A traditional college major is no longer available for VSU students. In the Faculty Senate meeting on April 20, Dr. Sharon Gravett announced the deactivation of the philosophy and religious studies major that occurred early March. While no additional students will be able to start this major, those who are already in the program will be able to complete their ...

VSU has a new housing and residence life director. Dr. Ricky Clark joined the university in January and plans to make several changes. Before Dr. Clark joined Blazer Nation, he worked for housing at Mercer University for 13 years. He received his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Southern Mississippi, his master’s in college student personnel administration from ...

VSU is altering summer semester timelines to account for Juneteenth, a federal holiday and what many consider to be the U.S.’ second Independence Day. Juneteenth, or June 19, commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the U.S. Although the Emancipation Proclamation abolished slavery in 1863, freedom would not come for all until June 19, 1865. Even though that day ...

VSU announced a plan to drastically alter its advising operation, a move which will shift advising responsibilities from professional advisers to faculty advisers after freshman year. VSU administration announced the reorganization that will eventually reduce the number of employee positions significantly on March 1. President Richard Carvajal opened the Budget Advisory Council meeting on March 7 by explaining the purpose ...

Dr. Leslie Jones is teaching Evolution and the Diversity of Life again this spring after she was given an ultimatum in the fall by a dean that the content of her course needed to be altered. She is teaching section A of the course, which has 130 students. This class is an introductory biology course for non-majors. Although there were ...

A VSU biology professor said she was told to change her course lectures after a complaint by a parent. Since 2004, Dr. Leslie S. Jones, an associate professor of the biology department, has been known for teaching about topics surrounding the biological aspects of religion, sex and gender and race in her introductory biology course, BIOL 1010 “Evolution and the ...

Although the pandemic is starting to die out and the world is trying to pick back up, VSU is still struggling to increase enrollment numbers. With the exception of a spike in fall 2020, enrollment has been down since the start of the pandemic. The Budget Council discussed enrollment at the meeting that took place on Oct. 21. Rodney Carr, ...

Effective on July 1, the philosophy and religious studies department will no longer be its own separate department and will instead be merged in with the history department. As a result of the upcoming retirement of Dr. Fred Downing, the Department Head of Philosophy and Religious Studies, it has been decided that at the end of the summer semester, students ...

Written by Gabe Burns, Editor-in-Chief When Dr. Richard Carvajal spoke with students at a VSU forum Nov. 10, he said he had a special “love” for and connection to South Georgia that was “hard to understand.” It may be a lot easier to comprehend now. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia announced Thursday it recommends the ...

Written by Julia Rodriquez, Asst. Opinions Editor Three of the 31 laid-off professors may be keeping their jobs. At the beginning of the 2015 fall semester, 31 VSU faculty members were told that they would not have their contracts renewed and would need to find work elsewhere by the end of the fiscal year. On March 23, the Faculty Senate ...