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A week after state lawmakers reprimanded Georgia Tech for its due-process practices in punishing students accused of sexual assault and other violations, the university has withdrawn its request for a $47.4 million library complex renovation.
Withdrawing the request gives Tech more time to prepare for construction, including asbestos abatement, Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson informed University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby in a letter this week.
Peterson’s letter is dated the same day as a letter from the governor’s office, both obtained through open records requests, that also includes the funding change. In that letter, Gov. Nathan Deal’s chief of staff asks state budget leaders to defer the funding to give Tech more time to raise private funds to offset state costs for the project. The letter from Chris Riley includes the Tech deferment along with several other changes to Deal’s budget proposal.
The Tech money, which was slated for the first phase of renovation of the Crosland Tower and Price Gilbert Library, known as Library East and Library West, was the largest construction project the state’s university system requested in its budget proposal to lawmakers.
Tech’s aggressive punishments have led to two lawsuits by students claiming they were unfairly expelled after being accused of sexual assault. One of the students was reinstated by the state’s Board of Regents. Tech has also been criticized, particularly by state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, for disciplining a fraternity accused of hurling racial slurs at a black female student, something the fraternity says did not happen.
Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, said he did not encourage Tech to withdraw its building request, but felt the withdrawal was a clear consequence of last week’s hearing before lawmakers. “I think maybe (Tech officials) saw the handwriting on the wall,” he said.
Ehrhart, who leads a subcommittee responsible for allocating money to state colleges and universities, previously warned that he would not fully fund the budget requests for any school that did not provide due-process protections for all students.
The funding switch comes as state lawmakers continue discussions on how to best handle sexual assaults on Georgia’s college campuses. Lawmakers pressed University System officials Wednesday for some type of state oversight in ensuring that the cases are properly investigated.
A proposal to force colleges to report all accusations of sexual assault to a law enforcement agency outside of campus police is also back in play, after being shot down by the University System last year. Sexual assault allegations are currently investigated by campus authorities and must be reported to the federal government, but students do not have to report those allegations to police. Requiring them to do so, as proposed by Senate Bill 322 sponsored by Sen. Lester Jackson, D-Savannah, would have "a chilling effect" on the number of incidents reported, University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby said Wednesday.
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