. Within a period of five days in

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1973, the board was directed by two different authorities to come up with specific strategies for integration. The first came on March 22, when U.S. District Court Judge Wilbur D. Owens ordered the regents to submit a suitable integration plan for all-black Fort Valley State College. His directive came on the heels of a lawsuit filed by 29 parents of white students in the Fort Valley area, who charged college administrators and the board with failing to preserve racial equality and high academic standards at the institution.

The second order came March 27 from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare and, like the first, was borne out of a litigation. In 1970, a suit was filed against HEW to bring about desegregation. Though Georgia was not named specifically in the suit, HEW officials felt revisions needed to be made in the state's policy.

Tackling Desegregation

On June 11,1973, a desegregation plan for the entire University System was submitted to HEW. Less than a month later, a separate plan was filed specifically for Fort Valley State College. Though not without merit, both plans failed to satisfy the authorities.

In November 1973, HEW officials announced that the board's statewide plan showed "significant progress" but added that more "detailed information concerning the basis for projections" was needed. In other words, the department believed the plan demonstrated marked improvement, but it wanted more goals, more details, submitted by June 1, 1974.

Likewise, the Fort Valley desegregation plan encoun-

tered opposition. On March

13, 1974, Judge Owens

remanded it back to the regents and ordered them to "consider" further action such as the involuntary

While HEW found the Board's desegregation plan

transfer of faculty members acceptable,

within the institutions. Shortly after his decision,

the courts did not.

the board formed a special

committee of five regents, members of the staff and

representatives from the state attorney generals' office

to study the plan and prepare a response. At its meet-

ing the follOWing month, the regents voted to keep the

original Fort Valley plan, saying it suffiCiently met the

needs of that institution.

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Still active, however, was the issue of Systemwide

alumni and representative citizens of Georgia.

desegregation. On Ivlay 20, 1974, the board adopted a revised plan that answered all of HEW's 43 suggested actions, and the department accepted the plan two months later. Among the items included were a "clearinghouse" for new System employees, a panel for investigating incidents of possible discrimination and a

Vernon Crawford served as chancellor for five years. But while he was primarily charged with the responsibility of maintaining the strength of the system, which turned 50 years old in 1982, the Crawford years brought some important accomplishments.

statewide task force to establish specific goals and

The System added many new degrees and majors in

statements for every institution in the System.

computer science and information system, thus adapt-

But while HEW found the plan acceptable, the courts did not. early three years later, a U.S. District Court

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ing to an ever-changing high-tech society. Thanks to five hefty salary increases, beginning in FY 1978, Georgia ranked o. 1 in faculty salaries among the 15

in Washington said the plan was "not adequate to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," and thus the Department of Health, Education and Welfare once again requested a revision. To clarify its position, the court that day also said HEW had to issue "criteria

states of the Southern Regional Education Board in 1982. External degree programs were first authorized by the board in April 1983, and the new cooperation between junior and senior colleges gave students still more opportunities for education. A revision of the

specifying ingredients of an acceptable higher education plan." Georgia was not alone; five other southern states were directed to re-submit plans within 60 days.

1963 funding formula, the establishment of a pre-college curriculum (to begin in Fall 1988) and the creation of a legislative liaison position in the central

Jeither the court order nor the new HEW directive

office were other accomplishments that took place

specified deficiencies in the 1974 Georgia plan, but

under Crawfords's term. All during this time, enroll-

nevertheless the regents were obliged to conduct spe-

ment continued to grow, but at an even pace.

cial meetings to address the matter. Working against the clock, they eventually resolved potential conflicts and problems, and on August 26, 1977, the board approved a special regents committee's recommendation that the new plan was sound. It went into effect the following year and proposed a seven-year program for desegregation - only to have it come into question again five years later.
The year 1979 brought a somewhat unexpected transition to the University System. Early in the year, many regents indicated a desire to reorganize the cen-

One of the biggest tasks during those years was the continued desegregation of the System. In April 1983, U.S. District Court Judge John II. Pratt ordered Georgia to draw up a plan to "ensure that all of the goals of the 1978 desegregation plan will be met no later than the fall of 1985." Again,

In October 1983, the
u.s. Office of Civil
Rights accepted the revised desegregation addendum. But the matter

tral office staff of the University System. In essence,

the central office staff went

was not settled.

Chancellor Simpson opposed the idea. Because of a

to work, and two moths later

basic difference in philosophies with the chancellor, the board on June 4, 1979, voted to remove the chancellor J

in addendum that updated and extended the System's desegregation measures was

from his post. The vote was 11-4 in favor of dismissal.

approved by the board, signed by Gov. Joe Frank

A New Chancellor

Harris and sent on to the U.S. Office of Civil Rights (OCR).

An interim replacement was needed and the regents turned to Vernon Crawford, a long-time faculty member and vice president for academic affairs at Georgia Tech. Dr. Crawford was appointed acting chancellor on June 15, and the following May he was unanimously elected chancellor - the first chancellor, incidentally, to be elected after a formal "search procedure" that involved students, faculty, System

But on June 16, OCR officials rejected the addendum, saying that more details and "additional steps to further enhance and desegregate the state's traditionally black institutions" were needed. Four days later, the board met with college presidents in a special session. By July 1, the additions had been drawn up and sent to the governor, and in October 1983, OCR accepted the revised addendum.

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Still, the matter was not settled. The following April, OCR notified System officials and said the University System had not made "substantial progress" in meeting desegregation goals outlined in the addendum. A letter to Gov. Joe Frank Harris also charged that the Regents Test discriminated against students in the three traditionally black institutions - Fort Valley State, Savannah State and Albany State Colleges.

The board and central office staff overcame these final obstacles shortly thereafter. By the end of May, the Regents Test issue was settled as the board approved a plan to improve testing remediation at the three TBIs. The following September, Gov. Harris announced that OCR found that "substantial progress" finally had been made in desegregation of the University System of Georgia.

One man instrumental in these desegregation efforts was H. Dean Propst, then executive vice chancellor. Following Chancellor Crawford's retirement in June 1985, the board elected Dr. Propst to the office, making him the eighth chancellor in the University System's history.

Harmonious State Relations

During Chancellor Propst's term, some major events took place - several of which involved the coopera-

tion of the General Assembly. Early in 1986, the state

legislature approved full funding of the System's

"Formula for Excellence," which had been revised in

1982. It was the first time in

In 1986 the legislature

the board's history that the formula had received 100

approved full funding percent support, and the

of the System's formula - the first time in the board's

action signified a new day for higher education in Georgia. The next year, in addition to full funding, law-

history that the formula had received 100 percent support.

makers also authorized the remaining balance for the biggest single building project in the history of the

System: a $32 million

bioscience building to be

constructed at the University of Georgia.

This milestone for UGA came almost a year after a period of major transition at the university. In February 1986, the issues of developmental studies, academics versus athletics and a faulty member's right to free

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speech came under scrutiny during a federal court case against the Athens school. Dr. Jan Kemp, a developmental studies English teacher, sued UGA for violating her constitutional right to free speech. She alleged that the university had fired her for protesting preferential treatment for athletes in UG \'s developmental studies program.
Testimony during the trial centered on the program's management, the university's promotion standards and the school's academic integrity. After deciding that two university administrators had violated Dr. Kemp's right to free speech, the jury awarded her damages. In the trial's aftermath, UGA President Fred Davison submitted his resignation.
With the UGA matter settled, the board continued to pursue other goals, such as upgrading teacher education in Georgia, strengthening the core curriculum and improving minority recruitment and retention.
The System's institutional structure underwent changes during the mid-80s. A 34th unit - the two-year DeKalb Community College - was welcomed in 1986, the same year that Clayton Junior College became a senior college and was renamed Clayton State. In 1988, the junior colleges received an image upgrade when the regents agreed to let the words "junior" and "community" be dropped from their names.
A statewide emphasis during the 1980s on interinstitutional cooperation and forming working agreements with other state agencies had the Regents working with the State Board of Education to raise admission standards for students entering System institutions by requiring them to complete collegepreparatory curriculum in high school. Another form of cooperation involved working with the newly created Department of Adult and Technical Education (DTAE) to offer associate degree programs to students seeking technical careers. The regents approved a memorandum of agreement with DTAE - the governing body of the state's technical schools - after resolving that the System would offer the Associate of Applied Science (MS) degree, while DTAE would offer the Associate of Applied Technology (AAT) degree .
In 1988, the regents introduced differential admission standards at the junior-college level that distinguished between students primarily seeking vocationall technical training and those pursuing degrees transferable to senior institutions. These standards established
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a uniform definition of associate degrees and stipulated that career-oriented degrees, as opposed to academicoriented ones, were not transferable.

Planning and Assessment

The System's fall enrollment hit record highs every year during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Chancellor Propst and the Board of Regents marked some other accomplishments worth noting. Chancellor Propst asked Noah Langdale, who had just stepped down as the longtime president of Georgia State, to lead a comprehensive retrospective and prospective study of the System. He presented his report to the board in 1989. With regard to institutional and program assessment, Langdale said: "what is easy to measure is measured and is considered important in education, but what is difficult to measure is said to be unimportant and is not measured."

The report identified more than a dozen "driving

forces" that facilitated or impeded the System's

progress, including minority access and equity and the

aging of facilities, faculty, programs and services.

System presidents identified boosting faculty salaries,

IIII! student retention and the

The regents ...

recruitment and retention of minority faculty and stu-

approved a comprehensive plan for the System's

dents as their most pressing concerns. Accordingly, the report's recommendations included finding ways to

continued

recognize and reward teach-

development, including a mission

ing faculty. Regarding assessment, the report noted an abundance of

statement and

plans, but scarce evidence

long-range goals.

of planning results. The regents were encouraged to

include implementation

schedules with all future plans for improvements.

The regents subsequently approved a comprehensive plan for the System's continued development, including a mission statement, long-range goals and a requirement that each System institution develop structured planning and assessment processes and submit a strategic plan to the central office.

On the last day of 1988, the regents met all the necessary requirements to be in full compliance with Title VI of the Civil Right Act, meaning the System had

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at last fulfilled all legal obligations regarding its desegregation measures. This marked the first time since 1974 that the System's desegregation plan had not been under a court mandate or the scrutiny of federal officials.
In 1989, the board changed the institutional composition of the System by approving the creation of regional universities. Georgia Southern would become the first regional university in 1990, with Valdosta State following in 1993.
Financial Boost for Special Projects
T here were good signs for the System's financial picture in 1987. That spring, the legislature fully funded the "Formula for Excellence" for the second straight year. Towards the end of the year, University System institutions reported receiving a record $228 million in research grants and contracts, and the regents sent the governor a $1 billion budget request for FY 1989 that included a unique new element called the Special Funding Initiative (SFI). The board crafted a five-year, "quality-improvement" package to provide support outside of the formula to a number of longrange System initiatives. These special projects and programs included:
expanding nursing/health-care programs; increasing access to baccalaureate programs in
under-served areas of the state through extension programs;
expanding the base for pre-engineering education through the new Regents Engineering Transfer Program;
creating centers for arts, research, teacher education and foreign language/culture;
improving instruction and research at UGA, Georgia State and the Medical College of Georgia
reducing the student/faculty ratio at Georgia Tech; and
providing incentive for System institutions to secure matching funds for equipment for research and instruction (funding to be awarded on a competitive basis).
"We're finally putting our dreams and plans on paper," remarked Board Chair Jackie Ward. Regent John Henry Anderson, chair of the board's Committee on Finance and Business, called the Special Funding Initiative "probably the most exciting thing I've seen since sitting in this chair all these years."
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The board asked for $31 million to fund the first "installment" of the package. Alas, state lawmakers allotted the SFT only $10 million for FY 1989. Undaunted, the regents asked for $32 million in their FY 1990 budget proposal. This time, the SFI was funded at $14 million, so the board asked for $32 million again in the FY 1991 budget request. But the state was entrenched in a recession, and the System was headed for a serious financial crisis. Only $4.5 million was appropriated for the SFI in that budget.
Hard limes Hit Georgia
T he 1988 and 1989 legislative sessions were good to the University System of Georgia. An increasingly strong working relationship between lawmakers and public higher education officials had brought more attention to the System's needs and its role in Georgia's economic growth. The General Assembly's appropriations included sizeable increases in resident instruction at the 34 institutions, money for the Special Funding Initiatives and more-or-less full funding of the System's "Formula for Excellence."
Adding to the fairly rosy picture was a report published early in 1990 placing the System's statewide economic impact at approximately $3.25 billion and noting that only about a quarter of that amount comes from state appropriations. But the state's rate of employment growth had slipped drastically, and the regents could not help but notice that the System's share of the state budget was slowly but steadily decreasing. State lawmakers had ordered across-theboard "austerity" reductions for all state agencies. For the System, these cuts amounted to only $1.2 million in FY 1989 and $500,000 in FY 1990, but they heralded the hard times that were to come.
By 1990, the financial picture had worsened considerably. Although the System's formula was still being funded more or less in its entirety, the regents felt the configuration adopted in 1982 had grown inadequate for their needs. Plus, the board's efforts to boost faculty salaries had failed. They had requested funding to cover a 9 percent increase (a 7.5 percent merit increase, coupled with a 1.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment), only to receive enough to award a 4 percent increase, barely enough to keep pace with inflation, for the fourth consecutive year. The situation had taken its toll - the System had slipped from first to fifth place in faculty salaries among the 15 states of the
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Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) since 1982.

The state's coffers were alarmingly depleted. In September, Gov. Joe Frank I-Iarris was forced to order mid-year cuts to the budgets of 51 state agencies. The University System took the biggest hit - $31.4 million, or nearly 17 percent of the statewide cuts. Three months later, Governor-elect Zell Miller announced a second round of cuts. This time another 1 percent ($9.1 million) was slashed from the System's FY 1991 budget, and the carnage was not over. On June 30, 1991, the last day of the 1991 fiscal year, a last-minute reduction of $200,000 was made, bringing the total amount cut to $50.3 million. Even worse news was to come. By the time the board met in September, the FY 1992 budget had been reduced by $75 million and more than 1,000 positions had been lost, two-thirds of them staff positions. In November, Gov. Miller attended the regular meeting of the board - a rare occurrence to offer reassurance.

Vowing to "put my money where my mouth is," Miller told the regents that he would support a major construction effort in the System and work to restore Georgia's faculty-salary ranking by securing bigger pay increases. He also promised to push for full formula funding after two years of budget cuts. Holding up an issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education noting Georgia's decline in higher-education spending over the past two years, Miller insisted he would see to it that the trend was reversed.

Gov. Miller told the regents that he would support a major construction effort in the System and work to restore Georgia's facultysalary ranking. He also promised to push for full formula funding.

As Georgia slowly climbed out of its recession, things did begin to look better for the University System. There were no further budget cuts. Despite several efforts, the regents had yet to be successful in proposing revisions to the funding formula adopted in 1982, but Miller eventually did made good on his promise to elevate faculty salaries. Although raises had dipped to 3 percent in 1991 and 1.5 percent for faculty only in 1992, they rebounded to 6 percent in 1995 and

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stayed at that level for four consecutive years, allowing Georgia to reach second place in the SREB salary rankings.

Leadership Change Brings New Vitality

After the econ?mic recession of the early 1990s came a bit of a breather from crises. Academic excellence again occupied the spotlight, as the magazine U.S. News & W01-lcl Report included a handful of Georgia institutions in its fall 1991 survey of the nation's best colleges and universities. Adding and improving facilities at certain System institutions became critical after the 1990 announcement that Georgia would host the 1996 summer Olympics.

Having seen the System through its worst financial crisis and after serving higher education in Georgia for nearly a quarter of a century, Chancellor Propst announced his retiremen t in late 1993. Harry S. Downs, the founding president of Clayton State, was tapped to serve as interim chancellor until a permanent appointment could be made.

At the conclusion of a national search, the board

recruited Stephen R. Portch, senior vice president of

academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin System.

A native of Somerset, England, Portch brought a

Within two months of British air and accent to his

Stephen Partch's arrival as chancellor, a sweepmg new vision statement had

role as chancellor when he took office on July 1, 1994.
Despite an immediate crisis - a flood that inundated most of the buildings on the

been unveiled.

Albany State campus -

Portch immediately engaged the Board of Regents in an

intensive strategic planning process. Within two

months of his arrival, a sweeping new vision statement,

"Access to Academic Excellence for the New

Millennium," had been unveiled. Developed with input

from University System presidents, the statement

called for Georgia's public colleges and universities to

be recognized for first-rate undergraduate education,

leading-edge research and committed public service.

The board also adopted a set of 34 Guiding Principles

for Action to serve as the foundation for future policy

decisions.

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Gov. Zell Miller desired as his legacy a reputation as "the education governor." The new HOPE Scholarship program, funded entirely by proceeds from the Georgia Lottery, had given Miller resources with which to enhance education. In Portch, Miller found a strategist who could help him achieve his goal by making sure that these efforts were well-directed.
One result was seen in the System's budget. It received overwhelming support and near full funding from the legislature. The FY 1996 budget included several innovative Special Funding Initiatives; a six percent merit increase in faculty salaries (the first of four consecutive merit increases funded at this level); $10 million for the implementation - in less than 150 days - of a web-based library, Georgia Library Learning Online (GALILEO), connecting all the libraries in the System; and strategic allocations funding collaborative project proposals to be presented by the System campuses.
A Year of Major Changes
T he regents' monthly meetings in 1995 were characterized by a large number of strategic discussions, policy recommendations and board actions. The end result: a total of 13 new policy directions were recommended and approved during this period, all tied to the new vision statement and the 34 Guiding Principles for Action.
Included in those policy directions was a call to change the University System calendar from quarters to semesters. Extensive planning occurred on every campus to overhaul the academic curriculum and purge "credit creep" from degree requirements. Although it took three years for the System to recover from the drop in enrollment that occurred when semester conversion actually took place in Fall 1998, the transition was quite smooth and complaints were minimal..
The board's new Policy Direction on Admissions sought to break the cycle of low admissions expectations and inadequate college preparation, which led to a high need for remedial classes among college freshmen. The policy established significantly higher requirements for admission.
The Fall 2001 USG enrollment report demonstrated the wisdom of the board's 1995 policy. Average SAT scores (1,026) for first-time freshmen were the highest
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u 2~~ A Bri e f His tor y

I

"1/J~. y'ru

in the System's history, surpassing the national average for the second year in a row. Through its ongoing review of benchmarking, the board also learned that the retention of first-time, full-time freshmen from Fall 1998 to Fall 1999 reached 77.7 percent - the highest rate ever recorded in Georgia. From Fall 1995 to Fall 2000, the percentage of traditional freshmen who required learning support decreased from 27 to 16 percent.
The regents' P-16 Policy Direction became the foundation for the state's educational "co-reform" agenda, which recognizes that all sectors of education - elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, as well as institutions of higher learning - are fundamentally linked and that improvement in one sector requires a comprehensive effort from all of them. Gov. Zell Miller subsequently appointed a statewide P-16 Council to provide a framework for bringing all the sectors of education together to work on improving teacher education, and since then this initiative has brought Georgia millions of dollars from the U.S. Department of Education and the private sector.
Each year was marked by a special emphasis. First came a focus on mission review that led to name changes for 16 of the System's institutions in 1997. A year-long emphasis on teacher preparation programs in the System's 15 colleges of education led the Board of Regents to declare that it would begin "guaranteeing" teachers educated by System colleges of education.
Data - lots of it - drove all of the board's policy decisions. One example of the regents' use of data was in a benchmarking study, which established a formal, rigorous process by which to accurately gauge USG institutions against peer institutions. Other year-long studies tackled subjects as diverse as technology use in the System and how to meet the educational needs of the state's growing Hispanic population.
The Nation Takes Notice
T he number of System institutions appearing in U.S. News & W01-ld Report's annual list of the nation's best colleges and universities and the number of ways in which they ranked as noteworthy continued to increase. The System's progress was drawing attention from many quarters, including The Chronicle of' Higher Education, which ran a full-page article on Georgia.

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I"U1/~J(m. A B ri e~ f His to2 r y S

A number of System institutions played a role in the

1996 Centennial Oympic Games games and in the

Paralympics that followed, but none more so than

Georgia State and Georgia Tech universities. Both insti-

tutions provided facilities

for the Olympic Village and,

along with the University of Georgia, they hosted a number of event venues. Other campuses, from

Thirty-one campuses helped to host various aspects of

Floyd College in Rome to

the Centennial

Georgia Southern in Statesboro, provided practice and training venues,

Olympic Games, from venues to training

hosted visiting delegations, facilities to medical

or provided park-and-ride lots. In all, 31 USG campus-

servIces.

es helped to host various

aspects of the Centennial Olympic Games, from train-

ing facilities to medical services. To aid in minimiZing

traffic congestion and freeing up facilities, the System

even tailored its summer schedule around the games.

The national spotlight again was directed on Georgia in January 1997, when President Bill Clinton visited the state to learn all he could about Georgia's HOPE Scholarship program (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally). This phenomenally successful program, founded by Gov. Zell Miller in 1993 and funded entirely by proceeds from the Georgia Lottery, offers Georgia citizens no-strings-attached aid to attend state colleges and universities, as long as recipients keep their grades up. In a speech on his planned education initiatives delivered on the campus of Augusta State University, Clinton held up HOPE as a model program.

The Postsecondary Readiness Enrichment Program (PREP), which gives at-risk middle school students the opportunity to think about their future and consider their educational options also was saluted by the \Vhite House in 1998 as a model after-school initiative serving students in at-risk situations.

Not Without Challenges

Beginning in 1997, half a dozen lawsuits were filed against the University of Georgia challenging its undergraduate admissions process, and, in particular, its use of race and gender as factors in a portion of the process. While a number of those challenges were dismissed on procedural grounds, several plaintiffs

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26'~
A Brief History

I.V,I(J/~/!ra

ultimately were successful in having the district court rule that the manner in which the university used race and gender did not comport with constitutional requirements. The lIth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision in 2001, and the System decided not to appeal further.

A Partner in Economic Development

Several System initiatives helped to increase the Board of Regents' visibility as an economic develop-

ment partner with the state, including the Intellectual

Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP), a very active

statewide training and business development initiative.

The System's innovative responsiveness to business

needs led Vice President Al

Vice President AI

Gore to recognize ICAPP during a visit to Columbus

Gore recognized the System's ICAPP program during a 1998 visit to

State University in March of 1998.
In one of his first official acts in January 1999, Governor-elect Roy E.

Columbus State

Barnes announced that he

University.

would set aside $13 million

as a one-time allocation to enable the System to join

forces with the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade

and Tourism and a number of economic development

organizations to launch YAMACRAW - a statewide

effort to make Georgia a leader in microchip design and

production.

Change of Leadership

I n May 2001, Chancellor Portch announced that he would step down as chancellor, noting that it was time for new leadership to bring new ideas to old challenges.

At the conclusion of an intensive search, the regents appointed Thomas C. Meredith as the 10th chancellor of the University System of Georgia. Meredith was chancellor of The University of Alabama System at the time, a system with three doctoral research universities including a medical college and health sciences centera combined enrollment of 40,000 students, 17,000 employees, and an annual budget of $1.8 billion.

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I.V,IJ~//r! a~ A Brief H2 istory /

The University System 70 Years of Progress

I t is here that we find the Board of Regents today. The challenges facing the University System are different from the challenges of yesterday, as the state of Georgia has changed dramatically in the latter half of the 20th century. Its public higher education system has learned and prospered from its experiences as it matured.

Compare the System of the 21st century with the

System as it was in 1950. Then, it consisted of three

universities, eight senior colleges and five junior

colleges, a total of 16 institutions with a cumulative

enrollment of 29,011 students and a combined faculty

of 1,095. Today, four

research universities, two

regional universities, 13 state universities, two state colleges and 13 two-year colleges make up a system

The University System of Georgia has developed into

of 34 institutions that boasts one of the strongest

an enrollment of more than 217,000 students, approximately 33,000 employees

systems of its kind in the nation.

and an annual budget of

But such strength

$4.2 billion. In July 2000, the System welcomed yet another new member,

didn't come without work or sacrifice.

assuming administrative

responsibility for the state's

57 public library systems under the terms of Gov. Roy

E. Barnes' A-Plus Education Reform Act.

This Act also led to the creation of the Education Coordinating Council (ECC). Chaired by the governor and including the head's of the state's educational agencies, the chairman of the boards of these state agencies and other key educational leaders, the ECC represents a collaborative approach to strengthening public education in the state and improving student preparation. As such, the ECC plays a I,ey role in helping Georgia meet the educational needs of its citizens through a coordinated, comprehensive look at the resources available and challenges that must be met.

Yes, the System's progress since World War II can be attributed in part to the growth and development of the state and its prosperous economy in recent years. But Georgia is a more attractive place to live and work

2J7~
A Brief History

I.V,/J1/;/'(m.

because of the University System of Georgia's development as a comprehensive and unified system of public higher education.
Since its inception 70 years ago, the Board of Regents has worked to give every student in the state the opportunity to secure a superior, national caliber education. Although the formulation of sound policy took time, the University System of Georgia has developed into one of the strongest systems of is kind in the nation. But such strength didn't come without work or without sacrifice. Among today's regents, presidents and system office staff, there exists an appreciation of the System's history and a spirit of indebtedness to those who fought the battles and burned the midnight oil to build such a strong foundation. IInl

Research Universities Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia State University Medical College of Georgia University of Georgia
Regional Universities Georgia Southern University Valdosta State University
State Universities Albany State University Armstrong Atlantic State University Augusta State University Clayton College & State University Columbus State University Fort Valley State University Georgia College & State University Georgia Southwestern State University Kennesaw State University North Georgia College & State University Savannah State University Southern Polytechnic State University State University of West Georgia
State Colleges Dalton State College Macon State College
Two-Year Colleges Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Atlanta Metropolitan College Bainbridge College Coastal Georgia Community College Darton College East Georgia College Floyd College Gainesville College Georgia Perimeter College Gordon College Middle Georgia College South Georgia College Waycross College

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E

2002, Board of Regents, University System of Georgia
Published by: the Office of Media and Publications Board of Regents University System of Georgia 270 Washington Street, S.w. Atlanta, Georgia 30334
(404) 656-2250
Additional editorial assitance provided by: Cameron Fincher