Georgia’s public university system said Tuesday that former governor Sonny Perdue was the only finalist to become chancellor, a choice that outraged some professors and prompted a regional agency to threaten accreditation of the 26-school system.
The likely appointment of Mr. Perdue, a Republican, comes at a volatile time in Georgian politics when the state legislature is considering several bills that would ban or restrict how race and activism are taught in the classroom.
“The job of a chancellor is to defend the system against such bills,” said Matthew Boedy, professor of rhetoric and composition at the University of North Georgia and president of the Georgia Conference of the American Association of University Professors. “I can’t imagine Sonny Perdue doing that.”
The association has publicly condemned the way the university system selected Mr. Perdue, a process that took place largely in sessions without faculty participation and in camera.
Mr. Perdue served two terms as governor from 2003 to 2011 and later became Secretary of Agriculture under President Donald J. Trump. He wouldn’t be the first governor to move into academia: Former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, later headed the University of California system, and former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels has headed Purdue University since 2012.
“Governor Perdue was distinguished by his impressive public service experience and leadership, as well as his deep understanding not only of Georgia and its communities, but also of the issues facing the university system as we continue our journey,” said Harold Reynolds, Chairman of the Regents Board, said in a statement on Monday.
Mr. Perdue, a University of Georgia graduate student, said he views the opportunity to lead the university system of more than 340,000 students as the capstone to a career in public service.
“In higher education, as governor, I really wanted to make a difference, only to be hampered by two recessions,” he said in the statement issued by the board.
In April, before the Board of Regents selected Mr. Perdue, the Colleges Commission of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools sent him a warning letter, stating that the appointment of a former governor “could effect the accreditation of the institution(s) in which they rule danger.”
If a college loses accreditation, agency president Belle S. Wheelan warned, it could result in denial of enrollment, lead to bad publicity and deprive the school of access to federal funds.
Revoking accreditation for schools like the University of Georgia, Fort Valley State, and Georgia Southern would be a monumental step. But the threat is part of the latest controversy surrounding the Board of Regents, which in October passed new policy allowing universities to fire tenured professors with little or no faculty input.
The policy is the only one of its kind in the country, according to the American Association of University Professors.
That decision and Mr. Perdue’s selection are both interferences with academic freedom, said Mr. Boedy, a professor at the University of North Georgia. It’s “another death, another wound, another stab in the heart for anyone who works in the college system to have someone like that,” he said.
Appointing Mr. Perdue as chancellor would also limit his contributions to the campaign of David Perdue, his cousin and former senator who is running against Governor Brian Kemp in the Republican primary in May.
Mr Kemp had obtained Mr Trump’s approval in 2018, but their relationship soured after the Kemp government refused to undermine the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
Sonny Perdue had fought on behalf of his cousin during David Perdue’s 2020 re-election campaign, which he narrowly lost to Senator Jon Ossoff.
Stephanie Saul contributed to the coverage.
