Memorandum

CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM
TO:

DR. BARRY DOTSON, THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF UNIVESRITY X

FROM:
SUBJECT:

AMANDA D. SEALS, VICE PRESIDENT FOR GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS

POLITICAL LANDSCAPE AND IMPACT

DATE:

NOVEMEMBER 2014

Congratulations on your selection as the new president of University X. We are excited

to welcome you to Georgia and as the new head of our research institution. In two months when
you join us at the helm, there will be much happening in our state. Our governor has been reelected; we will have a new U.S. Senator representing the state as a member of the majority
party; and the Georgia General Assembly will be convening on the second Monday in January
per our state constitution. As you are keenly aware, the country has gone through a nonpresidential election cycle and the political landscape has made a monumental shift nationally.
The 114th Congress will be responsible for tackling reauthorization of the Higher Education
Opportunity Act as well as tackling issues such as college-access, affordability and student loan
reform.
Once you arrive in January, there will much for you to do and many forces pulling on
your calendar. Please allow me to request that you to devote a majority of your first 60 to 90
days on campus to government and community relations-related issues. Since you are coming to
our institution from another state, many relationships will need to be forged - not only with the
students, faculty and staff but also our external stakeholders. We will need to have you sit before
the editorial board for the local paper as well as hit the Rotary Club circuit so that you may be
introduced to our civic leaders. In addition, this memorandum serves as a briefing on the
political landscape in Georgia and the legislature here; political initiatives that impact University

Memorandum

X; the governing structure of the University System of Georgia (USG); and how these forces and
policies impact the students, faculty and staff of University X.
Governor Nathan Deal (R) recently secured his second term as head of our state. In his
first administration, Georgia became part of the Complete College America Alliance, a 33-state,
plus the District of Columbia, coalition that is focused on the priority of college completion. As
the Governor enters into his next administration, the Complete College Georgia (CCG) initiative
will remain a high priority for the 31 (soon to be 30) colleges and universities that comprise the
University System of Georgia. As University X begins its accreditation review by Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) and enters the time
to develop a new five-year Quality Education Plan (QEP), I highly recommend that the new QEP
address an issue related to college completion so as to fit into our CCG plan. This also will be
beneficial to University X as the USG implements a performance based funding model that the
Governor initiated for both the USG and the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG).
According to the final Higher Education Funding Commission Report to Governor Deal, the new
formula will have a performance component that will be based upon individual intuitional
graduation rates (2013).
Another initiative the Governor spearheaded during the end of his first term is the Go
Back, Move Ahead campaign that targets more than one million Georgians who have completed
some college to return and finish their degrees (Millsaps, 2014). This initiative is a joint venture
between the USG and TCSG. In Georgia, the Governor and the General Assembly are keen on
strong cooperation and articulation agreements between the two systems so as to train a more
capable workforce for corporations located here. That being said, another addition to our meeting

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schedule will be to introduce you to our local technical college presidents so as to start off on the
right foot.
As the Georgia General Assembly convenes on Monday, January 12, 2015, we will need
to spend some quality time under the Gold Dome introducing you to key lawmakers as well as
acquainting you with our local legislative delegation since they will be in Atlanta for the session.
When the session concludes, we will have more time with our local legislators while they are at
home in the district. In Georgia, we are fortunate to have strong support from the General
Assembly. In part due to our constitution, our funding is secured through a lump sum that the
legislature allocates and the Board of Regents (BOR) distributes to the various institutions
through the funding formula. While visiting Atlanta, we will secure courtesy meetings for you
with the Governor, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle (R) and Speaker of the House,
Representative David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), as well as the Appropriation Chairs for both
chambers. The republican majority controls both the House and the Senate.
Once committee chairs are announced in January, we also will make appointments for
you with the House and Senate subcommittee chairs of higher education appropriations.
Establishing these relationships early in your tenure at University X will help later down the road
when we have capital outlay projects in the bond package, which the legislature approves by
recommendation by first the Board of Regents and then the Governor.
Regarding the Board of Regents, we will schedule meetings for you with both the
incoming chair and vice chair of the Board of Regents at the start of the New Year. The
governing board is comprised of 19 members one for each congressional district and five
members at-large. The new chair and vice chair were confirmed by the board at its November
meeting. It will be imperative that you meet these men and women and establish relationships

Memorandum

quickly. As the year progresses, we will travel the state to their hometowns so that you may
meet them in their communities and get to know them better. Their support of you will be a
good signal to send back to campus.
The Governor appoints the board and they each serve staggered seven-year terms. The
board is then responsible for hiring the Chancellor and you will be a direct report to him, as he is
held accountable for managing the presidents. Therefore, we also will schedule a one-on-one
meeting with him as soon as possible. Since the board will gather in January 2015 for their first
meeting of the year, we can dovetail this opportunity with the legislative and BOR leadership
meetings in Atlanta.
As you enter into these meetings, it is important for me to stress two major issues that
impact our faculty, staff and students, which you will want to emphasize to these various
audiences as the time becomes appropriate. First, the issue of affordability without sacrificing
quality of education and services is key for our student body. Currently, among the 16 states of
the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), Georgia ranks tenth among four-year and
seventh among two-year institutions for tuition and fees (2014). The BOR has managed to keep
tuition low and has cracked down on the approval of new fees. This is a message that will
resonate with the legislature as you conduct your meetings. Despite two recessions, the
Governor and the legislature have funded the formula for higher education, which in turn has
made it possible for the BOR to keep tuition levels down. Other states have not been as
fortunate therefore stressing this message is very important.
For the faculty and staff, the recessions have been difficult to weather. Before the 2014
legislative session, six years had passed before the General Assembly had allocated any pay
increase for those in public service. In his 2013 address to the joint appropriations committee,

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Chancellor Hank Huckaby implored to the assembly to consider a raise for faculty and staff,
stating that Georgias weakest talent was not being picked off by other states but rather its best
and brightest. Despite the plea by the Chancellor and the desire of the General Assembly to fund
a raise, revenues were not sufficient to do so until 2014. Even then under slowly rising revenues,
only a one percent pay increase based on merit was appropriated to those in state government
and education. As health insurance premiums continue to rise as well as other out-of-pocket
expenses, you will find yourself in steadfast company of the other USG presidents in advocating
for a pay increase for faculty and staff. At this time, a pay increase of any percentage remains
unseen as even though revenues are on a slow increase, burdens from Medicaid and K-12
funding put much pressure on the appropriations allocations.
I realize what I have outlined in this memo may seem demanding. However, I firmly
believe if we can stick to the schedule of meeting the leaders of the state and the community of
our institution as well as wrapping your arms around the issues facing higher education in
Georgia, your transition to University X will be a smooth one. I look forward to working with
you in the days ahead to succeed in our mission of educating Georgias future.

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6
References

Complete College America - Alliance. (2013). Retrieved November 1, 2014, from

http://www.completecollege.org/alliance.html
Education & Labor Committee Republicans. (2014, April 14). Retrieved November 7, 2014,
from http://edworkforce.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=374799
Higher Education Funding Commission Report to Governor Deal. (2013, January 16). Retrieved
November 4, 2014, from
http://gov.georgia.gov/sites/gov.georgia.gov/files/related_files/press_release/Recommend
ations of the Higher Education Funding Commission.pdf
Joint Appropriations Hearing - University System of Georgia. (2013, January 20). Retrieved
November 7, 2014, from
http://media.legis.ga.gov/hav/13_14/2013/committees/app/app012213EDITED.wmv
Millsaps, J. (2014, July 29). Governor Nathan Deal Announces "Go Back. Move Ahead."
Campaign. Retrieved November 3, 2014, from
http://www.usg.edu/news/release/governor_nathan_deal_announces_go_back._move_ahe
ad._campaign
Regents Keep Tuition Increases to 2.5 Percent at 27 Institutions. (2014, April 15). Retrieved
November 4, 2014, from
http://www.usg.edu/news/release/regents_keep_tuition_increases_to_2.5_percent_at_27_
institutions/