Dr. Kelli Brown, latest of five applicants invited to visit the Georgia Southern University campus as they vie to be the university’s next president, spoke of student debt, but also of sexual assault and a need for faculty diversity, as challenges facing higher education.
As provost and vice president for academic affairs at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Brown is that university’s second-ranking administrator. Of the four GSU presidential contenders who have visited so far, she was the first woman and the first employee of a University System of Georgia institution. She spoke Monday afternoon in a public forum in the Carol A. Carter Recital Hall.
All of the candidates are asked by the search committee to talk about certain things, including what they see as current challenges facing higher education. Brown said she thinks of the challenges in terms of three A’s: access, affordability and accountability.
“With regards to affordability, clearly the chancellor and the governor have decided that there won’t be a tuition increase this year, and there’s a reason for that,” Brown said. “They’re very concerned about affordability. They want to make sure that the students in the state of Georgia have access to an affordable education, and rightfully so.”
The financial news website MarketWatch recently reported that college students who graduated in the class of 2015, nationally, had an average student loan debt of more than $35,000, and about 70 percent of all students had some debt. Georgia Southern was roughly typical on the portion of its graduates, about 68 percent, having some student debt, but their average debt load, $27,000, was $8,000 less than the national average, Brown said, citing a different source, from 2014.
In thinking about student debt, she said, university leaders need to consider how they can make sure that more students graduate in four years.
“We always have to keep this in the back of our mind as we think about the tuition that we’re charging, the fees that we’re charging, to always make sure that students are not leaving with such a debt that they can’t repay that debt once they’ve joined the workforce,” Brown said.
Another current concern for universities nationally, she noted, is the prevalence of sexual assaults among students.
“I think one of the things we’ll be looking at is how we can actually do more education on campus, more bystander education, more education for both men and women on campus, how do we think about an environment on campus that can help reduce sexual assaults that occur on campus as well as off campus,” Brown said.
An approach to this problem must also involve campus and community police and considering “how do we adjudicate sexual assault,” she added.
About 500 people took part in a “Take Back the Night” march on campus last Thursday hosted by the GSU Sexual Assault Response team and Sexual Assault Student Educators. One of last week’s candidates mentioned seeing posters for this event.
In regard to diversity, Brown spoke of “inclusive excellence” and noted that Georgia College and State University has now named a chief diversity officer, focusing on education on diversity for faculty, staff and students. Compliance and investigations have been separated from this office and turned over to GCSU’s legal department
The fifth, as yet unannounced, candidate is slated to speak there at 4 p.m. Thursday, also in the Carter Recital Hall, in the Foy Building on the Georgia Southern campus.
Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.