[ale] [OT] Merger of Southern Polytechnic State with Kennesaw State

[Lightner, Jeff]

Actually it was in the local news (WSB TV at least) yesterday.   They did interview some students from SPSU who weren’t in favor of it.   However, it sounded more like it was a done deal than a “proposal”.

I think it is bad idea because by its very name SPSU has a different focus than KSU.

Also in the news article the KSU President said it was a good idea because “they’re only 8 miles apart” which is:

a)      Misleading because it implies it is a straight shot from one to the other.

b)      Misses the fact that traffic in that supposed 8 miles is some of the worst in Atlanta.
They say they’ll have a shuttle between the campuses but really trying to make it from one class to another on the same campus can be a bear and I can’t imagine with Atlanta traffic that it will make much sense for scheduling if you have engineering classes at the SPSU location but core classes at the KSU location.

From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Jonathan Meek
Sent: Sunday, November 03, 2013 7:14 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: [ale] [OT] Merger of Southern Polytechnic State with Kennesaw State

For those of you haven't heard, the Board of Regents is proposing a merger between Southern Polytechnic State University and Kennesaw State University in order to control budget costs to the University System of Georgia this past Friday. The merger will happen in Fall of 2015 should the plan be approved.

Below is the news article announcing the merger: (link 1 at the end of the email)

I am reaching out to the ale list because I feel this affects you guys as much as it does me, especially the ALE-NW group since we all meet at SPSU for our monthly meetings. I am drumming as much attention as I can to this because I haven't heard anything on the local news about it and hope that there will at least be a conversation before it goes for approval by the Board of Regents.

Personally, I believe this a horrible move given that SPSU serves such a unique popluation (us nerds). The SPSU staff wasn't notified about the proposal until the day before the merger was announced (link 2 at the end of the email). As well as it has been decided that the president of Kennesaw State University will be the new president of the merged schools which shall be called Kennesaw State. This feels like hostile takeover rather than merger.
I have added the change.org<http://change.org> petition that students of SPSU have created in order to help get our voice heard on this issue (link 3 at the end of the email). If you have any questions or want to talk further about this news, feel free to email me off list.

link 1: http://www.spsu.edu/newsroom/news/Consolidation_initial_announcement.htm
link 2: http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/23971909/article-SPSU-community-petitions-to-stop-merger?
link 3: http://www.change.org/petitions/university-system-of-georgia-board-of-regents-stop-kennesaw-state-from-merging-with-southern-polytechnic-state
Regards,
Jonathan









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