Albany State’s Marion Fedrick to head college building renaming advisory group

ATLANTA — The University System of Georgia has launched an effort to determine whether any buildings or colleges on the system’s 26 campuses should be renamed to send a more inclusive message to students, faculties and host communities.

Sachin Shailendra, chairman of the university system’s Board of Regents, and system Chancellor Steve Wrigley have named a five-member advisory group to review those names and recommend any changes.

The USG advisory group will be chaired by Marion Fedrick, president of Albany State University.

“USG’s mission is knowledge, and this action today is a step toward addressing how communities understand the history and context involving our campuses,” Wrigley said. “While the review may be one part of a much broader discussion, I believe it is essential to advance how we serve students and all Georgians.”

Street protests across the nation that erupted following the death of George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis at the hands of a white police officer and the fatal shooting of another black man, Ahmaud Arbery, by a white man near Brunswick have been accompanied by a push to remove statues and rename buildings and streets honoring Confederate political and military leaders.

In some cases, demonstrators have pulled down statues or defaced them with graffiti.

In addition to Fedrick, the group will include:

♦ Michael Patrick, marketing and strategic growth at Chick-fil-A;

♦ Herbert Phipps, a retired former Georgia Court of Appeals judge;

♦ Neal J. Quirk, a lawyer and executive vice chairman of the University of Georgia Foundation;

♦ Sally Wallace, dean of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.

The group’s recommendations will be announced when it finishes its work.

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