ATLANTA — A Georgia lawmaker introduced new legislation to require that the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents has an at-large member who is a graduate of a Historically Black College or University.
The legislation, put forward by Rep. Floyd Griffin of Milledgeville, would have the state put at least one HBCU graduate on the Board by Jan. 1, 2028 and would increase it to at least two at-large members by 2031.
Griffin released a statement on his proposal, saying that the goal was to make the state’s university system represent its students more fully.
“Under HB 203, we commit to accurately representing our state’s university system by guaranteeing that a position of the Board of Regents is held by a member of a HBCU,” Griffin said.
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More specifically, House Bill 203 would require that the at-large member is from an HBCU within the University System of Georgia. Currently, the state has 10 such institutions, seven of which are in the City of Atlanta.
Those institutions are:
- Albany State University
- Clark Atlanta University
- Fort Valley State University
- Interdenominational Theological Center
- Morehouse College
- Morehouse School of Medicine
- Morris Brown College
- Paine College
- Savannah State University
- Spelman College
For a college or university to qualify for the purposes of this legislation, the institution must be eligible under the requirements of current federal law as of Jan. 1, 2025.
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