President Richard Carvajal addressed over 400 students, faculty and staff in the Student Union ballrooms, and, standing doggedly, he said Gov. Brian Kemp is here to stay as this semester’s commencement speaker. With almost two dozen students speaking, their points were made; but then again so was the president’s. “At the end of the day, I made this decision, because ...
Read More »VSU to improve retention by controlling the college narrative
The usual narrative of college places students in a “choose-your-own adventure” pathway, making them the writers of their stories, but last fall that changed. Now, VSU is taking the reins of students’ stories. In Dr. Ted Geltner’s Reporting class (JOUR 4550) Dr. Richard Carvajal, VSU president, gave a short form “state of the university address” to the class’ student journalists. ...
Read More »Impending VSU graduates react to incoming commencement speaker
Valdosta State University announced Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp as its spring 2019 commencement speaker on April 12 via Twitter. Suffice it to say, many of its soon-to-be graduates weren’t happy. Taking to Twitter in response, graduates let their opinions—positive and negative—roll. Some of the replies to the Twitter announcement included: “Valdosta needs to do better.” “Great choice. VSU students are ...
Read More »LendEdu ranks VSU in top 500 colleges receiving revenue from application fees
As college students, application fees are a necessary evil in order to segue the route to higher education. This would also be true for the respective universities to which they are applying. After all, they hire professionals to review all their applications that come their way to see if the students would be a good fit for their institution. Those ...
Read More »Editorial: VSU’s 2019 spring graduation will definitely be memorable
Friday, Valdosta State University announced that Brian Kemp will be its incumbent commencement speaker. Once again, VSU is not “listening” to its students, and I, a member of The Spectator, am baffled. In fact, I find it ironic. If you take a look at our editorial “Make commencement memorable,” on page two, from Thursday, you’ll see The Spectator’s top picks for ...
Read More »Preview: VSU marketing class to present film festival
VSU will soon welcome another film festival onto its campus, putting the festival’s students at the helm once again. But this festival is a bit different than others. This time, there’s a theme: representing women on the silver screen. Born from the strategic planning class, or MKTG4900, a class with more than 20 students, Shades of Representation is designed to ...
Read More »The next step for VSU: West hall gets an update, more on the way
VSU continued its trend of “out with the old, in with the new” after the two-semester-long renovation of West Hall’s first floor left wing, finalized during spring break. The new renovation, unveiled to the greater VSU public on March 25, saw an increase in size of the presidential and administrative suite, a glass door for semi-transparency and the loss of ...
Read More »VSU prepares Blazer Summer Research Institute
If you’re tired of lying around like a couch potato all summer while your learning skills dull, it may be time to invest in something new. VSU is offering students a creative and productive way to spend the summer with the launch of the Blazer Summer Research Institute program. Described as competitive, the program is available to faculty and undergraduate ...
Read More »VPD arrests 19-year-old man for vehicle theft
A request for police service led to the arrest of a teenaged man late March 12. Leonard Shuman, 19, was arrested by Valdosta City Police Department after a caller reported that “he witnessed an unknown subject illegally enter an automobile in an attempt to steal.” The caller reportedly “advised” VPD the crime occurred on the “private property” of an apartment ...
Read More »VSU garners mixed feelings about campus climate
VSU students have received emails week after week, since Jan. 30, enticing them to give their take on campus climate via survey. The topics address sexual violence, gather information on whether a student has experienced sexual violence and gauge students’ overall reactions to sexual assault. But why has VSU given students the survey? Daryl Lowe, assistant vice president of student ...
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