4th HBCU forum set for Tuesday

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - Albany State University alumni and community leaders will get together Tuesday to continue their fight against Senate Bill 270.

That bill would merge three historically black college and universities (HBCU) into one.

There are three areas of concentration for Tuesday’s forum:

Financial Investment and fundraising
Housing and student services/quality of life
Student retention.

This will be the fourth HBCU forum that stems from Senate Bill 270.

That proposed bill would merge Albany State, Fort Valley State and Savannah State universities into Georgia Agricultural and Mechanical University under a new separate university system than the University System of Georgia.

“We think that our senators maybe took the wrong route of what to do and we want to say we’re going to give you the strategies of how to make these universities go further than we imagined,” said Pastor Lorenzo Heard.

Five state senators have since withdrawn from the controversial bill.

The forum will take place Tuesday, July 16 at 6 p.m. at the Albany Police Headquarters.

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