Due to the massive mishandling of the sad and horrific events that occurred on campus in recent weeks, this petition calls for a review of how the University of Georgia responded to the tragedies and endorses the possible consequences of said review. The tragic recent events were made more despicable due to the University of Georgia’s dreadful response, led by UGA’s president, Jere Morehead. Morehead and the University of Georgia have displayed that they are no longer vessels of what is best for UGA and show an apparent disregard for faculty, students, and more. A university should have students' best interests, hopes, safety, beliefs, and more in mind, but UGA has failed in this regard, as displayed by the list below, which recounts all the wrongdoings of the university in the context of the deaths of two students.

- According to a university email, Laken Riley was found dead at 12:38 p.m. Students were not notified by the university until 2:24 p.m., despite the threat being at large. Furthermore, classes continued until 5:30 p.m. that day, meaning a student was murdered on campus, and classes persisted for five more hours. This left students fearing for their safety and was also detrimental to their mental health.

- No widespread announcement of the suicide victim (name omitted here for respect of the family) was made until February 23rd, Friday, at 7:32 p.m. A notice was sent out at 10:37 a.m. the following morning to students from “ArchNews,” but certain accounts, such as the creator of this petition, did not receive it despite being a full-time student. Students were the main source of information on the subject for 48 hours and were the only source between the time of the tragic event and 10:37 a.m. 

- While some classes extended or manipulated deadlines due to these tragic events, it was not mandated by the university. While class was canceled on Friday and deadlines/tests on those days were moved, there were no specific deadline extensions for the days of Wednesday, Thursday, or the weekend/upcoming week.

- Emails from the university about the tragic events were found, in some cases, in some parts, to be AI-generated. ZeroGPT and QuillBot found instances of AI in over 40% of the email sent by Jere Morehead on February 23rd, Friday, at 7:32 p.m. While this is not definitive, the emails were also potent with messages of public relations, including where, in the previously mentioned message, Jere Morehead stops writing about the apprehension of the suspect and highlights how 16 million dollars have been invested in safety in the last eight years. - Morehead explicitly highlights 16 million dollars being invested in security over the past 8 years (2 million per year). According to Forbes, the UGA football team had a record budget of 162.3 million in 2023. [More on funding is below.]

- Eyewitness accounts have Jere Morehead as one of the first notable figures leaving the vigil/celebration of life. The event was open to speakers. Morehead did not speak and was seen leaving during an extended moment of silence that followed the end of the scheduled speakers. Furthermore, construction on Sanford Stadium persisted during the vigil, meaning loud noises interrupted what was supposed to be a somber event.

- The press conference at 7 p.m. on the night of February 23rd was disrespectful to the family and friends of the deceased. The event was streamed on YouTube, where the chat was left on, allowing viewers to spew hate speech. Furthermore, those who spoke at the press conference were obviously unprepared.

- Further grievances from the past years include, but are not limited to: the significant number of UGA student pedestrians struck in car accidents; the loss of Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy (and the circumstances surrounding their tragic loss); the lack of response to COVID-19; the armed robbery that occurred on campus less than a week before the two deaths; and the lack of blue lights (despite consistent pushes from students).

The author of this petition and likely signers fully understand that these tragic events are not the fault of the University of Georgia. The creator of this petition also fully understands that UGA President Morehead cannot be fully blamed for the grievances listed above. The recent step, announced on February 27th at 3:40 p.m., of increasing security measures by more than $7.3 million is a crucial first step, but these are things that students have been asking for only to finally be met due to a tragic event. However, the frustrations listed are significant enough to elicit massive change, and the creator and likely signees believe that these frustrations are enough to trigger a review and possible consequences.

Put simply, UGA has abandoned the most important pillars of being a university; they have inadequately cared for the safety and well-being of UGA’s students and have not followed the will of said students. This petition serves, at the very least, as a notice that those attending the University of Georgia are not satisfied with the job the university did regarding the tragedies. At its very best, this petition hopes to inspire a review and find wrongdoing, if there was any, in the university's handling of the situation.