College merger foes to fight plan

Enrollment: about 24,600 undergraduate and graduate students, the third-largest university in the University System of Georgia

GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.20

Percentage of incoming freshmen receiving the HOPE scholarship: 68 percent

Southern Polytechnic State University

Founded 1948

Enrollment: about 6,500 students

GPA of incoming freshmen: 3.28

Percentage of incoming freshmen receiving the HOPE scholarship: 60 percent

Days after the announcement that two metro Atlanta universities would be merged, much of the shock had been replaced by anger on one school campus Monday.

More than 500 students and faculty at Marietta’s Southern Polytechnic State University turned out to get answers about the planned merger into the larger Kennesaw State University.

The merger, announced Friday, is part of a plan by Georgia’s university system to control costs.

But estimates on cost savings aren’t expected until a consolidation committee from both schools works out details. That also goes for answers about the effect on student programs, faculty jobs and tuition.

In the meantime, more than 4,200 people had signed a “Keep SPSU True” petition at change.org by Monday evening to stop the merger.

“We’re going to lose our brand name,” SPSU graduate student Elizabeth Fokes said during an open forum Monday with both school presidents. “I promise if SPSU stays I will donate to the alumni association, (but if the merger happens) you won’t see a dime.”

Despite school administrators’ assurances that SPSU would not lose its quality curriculum and traditions, it will lose its name and president. Under the consolidation plan, the merged institution would be known as Kennesaw State University, and KSU President Dan Papp would lead the college, which would grow to more than 31,000 students.

While the university system expects to save some money in the merger, officials said that was not the main driver.

“Savings is probably the wrong word. A better way to characterize it would be redirected funds,” Papp said.

He estimated any savings would come from areas such as administrative overhead costs and cutting duplication in functions such as purchasing. Those savings would be reinvested into the academic experience of students affected by the decision, he said.

Both campuses, which are several miles apart, are expected to remain open.

SPSU President Lisa Rossbacher was asked whether there was any assurance that savings would be directed back into the school instead of being used to plug gaps in the state education budget. She said she does not believe that will happen “because (University System of Georgia) Chancellor (Hank) Huckaby looked both of us in the eye and said he would.”

Huckaby has said saving money is important but takes less precedence than the concept of shaping the system in the right way to best serve students.

That vision shaped the first round of mergers earlier this year, when the system consolidated eight institutions into four. System officials anticipate those mergers saving the system up to $7.5 million annually.

Papp and Rossbacher each said they learned of the plan about 10 days ago.

With this consolidation, the colleges’ similarities and proximity were key in the decision, the presidents said. Both schools are in Cobb County, and most of their students are Georgia residents. Both colleges are almost equal in the numbers of incoming freshmen students receiving the HOPE scholarship, and those freshmen also have similar incoming grade point averages and SAT scores.

Outside SPSU, there was a more optimistic attitude about the consolidation.

“I think program or position elimination is naturally a concern during a consolidation process,” assistant professor Kenneth White, KSU’s faculty senate president, said in an email to the AJC. “But my hope is that there will actually be increased opportunities to ‘change’ as opposed to ‘eliminate’ (people).”

Marietta Mayor Steve Tumlin said he is optimistic.

“You hate to see an institution lose its individual identity, but after I thought about it a while I see nothing but an upside,” he said. “If they were two liberal arts schools and they were merging, I’d be more worried about it,” he said.

A consolidation committee will be appointed in the upcoming weeks. A proposal from that committee is expected by Oct. 1, 2014. That plan would require approval by the board of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in Dec. 2014, followed by Board of Regents approval of the new institution in Jan. 2015.