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<p>ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - High expectations for Georgia were overshadowed by off-field troubles as the Bulldogs held their first practice Monday.</p> <p>Coach Mark Richt fielded questions from reporters for about 45 minutes, most of them about players being arrested, dismissed or suspended since Georgia finished last season with a dominant victory over Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl.</p>

Controversies Crop Up Around Commencement Speaker Selections by Jamal Watson May 5, 2008, 22:24 Earlier this year, NAACP chairman Julian Bond journeyed to the U.S. Supreme Court to interview Justice Clarence Thomas. The event was somewhat historic, in part because Bond — a staunch supporter of affirmative action and other social programs — has long been a critic of the policies and positions espoused by Thomas. But now, both of these historic figures in Black history are the subjects of much scrutiny as they prepare to deliver commencement speeches this month at two East Coast universities. A group of conservative...

BCS' snub of Dogs spurs House to call for playoffs Lawmakers take handoff from Adams ATLANTA - Georgia lawmakers briefly turned aside from issues like the drought, gun control and transportation Friday to voice their displeasure with college football's Bowl Championship Series system. The state House - a known hangout of some prominent football fans - voted 151-9 Friday to urge the NCAA to create a playoff system for college football, adopting a resolution that calls the current system "dysfunctional." There was no debate. "The only major sporting event without a playoff system to identify its true champion that I...

ATHENS, Ga. -- The president of the University of Georgia proposed an eight-team playoff system to determine the NCAA's national football champion. Michael Adams, chairman of the NCAA executive committee, has opposed a playoff for 20 years but said Tuesday the current BCS system is "undercutting the sportsmanship and integrity of the game." Adams wants the NCAA to seed eight teams into the four bowls. If one of the major bowls declines to participate, then another bowl could fill the void. "I believe the season is already too long and demands too much of athletes and the universities that serve...

Syndicated talk radio host Neal Boortz is backing Mike Huckabee and Bill Richardson in the 2008 presidential race, he told fans Monday at the University of Georgia. Although Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is more conservative than the self-described libertarian Boortz, he said Huckabee is the only candidate who supports replacing income and other taxes with a national sales tax. Boortz didn't say why he likes former New Mexico governor Richardson among Democrats. The Atlanta pundit broke little new ground speaking to a crowd of more than 500 at the Tate Student Center, riffing on a variety of favorite...

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ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Fans who have had their fill of beer at the University of Georgia's homecoming football game on Saturday be warned — no flushing allowed. Earlier this week, crews put up signs in bathrooms asking people not to flush "if it's yellow" and to leave the handle-pulling to attendants, who will do the job for the estimated 93,000 people at Saturday's game. It's part of the university's "Every Drop Counts" water conservation effort in the drought that's struck Georgia and much of the Southeast. The university is considering replacing all of the stadium's old toilets, which use...

Tailgating: It's all in the preparationSerious fans set up shop early in Athens as season begins By JENNIFER BRETT The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 09/01/07 Athens — Long before game time, the fields were full of action. Grassy quads throughout the University of Georgia campus started filling up Saturday morning as tailgating season, a cherished Bulldog tradition, began. "Most of this group was here this morning at 9," said Kim Folsom of Sugar Hill, breaking bread with a group of about 50 friends, relatives and co-workers. With relatively mild weather following the recent bout of withering heat, fans turned Athens...

ATHENS - A Christian fraternity has filed a federal lawsuit against the University of Georgia and the state Board of Regents. The lawsuit filed Wednesday says the fraternity it is unable to register as a student group because it requires all its members to be Christians. Attorneys with the Christian Legal Society and Alliance Defense Fund filed the suit on behalf of Beta Upsilon Chi -- which has 16 other chapters around the country but was denied continued recognition by UGA in November. The suit says university rules -- which reflects policy approved by the Board of Regents -- require...

TIFTON, Ga. - Part-time farmer Jimmy Griner hopes his ever-so-fragrant, crystal-clear, 180-proof moonshine can help solve the nation's energy problems. Griner arrived at the Georgia Bioenergy Conference this week carrying of quart of the stuff in a Mason jar. He's licensed to make 10,000 gallons a year of the high-octane elixir that's distilled from fermented Georgia-grown wheat. Sponsored by the University of Georgia, the three-day conference attracted about 500 farmers, scientists, engineers and politicians. Speakers from across the nation and at least one foreign country, Brazil, discussed the future of global energy supplies, the economics of biofuels, energy legislation and...

ATF agents are always on alert for anything suspicious — including ninjas. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents, on campus Tuesday for Project Safe Neighborhoods training, detained a “suspicious individual” near the Georgia Center, University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said. Jeremiah Ransom, a sophomore from Macon, was leaving a Wesley Foundation pirate vs. ninja event when he was detained. After being held in investigative detention, he was found to have violated no criminal laws and was not arrested. “It was surreal,” Ransom said. “I was jogging from Wesley to Snelling when I heard someone yell ‘freeze.’” Ransom said he thought a...

ATHENS, Ga. - University of Georgia student Brandon Esco has faced his share of razzing for being a nutrition science major — a field traditionally dominated by women. "You're only in that major because of the girls," is the most common teasing he's heard. But at the school's College of Family and Consumer Sciences, Esco is part of a growing trend. Five years ago, only about 10 percent of the college's students were men. Last year, nearly one-third of the 1,700 students — and roughly 40 percent of the tenure-track faculty — were men. Those changes — shared by other...

No pressure or anything, Joe Tereshinski. All you're asked to do Saturday is beat your school's hated rival, clinch the SEC East, keep alive an undefeated season and national championship hopes. Georgia fans will put their faith in Joe Tereshinski this weekend. (AP) All in your first career start. Then melt obediently back into the background. If that's about it, can we move on? Because, Joseph Peter Tereshinski III knows what it's like to be a Bulldog. It means extending a Georgia legacy that goes back to 1906. Making proud a grandfather (Joe Sr.) who came out of the Pennsylvania...

Boise, Idaho — It's 1,838 air miles from here to Atlanta, as the Delta non-stop 737 crow flies. Dan Miller's sojourn to Sanford Stadium will last a wee bit longer. He's flying in from Baghdad, a three-day, four-country odyssey, in order to see his son Tad and his Boise State teammates open the season Sept. 3 at Georgia. And you thought game-day traffic on 316 lasts an eternity. "I would not miss it for the world!" Miller, a retired police lieutenant with the Boise Police Department, who's helping to train Iraqi police officers, wrote in an exuberant e-mail. "It will...

Cleland speaks on war at School of Law By BRIAN McDEARMON Published , April 13, 2005, 06:00:01 AM EDT Former U.S. Senator Max Cleland spoke Tuesday afternoon against what he said was a concerted effort by Washington conservatives to subvert the country's judiciary system. The former senator spoke at the School of Law on the invitation of the University's chapter of the American Constitution Society. Confined to a wheelchair by a Vietnam War grenade attack that tore off his legs and right arm, the former Democratic senator entrusted the independence of America's courts to the 50 or so members in...

...the idea, proposed nearly four years ago by UGA political scientist Loch Johnson, sparked fears that a memorial honoring only those who died in military conflicts would exclude women, minorities and foreign nationals... Anna Jacobson, a senior in international business, studies Monday by a memorial garden installed to honor people affiliated with the University of Georgia "who have fallen in the defense of democracy and their country."

ATHENS — Dennis Felton is a tough dad to 17 sons. Two came from his marriage; the 15 others came with the job. But behind Felton, the men's basketball coach at the University of Georgia, stand three stubborn women. The first one carried him. The second raised him. The third discovered his roots. As his team took the court last week, Felton strode the sidelines, his face a mask of intensity. In the stands behind him, seven rows up, sat a 68-year-old woman from Wisconsin with the same sphinxlike profile. Nancy Klatt carries in her purse a plastic envelope of...

Over the last eighteen months, I have written 126 editorials, almost all of which have discussed the deplorable state of higher education in America. After reading many of my articles, concerned parents often ask me the $64,000 question: "So where am I supposed to send my kids to college?" Today, I write to offer a recommendation. My recommendation of the University of Georgia (UGA), our nation's oldest public university (sorry Tar Heel fans) will probably come as a surprise to many readers. After all, I did turn down an offer to attend graduate school at UGA in 1990. To make...

QUICK LINKS: HOME | NEWS | OPINION | MEETUP | C-LOG | ISSUES townhall.comPrinter-friendly versionReligious discrimination at the University of GeorgiaMike S. Adams (back to web version) | Send November 9, 2004Author’s note: The president of the University of Georgia is also named Mike Adams. We are not related.Dear President Adams (phone # 706.542.1214):I was recently informed about a possible case of religious discrimination against a (now former) cheerleading coach at the University of Georgia (UGA). Before I ask you a few questions about that case, I have several preliminary questions regarding the gay “safe zone” at UGA. My...

The University of Georgia cheerleading coach has been fired after a Jewish cheerleader accused her of discrimination that kept her off the esteemed football cheer squad.Coach Marilou Braswell was fired Monday for "discourteous and disruptive behavior" when she told the cheerleading squad about the discrimination charges, according to Braswell's termination letter.The cheerleader, 22-year-old Jaclyn Steele, claimed her chances of making the football cheerleading team were hurt because she didn't participate in Bible studies and pregame prayers encouraged by Braswell."It created an atmosphere where if you were not Christian or didn't want to participate, you weren't treated as well as the...

<p>ATLANTA (AP) -- Two University of Georgia journalism students won't graduate next month because they plagiarized articles for a student newspaper, school officials said Thursday.</p> <p>The seniors were found to have violated the Athens school's academic honesty policy and flunked the journalism course needed to graduate.</p>

<p>Most college students probably dream of getting a final exam with questions like this: How many goals are on a basketball court? How many quarters are in a high school basketball game? How many points does a 3-point field goal account for?</p>

About 120 people, mostly University of Georgia students, have been treated since Wednesday for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, university and local health officials said. Health officials said they believe a virus is causing the ailments. They have not found any evidence linking the students to each other that would suggest food-borne illness. The sick students live in different residence halls and eat at different locations. Lynn Beckmann, an infectious diseases coordinator with the Georgia Division of Public Health, said a few students starting feeling sick on Wednesday, but the majority were hit over the weekend. Students and members of the...

Virus likely at UGA By Ross Markman ross.markman@onlineathens.com University of Georgia and regional health officials Monday were still investigating why more than 100 UGA students were experiencing extreme nausea. While results aren't conclusive, officials are almost certain the cause is a virus that's spread throughout campus. ''But, at this point, we're just hypothesizing. We really just don't know,'' said Liz Rachun, University Health Center spokeswoman. Food poisoning, initially considered a possible cause, most likely is not the culprit, Rachun said. Affected students reported eating in at least four different dining halls, and some said they ate off campus. ''To be...

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- A judge issued an arrest warrant Thursday for a University of Georgia student accused of killing a raccoon that was then skinned, burned and eaten by members of his fraternity. Judge Patricia Barron said she was disturbed by the allegations and ordered Erik Robert Zimmerman's arrest on charges of animal cruelty. Zimmerman told police he saw the raccoon near a trash container the night of Dec. 12 and hit it with a traffic cone to scare it away. When it did not run off, Zimmerman shot the animal with a pellet gun. A fraternity brother skinned...

University of Georgia Computer Breach May Have Netted Hackers Credit Card Info for 20,000 People The Associated Press ATHENS, Ga. Jan. 29 — Federal and state authorities are investigating whether hackers gained access to Social Security and credit card numbers for at least 20,000 University of Georgia students and applicants, officials said Thursday. So far, there has been no sign that the hackers used any of the information, school spokesman Tom Jackson said. The university learned of the breach last week when it was notified that its server was being used to probe other computers in the United States and...

A member of a University of Georgia fraternity killed a possibly rabid raccoon found outside his frat house, another member skinned it, while a third cooked and ate it. The Dec. 12 incident at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on South Milledge Avenue was investigated by Athens-Clarke County Animal Control, acting on an animal cruelty complaint. Animal control officials were concerned that the raccoon might have rabies because it had been acting ''erratically'' before fraternity members killed it by beating it and shooting it with a pellet gun. ''All of the men that had contact with the raccoon were...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will return to the University of Georgia School of Law next week, six months after his appearance as the school's graduation speaker sparked a contingent of faculty and students to boycott the commencement ceremony. And, just like Thomas' visit last May, one university professor plans to protest the man whose record he dubbed ''deplorable'' and teeming with ''anti-human rights rhetoric.'' In May, on graduation morning, law professor Donald Wilkes delivered a speech at the Tate Student Center plaza, criticizing Thomas, an outspoken conservative and native of Pinpoint, Ga.. Wilkes was not alone. Thomas' selection...

<p>ATHENS, Georgia (AP) -- Former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter has stepped in to try to broker peace between University of Georgia donors and regents clashing over the fate of the school's president.</p> <p>An audit issued by the University of Georgia Foundation last week found that President Michael Adams may have misappropriated funds, but the Board of Regents dismissed the audit and said it supports Adams. Only the board has authority to fire Adams, but the foundation pays more than half of his $575,000 annual compensation package.</p>

Democrats take the plunge By KATIE REETZ Published , September 05, 2003, 06:00:01 AM EDT The College Republicans took a break from hard politics Thursday to pursue another passion -- dunking Democrats. The student organization set up a dunk tank at the Tate Student Center and persuaded members to don masks of prominent Democratic politicians while passersby sent them plummeting into the water. Democratic presidential candidates Joe Lieberman and John Kerry, both U.S. Senators, were among the dozen or so victims dunked in effigy as students aimed a red ball at a campaign bumper sticker adorning the target. "We want...

A University student has been jailed in Uzbekistan on charges of being gay. His friends and critics, however, say his human rights activities led the Uzbek government to jail him on fake charges in order to silence him. Ruslan Sharipov was an exchange student from Uzbekistan who attended the University during the academic year of 1999-2000. While at the University, he was heavily involved with the International Student Life (ISL) office and created an Asian Central Organization in 2000, said ISL coordinator Leigh Poole. "He was very involved at UGA, and different people who worked at the International Student Life...

Adams admits athletes despite recommendations from faculty By Elizabeth Young Published , July 31, 2003, 12:00:01 PM EDT Fifty-eight student-athletes have been granted presidential admits to the University by President Michael Adams for the upcoming semester. A presidential admit allows a student entry into the University, usually against the recommendation of the Faculty Admissions Committee. This faculty committee grants admission to students who could not gain entry to the University through the normal procedure in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. "There are a lot of things Adams has to take into consideration, that we don't know about, to balance athletic...

A Lexington teen has been charged with the July 23 arson fire that caused more than $1.5 million in damages to the UGA Main Library. Jason Allen Nelms, 19, was arrested by University of Georgia police at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at a residence in Athens-Clarke County, officials said. He was charged with first-degree arson and was being held at the Clarke County Jail. A bond hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday in Clarke County Magistrate Court. At a press conference outside the entrance of the fire-damaged library this morning, state Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine said...

Arsonist set library fire Evidence on second floor key in probe By Joe Johnson joe.johnson@onlineathens.com Arson was to blame for the fire that caused significant damage to the University of Georgia's Main Library Wednesday afternoon, according to state Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine. ''Because the investigation is continuing, we can't discuss specific details of the way this fire was set, but we can say that it was arson,'' Oxendine said Thursday. ''We've ruled out all possible accidental causes.'' Oxendine said evidence pointing toward arson was collected from the second-floor storage room where the fire had been set, but...

Carter recalls his experience in Iraq A hero's story: Local veteran shares his faith By Patrick Crotty patrick.crotty@onlineathens.com Addressing his hometown congregation at Watkinsville First Baptist Church on Sunday, Capt. Chris Carter talked more freely about his faith than his leadership of 150 soldiers during Operation Iraqi Freedom. ''I'm not gonna tell a bunch of war stories this morning,'' Carter said. Carter said he came up with what he called ''PCPs'', or ''pre-combat prayers,'' in addition to the other preparations he and soldiers made. Carter said his prayers during combat were that each soldier make it home alive, which they...

UGA benches 17 players for violations By MARK SCHLABACH Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer Seventeen University of Georgia football players have been suspended or declared ineligible to play, and the Bulldogs could be without as many as seven projected starters when the defending SEC champions open their season against Clemson on Aug. 30. The breakdown: Nine players have been declared ineligible for selling their 2002 SEC championship rings, four players have been suspended for violations of unspecified team rules and five players were suspended last month after being arrested on charges of marijuana possession. Cornerback Tim Jennings, one of the players...

By Kate Carter kcarter@onlineathens.com U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will address UGA's law school graduation Saturday. When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas delivers the graduation speech at the University of Georgia School of Law Saturday, it will mark the culmination of a four-month controversy that has piqued emotions and, in some cases, pitted faculty against students. Nearly four months ago, David Shipley, dean of the law school, announced that Thomas, as a native Georgian and a member of the nation's highest court, would deliver the 2003 commencement address. Shipley and the three students who chose Thomas were criticized...

Students object to Thomas as speaker By MELANIE HORTON Published , May 02, 2003, 12:00:01 PM EDT The controversy surrounding the School of Law's commencement speaker has been reignited in recent weeks as the graduation date draws near. Last week, a petition was circulated around the law school questioning the methods used to choose Clarence Thomas, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Georgia native, as the commencement speaker, said Donald Wilkes, a law school professor. "The petition was circulated by the students," he said. "It was signed by 11 law professors last Tuesday, and it was signed by 50 students...

Leave it to a Georgia boy to go all the way to Iraq to act like a dog. A Bulldog, that is, and a good one, according to scores of Georgia fans. Capt. Chris Carter became the pride of the Bulldog Nation early Monday morning when a news crew filmed him and Col. David Perkins - two Georgia graduates with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division - unfurling a University of Georgia flag outside one of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's Baghdad palaces. Already the word "hero" had been attached to Carter's name. He led an effort to save an injured Iraqi...