AJC On Campus: Ga Tech’s tasty testing progress, USG wants more in-person classes

Georgia’s public university leaders took a lot of heat at the start of the fall semester as COVID-19 cases skyrocketed on many campuses. As the number of reported cases declined significantly in recent weeks, University System of Georgia administrators are making plans for the spring semester that involve more in-person classes.

In this edition of AJC On Campus, we look at the latest on the spring semester plans, how Georgia Tech is trying to keep the number of cases low and a new report on student loan debt in Georgia and across the nation.

Spring semester plans

University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley on Tuesday laid out his vision for how he hopes classes will be taught during the spring semester. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, Wrigley said during his monthly remarks to the state Board of Regents he wants to see more in-person classes, hybrid classes (a mix of in-person and online instruction) that truly fit the definition of such learning and — if necessary — Saturday classes.

“I understand it’s not an easy task, but it is an important task,” Wrigley said.

Wrigley said his office has heard from many parents and students who say too many courses are online. Many faculty members and students held demonstrations and created petitions at the start of the semester urging the University System to have online classes only to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on the campuses.

Stay tuned.

Georgia Tech’s high marks on COVID-19 testing

Two Georgia Tech professors, Joshua Weitz and Greg Gibson, said a saliva-based test developed on campus, along with mask-wearing and hybrid teaching have played a major role in the reported declined in positive cases there. About 1,500 students have done surveillance tests each weekday, according to Tech’s website, far more than any public university in Georgia. By comparison, about 1,900 University of Georgia students sought surveillance testing in the last week.

Georgia Tech was reporting dozens of positive cases a day shortly after its fall semester began in mid August. More recently, the daily case counts have been in the single digits. They’re reported 12 positive student test results in the last seven days.

Georgia Tech has offered some enticing incentives for students to get tested: King of Pops popsicles at its testing sites.

Ideally, Georgia Tech would like to see each student get tested once a week. In practice, they said, between 50% to 60% of students have been tested each week during the last 30 days.

“Although less than the goal of weekly testing for all, this substantial adoption rate has helped to reduce new cases and provide early detection of outbreaks, enabling rapid and localized increases in testing when needed,” Weitz, who has been closely involved in analyzing the surveillance testing data, said on Georgia Tech’s website.

Georgia Tech’s COVID-19 video games

Georgia Tech is in a national competition with other universities designed to get students to create video games and other platforms to encourage people to minimize their exposure to COVID-19. One Georgia Tech game was similar to the arcade classic, Pac-Man. The player is in a supermarket and the goal is to avoid shoppers with COVID-19 symptoms. Here’s a link to that game, called “Dino-Store: Shopping In A Pandemic.” The winners are scheduled to be announced in a few days.

North Georgia’s crime data errors

A federal audit has found issues with how the University of North Georgia was reporting campus crime. The university admitted some technical errors, but disputed other findings. Read more about it here.

Morehouse School of Medicine joins $15 million effort to help HBCUs

Credit: Thomson200

Credit: Thomson200

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday announced a three-year, $15 million partnership with several Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including Atlanta’s Morehouse School of Medicine, to serve as COVID-19 testing hubs for those schools and their communities.

Several HBCUs are holding all classes remotely this semester as administrators worried about the spread of COVID-19 on their campuses, citing statistics that show African Americans have higher infection rates of the disease. Georgia’s three largest, private HBCUs — Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse and Spelman colleges — among those doing online instruction.

Morehouse School of Medicine is one of eight HBCUs that will obtain COVID-19 samples and quickly analyze the tests.

New pharmacy education partnership

Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Georgia (PCOM Georgia) on Wednesday announced a partnership aimed at helping aspiring pharmacists get their degrees faster. GSW students can enter the PCOM School of Pharmacy in Suwanee after completing their junior year. The students could earn a combined BS-PharmD while at PCOM Georgia. Following their second year of PCOM Georgia’s pharmacy school, the schools said in a news release, the students would be eligible to receive their bachelor’s degree from GSW.

KSU’s hotline

Kennesaw State University last week created a new effort to quickly help them get responses to questions about the university.

Call 470-KSU-INFO.

The university has started a telephone hotline operated by staff members and students to answer questions such as building locations, tutoring schedules, meal options and bus schedules.

The hotline will be available Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m., and Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Group wants Georgia State to pay max fine in research animal’s death

Stop Animal Exploitation NOW has been vocal in recent years about their concerns that some Georgia universities are mistreating animals used for research. The organization wants Georgia State University fined after a U.S.D.A. report completed in September found a ferret held in a ventilation cage died after being trapped between the cage and a non-stationary platform. Georgia State, which said it reported the incident, called it an isolated incident and has taken corrective action.

Georgia & student loan debt

Georgia college students are graduating with slightly above $28,000 in average student loan debt, according to an annual report by The Institute for College Access & Success. About 56% of Georgia students left college with some debt, the report found.

Georgia’s numbers mirror national averages. The average loan debt for all U.S. students was $28,950 and about 62% of students had debt.

The study’s authors worry that student loan debt averages will rise as states cut their higher education budgets in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The report include a call for help from Uncle Sam.

“Without aggressive and swift action from the federal government to shore up the finances of public higher education and help students attend and afford college, the consequences of COVID-19 could mean even more debt and wider disparities for future graduating classes,” the report said.

“I got u bro”

Speaking of student loan debt, rap star Travis Scott told a Morehouse College student on Twitter he would help pay his educational expenses.

“My mom always wanted me to go here.!!!!," the Houston-based rapped told the student, Nasire Branch. "So I got u bro !!! Just lock in and come out of there ready to change the world.”

Read more about how this came together here.