About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2011)
"ToM 1*MeR|fcW©20H ...www.thi8modemworld.com...twitter.com/tomtomorrow HUCKABY TAKES ON CULLING COLLEGES Hank Huckaby is soon going to find out who his real friends are. The new chancellor of the University System has decided to tackle one of the most sensitive political issues in Georgia: whether to get rid of some of the state's 35 public colleges. Huckaby's move was partly prompted by the need for more money. With the erosion in tax revenues caused by the economic downturn, the Legislature has cut the University System's funding from more than $8,200 per full-time college student a decade ago to about $5,500 per student. Tuition increases can only close part of that gap, so the push is on to cut operating expenditures by closing campuses or merging the administrative staffs of cur rent institutions. There are also management questions involved: could the University System more effec tively accomplish its academic goals if some under-funded col leges were folded in with larger universities that have more resources available? "I know this will be somewhat controversial to many," Huckaby told the Board of Regents last week. He was recognizing the reality that any attempts to close a college or convert it to an exten sion campus of a larger institution will trigger fierce political opposition from the legislators and civic leaders in the area where the college is located. Race can also be an issue, because some of the campuses that could become tar gets of consolidation include historically black colleges. Huckaby's proposal has already drawn statements of support from several regents, including board Chairman Ben Tarbutton. The chancellor says no list has been drawn up with the names of any specific colleges that are targeted for merger; he wants to establish the criteria and standards for determining which ones might be considered. Consolidation proposals could include the historically black colleges, which tend to have smaller enrollments. That would raise the possibility of merging Savannah State and Armstrong Atlantic State in Savannah, along with a merger of Albany State and Darton College. There could be a proposal for histori cally black Fort Valley State, one of Georgia's two land-grant colleges, to become an exten sion of the other land-grant institution, the University of Georgia. With UGA's prominence in the field of agricultural teaching and research, it may make sense to administra tively attach Abraham Baldwin as well. Some of the smaller institutions near the state's southern border, such as Waycross College and Bainbridge College, could find themselves in line to become extension campuses of Valdosta State University. Everybody does triple duties at the smaller campuses," said a con sultant familiar with University System issues. These institutions, no matter how small or lacking in financial resources they may be, will have their supporters who would fight for retaining their independent identities. Bainbridge, for example, is the hometown of Alec Poitevint, a power broker in Republican Party circles and a former state chairman of the GOP. Poitevint's wife, Doreen, is a member of the Board of Regents. One of the state's longest- serving black legislators, Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus), is a Fort Valley State alumnus. Navigating a path through this political minefield could be the biggest challenge ever taken on by Huckaby, whose 40-year career in government includes stints as a budget official for several governors and a brief term in the Georgia House of Representative. "No one is more politically attuned than Hank is," said a longtime observer of the Legislature. "If anyone has the political and policy skills to do this sort of thing, it's Hank." Tom Crawtord tcrawford@gareport.com THIS MHIIH W#KL» by TOM TOMORROW TEA PARTY NIHILISTS ANOTHER IN AN OCCASIONAL SERIES OF PARABLES INVOLVING well For 0005 SAKE.--SLOW down BEFORE. YOU CRASH THE CAR! ACTUALLY I'M SICK OF THIS CAR. THE PASSENGER DOOR STICKS AND THE CUPHOLDERS ARE TOO SMALL. AND Z HAVE TO PAY TAXES EVERY TIME I FILL THE TANK.' CLIMATE CHANGE AND YOU If you believe manmade climate change is taking place, what responsibility do you have to act? If you believe the increasing intensity of droughts and storms is part of the disas trous pattern predicted by climate scientists, what should you do? From Aug. 20 to Sept. 3, more than 1,250 people chose to protest—and be arrested— outside the White House in Washington, D.C. The sit-in was the largest display of civil disobedience in the United States since the end of the Civil Rights era, and it marks a significant shift in strategy among environ mental advocates who believe the country and the planet are about to cross a point of no return. In three short years, we've gone from wholeheartedly supporting a president who promised to lead the world in addressing climate change to picketing his house so that he doesn't open the U.S. market to Canadian tar sands, a source of unconventional oil that is on par with coal: the dirtiest of fossil fuels. President Obama has the executive authority to approve or deny the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry up to 900,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, where it would be refined for sale to U.S. and for eign markets. This would seem a no- brainer for the man who promised that during his presi dency "the rise of the oceans will begin to slow," but since conservatives won the battle over climate change legisla tion (see Flagpole, Aug. 11, 2010), Obama no longer talks about the issue in his stump speeches. Earlier this month, it became obvious that the environment had slid even further down the priority list when Obama halted the development of stricter air-quality standards on smog in response to i tough opposition from Republicans and indus try lobbyists. Now it appears he may approve the tar sands pipeline, which is what led to the protests. The U.S. State Department issued a favor able environmental impact assessment for the project, though they clearly did not consult NASA's James Hansen, who is widely consid ered the leading U.S. climate scientist. He has stated publicly that if Canada's tar sands are exploited for fuel, it will be impossible to return atmospheric carbon to the 350 parts per million (ppm) level deemed a safe threshold by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (The current level is 393 ppm.) The State Department report also attempts to justify building the pipeline by stating that Canada intends to develop the tar sands, whether or not the U.S. is the main customer. This line of reasoning recognizes that exploit ing the tar sands is less than ideal, and by moral equivalent it implies that robbing a bank would be justified, if you knew someone else already planned to do it.. The justification also ignores the fact that I eastern and western routes to market are blocked by Canadian residents who are unwill ing to allow a pipeline across their lands. So, if the U.S. rejects the tar sands, they will be developed much more slowly, keeping oil prices high enough to stimulate investment in clean energy technologies and buying time on the climate change clock for these technolo gies to replace fossil fuels. But U.S. politicians—especially those without term limits—now, more than ever, reflect the will of the electorate, rather than leading the search for long-term solutions. Understandably, the electorate wants jobs and economic relief. But we need jobs in a sus tainable economy built on clean energy, not quick-and-uirty fossil fuel fixes. We need low- carbon jobs in emerging industries like wind, solar, energy efficiency, biomass and local agriculture. And more than ever, we need to let our local, state and national leaders know that we will not accept "either-or" solutions when it comes to the environment and the economy. The newly created Georgia Climate Change Coalition is holding a march and rally at 11 a.m. on Saturday, coinciding with thousands of events taking place worldwide as part of 350.org's Moving Planet day of action. We will call on our elected officials to increase their ambitions to reduce carbon consumption, while searching for solutions and adaptations in a climate of increasingly extreme variabil ity. We will present the leadership of Athens- Clarke County with a list of appeals for action as well as hundreds of individual pledges for specific actions we will take as individuals and the resulting total reductions in water use and carbon emissions. If you want to do something, please add your specific pledges to our commitment total at www.georgiaclimatecoalition.org, and come to the rally; lend your voice to the call for a climate solution. Bart King Symposium Fri., Sept. 23: UGA researchers discuss “Climate Change in the Southeast," 5-8 p.m., auditorium, Odum School of Ecology March and Rally—Sat., Sept. 24: Part of Moving Planet—a worldwide rally for solutions to the climate cri sis. Meet at 11 a.m. in front of UGA Plant Sciences (Ag Drive at Carlton Street)—March to City Hall. More info on the map at www.moving-planet.org * ' ■■■ ■ V- afp Orf . .. \ S4 < C « -* !:: W *v V'y . - ' 6 FLAGPOLE.COM-SEPTEMBER 21,2011
