|
Lawsuit contesting another admissions decision is filed
Atlanta attorney Lee Parks filed another lawsuit Aug. 10 in his ongoing quest to force the university to abandon admissions policies that use race and gender, among other factors, in selecting a portion of each incoming class. Parks’s latest suit was filed on behalf of a Jonesboro High School graduate who claimed she was denied admission to UGA because she was white and female. The university responded by offering her admission to the entering freshman class, a move made in consultation with the state attorney general and the chancellor of the University System Board of Regents.
Parks’s suit, filed in U.S. District Court, asked that the university be enjoined “from continuing to use race and gender as a criteria for student admission until such time as the substantive issues of this lawsuit are decided.” UGA officials and their attorneys believed the request could, if granted, disrupt fall semester enrollment. “It was a matter of great concern to us that we get the class enrolled,” said Tom Jackson, executive director of University Communications.
While the majority of UGA admissions decisions are made solely on academic criteria, additional factors are applied to determine the final 10 to 15 percent of each class. Those factors have included not only race and gender, but also such criteria as whether a prospective student is a Georgia resident, the child of alumni or the first in the family to attend college.
New Foundation trustees elected
Six new members have been elected to the Board of Trustees of the University of Georgia Foundation.
The new advisory trustees, elected to one-year terms at the board’s spring meeting, are Waldo Bradley of Savannah, chairman of Bradley Plywood Corp.; Erwin “Doc” Eldridge III of Athens, an insurance executive and mayor of Athens-Clarke County; Frank Foley III of Midland, chairman and CEO of the Concrete Company in Columbus; Rusty Griffin Jr. of Valdosta, chairman and CEO of Griffin LLC; C. Read Morton of Atlanta, a partner in the law Atlanta firm of Burr and Forman; and Hoyt “Jack” Turner of Athens, a retired investment firm executive.
The UGA Foundation, established in 1937, is a non-profit organization that manages private financial support for the university’s goals. Trustees administer the foundation’s assets, provide volunteer leadership for UGA fund-raising programs, and give advice and support to the university’s president.
“These new trustees bring a wealth of experience, talent and commitment to the foundation,” says Kathryn Costello, senior vice president for external affairs. “They will provide valuable guidance and support for the foundation’s mission of strengthening academic excellence at UGA.”
Agricultural dean: D.W. Brooks left a legacy of service to state
When D.W. Brooks died in Atlanta Aug. 5 at the age of 97, the founder of Gold Kist Inc. and Cotton States Insurance Companies left a legacy of service, innovation and dedication to the agricultural community of Georgia.
“He was a great man who made immense contributions to agriculture and the South,” says Gale Buchanan, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Along with his many accomplishments in the business field, Brooks taught agronomy at the University of Georgia in 1922 at the age of 19, making him one of the youngest faculty members at the university. In recent years, he had served as a visiting professor, which made him the oldest professor at the university.
Gold Kist and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences initiated the D.W. Brooks lecture series in 1976, which invites leaders to address key issues facing agriculture. The lecture is followed by the D.W. Brooks Faculty Awards for Excellence, presented to distinguished faculty members for their work in teaching,
research and extension.
|
