Several Atlanta University Center students say they boarded a bus in September expecting a networking opportunity with business leaders, only to discover they were headed to meet Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson.
The Sept. 18 gathering at Jackson Healthcare in Alpharetta has raised questions about how the event was organized and why Jackson’s identity was not disclosed to most students beforehand. While some attendees say they were misled into participating in what appeared to be a political event, the two Morehouse students who organized it insist their goal was to connect students with influential business leaders, not promote Jackson’s campaign for governor.
“If you ask a politician political leaning questions, they’re going to give you political leaning answers. They’re going to lean into the politics because at the end of the day, they’re still a politician,” said Terrence Drew, one of the student organizers of the event.
Terrence Drew and co-organizer Maxwell Pierre-Philippe privately distributed flyers to Morehouse and Spelman students they believed would benefit from the networking opportunity.
The flyer promised “an exclusive experience for ambitious students ready to step into rooms and conversations that shape what’s next,” with access to billionaires, White House advisers, business leaders and Georgia industry executives. It also advertised dinner and a private tour of “one of the South’s largest business/medical headquarters,” but did not identify any guests or disclose the location.
“What we do and always have done is invite people who we believe would take these opportunities seriously. People that we know. That’s why we didn’t publicize this,” Drew said.
About 30 students boarded a bus at Morehouse College for the event, accompanied by Drew and Pierre-Philippe, along with Takosha Swan, a lifelong republican who ran for lieutenant governor and lost the republican primary in May 2026.
Only a few students knew Jackson would be there. Some attended hoping to challenge his political views, while others said they accepted pro-Jackson T-shirts as a joke rather than a show of support.
The bus arrived at Jackson Healthcare in Alpharetta, a facility founded by Jackson, although organizers said it was not their first choice of venue.
Drew said they initially approached the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, but the center declined to host the gathering after receiving the guest list.
“RICE, when we declared to them the full attendance list, then turned around and said, ‘Well, no, this event can’t happen,’” Drew said.
Consequently, the event was relocated to Jackson Healthcare, which is owned and founded by Rick Jackson.
Upon arrival, students were ushered into a large room, where Frank Murphy, who has appeared alongside Jackson at campaign-related events, briefly addressed the group before introducing the gubernatorial candidate. Murphy is a former NFL player and founder of Churches, Communities, and Schools (CCS) Plan Legacy Institute.
Jackson, a billionaire businessman who grew up in foster care, is the Republican nominee for governor against Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms.
With the Nov. 3 election approaching, Morehouse student Joshua Meyers said he welcomed the opportunity to question Jackson about his political views.
“I was looking forward to the opportunity to engage with him,” Meyers said. “Not because I agree with him or his political stances, but rather because political engagement broadly is a good thing.”
The actual event
Kendrick Pugh, a student who attended the event, recalled Jackson telling the students about his life experiences and how that has impacted his business career.
“He really just talked about how he wants to make change in the world,” Pugh said. “Then at the end, he leads off with ‘I am not trying to make this political, but I am the republican governor candidate.”
Students then questioned Jackson about his positions on healthcare, religion and capitalism. Pugh said he challenged Jackson’s support for capitalism, arguing that the economic system was exploitative. According to Pugh, Jackson defended capitalism, telling students, “Nobody’s holding a gun to your head to use a phone.”
Despite the pointed questions, Jackson appeared impressed with the students. Jayanth Chari recalled Jackson praising them as one of the smartest groups he had addressed and saying they were “raised right.”
The aftermath
After dinner and a tour of the facility, students boarded the bus back to campus. Pugh said several students questioned Swan about why Jackson’s involvement had not been disclosed beforehand.
“If you had known he was going to be there, you wouldn’t have come,” Swan responded, according to Pugh.
Neither Swan, Jackson nor Murphy responded to The Maroon Tiger’s requests for comment.
Two days after the event, Swan posted on Instagram under the headline “Atlanta HBCU Students meet Republicans.”
The post described Swan as connecting Morehouse and Spelman students with “Multibillionaire Businessman & Candidate for Governor Rick Jackson,” without mentioning that some attendees said they had not known Jackson would be there.
Pugh said he tried to comment on Swan’s Instagram post to explain that students had not known Jackson would attend, but his comments were deleted and Swan eventually blocked him.
Drew said he secured an agreement with Jackson’s campaign not to use footage from the gathering for political purposes. Pugh also alleged that Drew and Pierre-Philippe discouraged him from publicly criticizing the event, a claim both organizers denied.
Drew disputed Pugh’s account, saying he was not responsible for communicating the event’s details to him. Pugh maintained that both organizers had discouraged him from publicly criticizing the gathering. Pierre-Philippe said he subsequently tried to arrange a private conversation with Pugh to address his concerns.
Pierre-Philippe defended the organizers’ handling of the event, saying students could have learned Jackson’s identity beforehand by asking.
“He never explicitly asked who was going to be on the trip,” Pierre-Philippe said of Pugh. “If he would have asked, I would have definitely told him of Rick Jackson.”
