Activitism Marches Across the State

In a sign of the times for USG, students have become passionate about their education.

SGAs from all over the state wrote and sent a resolution to legislators, and the Georgia Students for Public Higher Education has plans to lobby for revenue raising bills in lieu of cuts.

Administrators and staff watched at a distance as a protest rally of more than 100 students took place along Maple Street. "We are just here in case they need us."

In the fall of 2009 after students in the University System of Georgia received its second mandate to pay special fees, the GSPHE formed to keep track of legislative and Board of Regents proceedings.

This week, representatives of the GSPHE met with the Democratic Caucus in Atlanta to begin a dialogue on supporting revenue- raising bills that are up for a vote in this session. The group organization hopes the Republican Caucus will also agree to meet with them.

The GSPHE has a growing 4,000-plus following on its Facebook page and has begun to establish chapters at numerous campuses. The organization is open to all who are interested in higher education budget issues.

William Avery, a 29-year-old graduate research assistant at UWG, is a member of the GSPHE and helped coordinate the march on the state capitol and met with caucus members this week.

“We are inclusive and are not partisan in our endeavors to address the higher education issues,” said Avery. “We support raising revenues and not just relying upon cuts.”

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