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This is not about having an overgrown academic health center, an overgrown health sciences university. This is not about having a liberal arts program that simply becomes maculated; this is about a new university,” said President Ricardo Azziz at the assembly Jan. 12 regarding the newly announced merger.
Questions rang from all sides of the Maxwell Theatre as President William A. Bloodworth Jr., and Ricardo Azziz answered questions about the merger between Augusta State University and Georgia Health Sciences University.
Bloodworth and Azziz did make one thing clear out of a sea of questions. They emphasized the merger is not about budget cutting, but it is primarily about having a larger, better university.
However, there were still many questions to be asked, one in particular was about increases of tuition and fees and how Augusta State’s low fees were one of the many benefits of attending the university.
“All I can say, and this will be my commitment, is to keep tuition increases as low as possible,” Bloodworth said.
Another topic that was voiced during the meeting was about departments being cut from Augusta State University and in particular the nursing department. There were no solid yes or no answers, but Bloodworth and Azziz both said the two nursing departments at the universities will be combined into a larger nursing department. However, there is no intention for the merger to result in departments being reduced or cut in size at Augusta State.
“There’s very little overlap here which will make certain aspects of this consolidation actually easier to work out,” Bloodworth said. “The only overlap that we have an academic program is in nursing, so that will have to be figured out. Other than that, we offer programs entirely different from the programs at Georgia Health Sciences University.”
This idea of larger departments within a better university was repeated throughout the meeting. Walter Evans, professor of English, pointed out a potential benefit from this merger.
“I think that in the University System of Georgia, it’s like a pyramid and the schools at the top of the pyramid are UGA, Georgia Tech, Georgia State and GHSU and below that is a tier of schools like West Georgia, Valdosta, Georgia Southern and so on and we’re about the third level down,” Evans said. “What’s going to happen is we’re going to leap a level at least and Azziz wants to put us at the very top and what that means is that we’ll be closer to the front of the line when money is partialed out.”
According to Evans, one of the worst aspects about this merger is the unknown. The lack of solid facts makes faculty, staff and students alike uncomfortable with the change and what will happen in the future. However, the Board of Regents, Bloodworth, Azziz and other higher-ups have clarified that the new university will still remain an open access university, letting different types of students in.
One aspect that Evans said was another issue with faculty and staff was the family-like atmosphere that exists on campus with the holiday luncheons and other events. The question is will that atmosphere disappear with GHSU coming into play and the more corporate atmosphere that exists on that campus?
“Comparatively speaking, GHSU is more of a dysfunctional family, that is, people not getting along with each other quite as well as we do up here,” Evans said. “There are more egos down there, there’s more money down there, there’s more pressure down there. One question is will their corporate culture overwhelm ours or ours overwhelm theirs.”
Michelle Benedict and James Benedict, both retired professors from Augusta State, said they also have the same concern that the corporate atmosphere of Georgia Health Sciences University will take over Augusta State’s more close knit atmosphere.
“I’ve got strong doubts (about the merger),” James Benedict said. “But here’s the thing, I think we’ll be able to tell by the makeup of the committees and by what gets turned out if were being steamrolled or not, but at the moment I feel like the victim of a hostile corporate takeover.”
Michelle Benedict said she is afraid this larger university might not be the right thing for the long run.
“This image that students, faculty and staff have is ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got these egomaniacs taking over’, (and) see our president is so not that,” Michelle Benedict said. “It’s as if Dumbledore is being replaced as Voldermort and the community is under the imperious curse.”
However, the faculty and staff are not the only ones who are worried about this issue. During the meeting, one person brought up the question of how large the classes are going to grow with the new university and if that oneon- one relationship between professors and students will disappear, which Azziz had an answer for.
“We will have more professors, we may have more students, but hopefully the ratio will be maintained,” Azziz said. “Remember, bringing in students from Georgia Health Sciences University isn’t going to change the ratio of the classes. They’re not going to all of a sudden be sitting in your classes.”
Even though Bloodworth and Azziz attempted to answer as many questions as possible at the assembly, there are still questions that are unanswered and will remain that way until the merger becomes a more solid entity. To make this possible, each university will put together a planning committee and will submit the members for the committees to the chancellor. After the committees are approved, the committees will be combined into one with Azziz in charge.
“I think that we’re all going to be under a lot of stress, confusion, and anxiety for the next little while,” Evans said.