‘Never Count Him Out’: The AJC’s Greg Bluestein On Whether Sonny Perdue Could Lead Ga.’s University System

Former University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley announced in January that he would step down as chancellor this summer. The Board of Regents, which oversees the system, put together a search committee and began to search for his replacement.

Things changed a few months later in March when the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported some Regents wanted to consider former Georgia Gov. and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue for the job.

 People I’ve spoken to say, ‘Never count Sonny Perdue out.’” – Greg Bluestein, political reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Shortly afterward, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the system’s accrediting agency, wrote a letter to the regents warning them they could put the accreditation of the entire university system at risk if they were to hire Perdue.

The board ‘paused’ its search, and in June, it tapped Teresa MacCartney as interim chancellor.

AJC reporter Greg Bluestein broke the story. He spoke to WABE about how the pieces came together and shares one of the messages made clear to him by sources: Never count Sonny Perdue out.