About 20 University of Georgia students, faculty, and staff gathered outside the Georgia Center on Oct. 6 to protest the University System of Georgia Board of Regents’ appointment of Thomas Fanning as the system’s next chancellor.
Fanning, who spent more than four decades at Southern Company and served as the company’s chairman, president and CEO, was named the 15th chancellor of the University System of Georgia on Oct. 1. He will succeed outgoing chancellor Sonny Perdue on Jan. 1, 2027.
UGA’s independent student newspaper, The Red and Black, previously reported on Fanning’s appointment, and included concerns that several groups had regarding the choice.
Wage equity concerns
The protesters, organized by United Campus Workers of Georgia, held signs calling for living wages and better support for university workers as the Board of Regents met inside. They chanted together before attempting to enter the Georgia Center, where they were ushered back outside.
One of the chants asked, “What’s outrageous?” The group responded, “Georgia’s wages!”
While Fanning’s appointment was the focus of the protest, concerns about wages and working conditions were also central to the group’s message.
Alana Jackson, a UGA graduate and full-time university employee, questioned why someone with a corporate background was chosen to lead a higher education system. Jackson said she was attending as a union member and was not speaking on behalf of the university.
“Why do we have someone who is not education-related in an education board?” Jackson asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Jackson also came to the protest because of concerns about how university employees are paid. She said seven people in her position receive the same pay, but she knows of two who received a recent market-based raise while she did not.
She would have preferred merit-based raises but believes cost-of-living increases should be available to all employees. If raises are based on market value, she said, they should be applied consistently among employees in similar positions.
“I think in general, the university system just cares more about money than about the actual academics,” Jackson said. “It is very disheartening that we’re running this as a company rather than the academic organization that it is.”
Cindy Hahamovich, a UGA history professor, said her concerns go beyond Fanning himself. She questioned the Board of Regents’ level of higher education experience and said she would like to see more people with backgrounds in university leadership involved in the system’s decision-making.
Hahamovich also pointed to wages as a major concern for faculty, staff and graduate students. She said the university system’s recent cost-of-living increases were the first since the 1990s and that this year’s raises have been based on market value without a clear explanation of how those values are calculated.
“Prices are going up, health insurance is going up,” Hahamovich said. “So in fact, people’s wages are all going down. Our real wages are going down, and we’ve got lots of people on this campus who make less than the cost of living in Athens, which also keeps going up.”
Hahamovich said United Campus Workers gives employees and students a way to organize across different parts of the university.
“You can get a lot done when you come together across the normal lines that divide us,” Hahamovich said.
Fanning’s corporate background
For Keegan Brooks, a UGA undergraduate and member of United Campus Workers of Georgia, Fanning’s corporate background was also a concern.
Brooks said the board’s choice does not show a positive vision for students, faculty and staff across Georgia’s public universities. He wants the university system to prioritize living wages for student workers, staff, adjunct faculty and graduate workers, as well as cost-of-living adjustments.
“Thomas Fanning is not the right choice for Georgia students or universities,” Brooks said. “Universities are not corporations, and we need a chancellor, not a CEO.”
