FORT VALLEY, Ga. — Kevin Blalock is the owner of Eighteen36 restaurant in downtown Fort Valley. He also comes from a long line of Fort Valley State University Wildcats.
"My parents went to school at Fort Valley, I got an uncle, I got a brother that went to school at Fort Valley -- my body just bleeds blue-and-gold."
When he heard about a bill that could change the school he loves, he was a little hesitant at first. "We could get more funding, it'll help all the schools and the students, then I'm all for it. It's just troubling to hear, it really is."
Blalock, like many other people, was under the impression that Fort Valley State may merge with Savannah State and Albany State universities, and all three schools would lose their status as historically black colleges and universities.
So we asked, if the bill is passed, will all three lose their HBCU status?
We verified that is false. The bill does not say this status will be lost.
"I don't know where this notion of they will lost HBCU status. All three of the schools are majority black," says state senator David Lucas.
It also points out creating the Georgia Agricultural and Mechanical University system to govern these three schools, not merge them.
"This bill proposes to set up a separate unit for the University System of Georgia just to fund the predominantly black colleges."
This bill in the Senate is a revision to a previous bill, that was killed in the House of Representatives during the legislative session earlier this year.