The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Will high school walkout hurt college chances? UGA, Tech mum
Thousands of Georgia students will join peers around the country and walk out of classes for 17 minutes Wednesday morning to honor the victims of the Florida school shooting and to deliver a message to lawmakers: Enough.
Many of those students will risk sanctions from their schools, especially in Cobb County. Worried parents, including several from the academic Cobb powerhouse Walton High School, have contacted me about possible consequences their teens might face from prospective colleges if they participate in the national school walkout.
Students in districts opposing the walkout have told me their principals have suggested a suspension as result of participating could hurt their admission chances. Colleges require students to notify them of any disciplinary actions, and the schools retain the right to rescind an admission offer. However, students are unlikely to face penalties for walking out, as indicated by the growing list of schools offering public statements of support.
“Future Scotties, our mission at Agnes Scott is to educate women to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their time. We support your right to protest peacefully and doing so will not impact your admission to Agnes Scott or your scholarship,” tweeted Agnes Scott President Elizabeth Kiss.
More than 300 colleges, including Emory, Dartmouth, Duke, Yale, MIT, and the University of Virginia, have issued similar reassurances. Yet, the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State and other public colleges remain silent.
A parent of a student who plans to participate in the walkout told me: “What’s curious to me is that she has heard from all of the schools that she’s applied to that they respect students’ decision to engage in peaceful protest and they will not rescind the offer of admission to students or cause it to factor into a pending admission
decision because they engage in peaceful protest with two exceptions — UGA and Georgia Tech.’’
I asked both campuses for their positions and was told any statement would have to come from the agency that oversees public colleges, the University System of Georgia. USG spokesman Charles Sutlive said: “Our institutions’ admissions offices already have policies in place for considering disciplinary records; therefore, no additional policy or statement is necessary.”
Members of the Faculty Senate at Georgia Southern University passed a resolution in support of “student engagement in the social and political issues of our times, including the right to engage in peaceful protest,” saying,”We resolve that such protest action will not negatively affect any future
admission decisions made for students involved in such actions.”
Several student organizations at Tech are organizing the Georgia Tech Walkout for Gun Reform Wednesday. Along with the 17-minute vigil for the 17 victims of the shooting a month ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Tech protesters will also go to the Capitol to lobby lawmakers to repeal last year’s campus-carry
law.
The protesters are calling for a statement from the Georgia Tech admissions office to prospective students that they will not alter any decisions due to participation in peaceful protest, as the Georgia Tech Student Government Association has requested in a resolution.
At UGA, senior Greg Hennessey has launched a petition to persuade the leadership to endorse a statement that joining the walkout will not negatively impact admission. Hennessey was a high school student in Newtown, Ct., five years ago when gunman Adam Lanza slaughtered 20 young children and six teachers at nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School. Hennessey praised the Stoneman Douglas High School students organizing the national walkout.
“I wish, at the time in 2012, I could have had the courage and audacity that these young adults across the country have displayed in the past few weeks. Who could have known, though, that such gun violence would continue to plague our country?
“These students, however, understand exactly the moment of history we currently occupy. These students are our future leaders, and most academic institutions are supporting their active participation in civil discourse,” he said. “UGA, and other Georgia institutions, are not.”