The fallout continues for the regents of the University System of Georgia over their choice to honor themselves instead of the host city in the name they chose for a new institution being created by the merger of Augusta State and Georgia Health Sciences Universities. The top vote-getter in national and statewide surveys commissioned by the regents, as well as in internal polls of faculty members and others, was “University of Augusta,” documents obtained by The Augusta Chronicle show. The regents’ choice— “Georgia Regents University"—wasn’t included in all the surveys, but it came in a distant fourth when it was.
The newspaper’s publisher, meanwhile, has resigned in protest from the Board of Visitors of the medical university, criticizing its president for “ambivalence to the voice of this community.” The president, Ricardo Azziz, participated in discussions with the regents about the new name. In a letter to Dr. Azziz, the publisher, William S. Morris III, wrote that the selection “lacks sensitivity to the enormous community good will that has been cultivated over the years” and that “it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for you to carry out your mission and vision without the united support from the city of Augusta and ALL of its citizens.”
