The official minutes of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees are maintained by the Secretary of the Board. Certified copies of minutes may be requested by contacting the Board of Trustees’ Office. Electronic or other copies of original minutes are not official Board of Trustees' documents.
Board of Trustees
April 13, 2000
The Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina met on Thursday, April 13, 2000, at 2:00 p.m. in Room 201 of the Performing Arts Center on the USC Beaufort campus.
Members present were: Mr. William C. Hubbard, Chairman; Mr. Herbert C. Adams; Mr. Arthur S. Bahnmuller; Mr. William W. Doar, Jr., via telephone; Dr. C. Edward Floyd; Mr. Toney J. Lister; Mr. Miles Loadholt; Mr. J. DuPre Miller; Mr. Michael J. Mungo via telephone; Mr. M. Wayne Staton; Mr. John C. von Lehe, Jr.; Mr. Mack I. Whittle, Jr., Vice Chairman, via telephone; and Mr. Othniel H. Wienges, Jr.
Members absent were: Mr. James Bradley; Mr. Alexander English; Mr. Samuel R. Foster, II; Mrs. Helen C. Harvey; Mr. Robert N. McLellan; Ms. Darla D. Moore; and Mrs. Inez M. Tenenbaum. Faculty representative, Professor Caroline Strobel, and student representative, Ms. Jotaka Eaddy, were also absent.
Others present were: President John M. Palms; Secretary Thomas L. Stepp; Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Jerome D. Odom; Vice President and Chief Operating Officer J. Lyles Glenn; Vice President for Business and Finance John L. Finan; Vice President for Student and Alumni Services Dennis A. Pruitt; Vice President for Human Resources Jane M. Jameson; Vice President for Development Charles D. Phlegar; General Counsel Walter (Terry) H. Parham; Chancellor of USC Aiken Robert E. Alexander; Vice Provost and Executive Dean, Regional Campuses and Continuing Education, Chris P. Plyler; Dean of USC Beaufort Jane T. Upshaw; Dean of USC Salkehatchie Ann Carmichael; Dean of USC Sumter C. Leslie Carpenter; Beaufort County Councilman William L. McBride; Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs of USC Spartanburg Robert Connelly; Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, USC Beaufort, Lila N. Meeks; Minister from Brick Baptist Church on St. Helena Island Sally LaPoint; Member, Board of Directors of Hargray Communications Group, Inc., William W. Jones; USC Columbia Facilities Management: Director and University Architect Charles G. Jeffcoat and Assistant Director of Planning Services Donna Collins; Architect with the Boudreaux Group Scott Garvin; Director of Public Affairs Russell McKinney; representative from Distance Education and Instructional Support, Brian Jenkins; Associate Director of Periodicals, University Publications, Chris Horn; representative from Media Relations Jason Snyder; former USC Columbia SGA President Malik Husser; guest of Mr. Bahnmuller, Roger Hambree; and representatives from the media.
Chairman Hubbard called the meeting to order and stated that notice of the meeting had been posted and the press notified as required by the Freedom of Information Act; the agenda and supporting materials had been circulated to the members; and a quorum was present.
Chairman Hubbard welcomed everyone present and congratulated the Trustees who had been re-elected by the General Assembly the previous day. They were: Herbert C. Adams; James Bradley; Samuel R. Foster, II; Helen C. Harvey; Miles Loadholt; Robert N. McLellan; J. DuPre Miller; and M. Wayne Staton.
Chairman Hubbard explained Mrs. Harvey's regrets that she was in Europe and not able to be present for this important meeting in Beaufort. He thanked Dean Jane Upshaw of USC Beaufort for hosting the Board of Trustees meeting.
The members of the University family were invited to introduce themselves, and Mr. Snyder introduced the members of the media who were present. The Reverend Sally LaPoint was invited to deliver the Invocation.
Chairman Hubbard stated that there were personnel matters with respect to honorary faculty titles, appointments with tenure, and honorary degree candidates as well as contractual matters with respect to gift naming opportunities that were appropriate for discussion in Executive Session. Dr. Floyd moved to enter Executive Session, and Mr. Adams seconded the motion. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
The following persons were invited to remain: Dr. Palms, Mr. Stepp, Dr. Odom, Mr. Glenn, Mr. Finan, Ms. Jameson, Dr. Pruitt, Mr. Phlegar, Mr. Parham, Dr. Plyler, Mr. Jeffcoat, Mr. McKinney, Ms. Hyatt, and Ms. Mayfield.
Executive Session
Return to Open Session
There were no additions, deletions, or corrections to the minutes. They stood approved as distributed.
On behalf of the Academic Affairs and Faculty Liaison Committee, Mr. Wienges moved approval of this new program in the School of Public Health. Mr. Staton seconded the motion. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
On behalf of the Academic Affairs and Faculty Liaison Committee, Mr. Wienges moved approval of this graduate certificate in the School of Medicine. Mr. Miller seconded the motion. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
— Dr. Richard Hohn , College of Education, retiring June 30, 2000.
— Dr. Richard Kherlopian , College of Education, retiring June 30, 2000.
On behalf of the Academic Affairs and Faculty Liaison Committee, Mr. Wienges moved approval of these honorary titles. Mr. Miller seconded the motion. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
— Mr. Thomas H. Stork , Thomas Cooper Library, retiring June 30, 2000.
On behalf of the Academic Affairs and Faculty Liaison Committee, Mr. Wienges moved approval of this honorary title. Mr. Bahnmuller seconded the motion. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
— Dr. J. Stanley Fryer , Darla Moore School of Business, retiring June 30, 2000.
— Dr. Robert W. Clower , Darla Moore School of Business, retiring August 15, 2000.
— Dr. Leonard Pellicer , College of Education, retiring June 30, 2000.
— Dr. Larry H. Winecoff , College of Education, retiring May 15, 2000.
— Dr. John R. Carpenter , College of Science & Mathematics, Department of Geological Sciences, retiring June 30, 2000.
— Dr. Willard S. Moore , College of Science & Mathematics, Department of Geological Sciences, retiring June 30, 2000.
— Dr. Robert F. Sabalis , School of Medicine, retiring September 30, 2000.
— Dr. Robert E. Alexander , USC Aiken, retiring June 30, 2000. He would also be awarded the title Chancellor Emeritus.
On behalf of the Academic Affairs and Faculty Liaison Committee, Mr. Wienges moved approval of these honorary titles. Mr. Bahnmuller seconded the motion.
Mr. Miller suggested a unanimous second to the motion to approve Dr. Alexander's honorary titles. There was no objection.
The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
On behalf of the Academic Affairs and Faculty Liaison Committee, Mr. Wienges moved approval. Mr. Miller seconded the motion. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
On behalf of the Academic Affairs and Faculty Liaison Committee, Mr. Wienges moved approval. Mr. Miller seconded the motion. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
On behalf of the Academic Affairs and Faculty Liaison Committee, Mr. Wienges moved approval. Mr. Lister seconded the motion. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
Chairman Hubbard asked Dr. Pruitt to present a "thumbnail sketch" of the proposal. Dr. Pruitt stated that in order to continue the construction of the project, the administration was asking the Board to increase the budget by $6.3 million; $2.5 million would be funded with Institutional Bonds that would become available in 2004, and $3.8 million would be funded from student fees which were already being collected to retire the debt. The scope of the project had been reduced via "value engineering" by $4.3 million. The combination of increasing the budget and value engineering would allow the project to be re-bid in July at a potential 11 month delay.
On behalf of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, Mr. Loadholt moved the Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center Project budget be increased from the Board approved amount of $38,174,000 to $44,474,000, and that an additional $2,500,000 in Institutional Bonds be authorized for this project. Dr. Floyd seconded the motion. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
On behalf of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, Mr. Loadholt moved to name the first multipurpose academic building on the New River Campus "The Hargray Building." Mr. Adams seconded. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
Chairman Hubbard recognized Mr. Jones, and then, on behalf of the Board of Trustees and the entire University of South Carolina, Chairman Hubbard expressed appreciation to Mr. Jones and to Hargray Communications Group, Inc. for the fine example which had been set and for the many contributions to the University and to the state of South Carolina.
Mr. Jones offered his sincere appreciation for the opportunity to be present. He extended the deep regrets of Ms. Gloria Taggert, President and Chairman of its Board, for not being able to attend. Hargray Communications Group looked forward to partnering with the University and saw this action as an opportunity for the University to expand and to assist with a movement toward offering a full Baccalaureate degree.
The Fiscal Policy Committee met on March 30, 2000. Internal Audits were thoroughly reviewed for the Office of the Registrar, USC Union, and the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management. He commended the Office of the Registrar for a "clean" audit. The audits had been distributed to the Board according to established procedure. Appropriate aspects of the audits would receive continued review. Audits with findings older than six months were also reviewed. These outstanding items would remain on the Audit Tracking Report until they were fully resolved.
A report of the values of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) endowments through the first quarter of the fiscal year was presented to the Committee.
A report of the Designated Fund Activity through the second quarter of the current fiscal year was presented. Expenditures continued to be in line with the budgets and with past experiences for the first quarter.
The Student-Trustee Liaison Committee had met on March 30, 2000, with student representatives from most of the University's campuses in attendance.
Students reported on the many activities taking place on their respective campuses, and they continued to be heavily involved with their campuses' activities and in their communities. Most student elections were completed and the voter turnout had increased from the previous year. Most campuses were involved with lectures and service organizations.
Dr. Gene Luna, the Director of Housing, reported on a proposed housing fee increase for the Columbia campus. The rate structure in support of this proposed budget required a 2.5 percent operational increase. In addition to this, the University would also propose an additional 1.5 percent increase to allow the accelerated focus on life safety and deferred maintenance to continue without wavering. The increase would be presented to the Board of Trustees as part of the established procedures for approval of the budget for the following year. The students present had no major objections to the proposal as presented.
Dean Upshaw said it was a great day at USC Beaufort and asked Dr. Plyler to stand and be recognized. She explained that they had spent many hours working to promote a vision of the future of USC Beaufort.
Dean Upshaw gave a power point presentation stating that she was pleased to have the opportunity to update the Board of Trustees and President Palms on the current state and future plans of USC Beaufort.
She said, like real estate, the story at USC Beaufort was "location, location, location." Its location and geographic situation makes USC Beaufort different from any other USC campus. A drive to Columbia from Beaufort would take two hours and fifteen minutes, and a drive to Columbia from Hilton Head would take three hours. For the residents of this region, access to Baccalaureate education was a major concern. Incredible growth was fueling the development of USC in the Low Country. Demographic statics revealed that USCB needed to prepare for current residents and for people who would be migrating to the area in the near future.
Dean Upshaw said that Dr. Larry Roland, USCB's History Professor Emeritus and the local source for the past and future, projected that by the year 2050, 70 percent of South Carolina's population would live within 50 miles of the coast. Everyone at USCB was focused on keeping up with the exponential growth.
One component of this growth was a greater demand for higher education opportunities. South Carolina was a state with many baccalaureate degree granting institutions, but for the present and future residents of this region, there was no four year school unless they were to drive a minimum of three hours round trip to Charleston, Orangeburg, or Aiken.
Dean Upshaw expressed her hope that many of the Trustees would be present in a few days to help celebrate the largest group of graduates in the history of USC Beaufort: 83 students would received associate degrees, and 94 students would receive baccalaureate degrees earned through USC cooperative programs. At the current time, USC Columbia offered Interdisciplinary Studies and Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Administration, and USC Aiken offered Business Management, Early Childhood Education, and Nursing to the students of this historically under-served region of the state.
There was growing demand to expand local access to four year degrees. USCB had hired four new faculty in Economics, Psychology, and English. Dr. Roy Flanagan, one of the new English Professors, was a distinguished Milton Scholar, and he would be publishing the Milton Review from USCB. Dr. Flanagan was planning the 2001 International Milton Symposium to be at USC Beaufort.
The need for access to more baccalaureate degrees and the on-site faculty who could teach the necessary courses meant that USC Beaufort would soon request additional cooperative degree programs. Dean Upshaw thanked Provost Odom for creating a task force that would work to develop a USC full-time tuition so that students in these programs were treated fairly and that both the delivering and receiving institutions were rewarded equitably.
The key to making the programs available to the residents throughout the region was surely, in part, the New River Campus. Dean Upshaw expressed her gratitude for the gift from Union Camp, now International Paper, of eighty acres in 1994. The New River Campus, with its central location, its proximity to I-95, its space to expand, and the support and excitement it generated in southern Beaufort and Jasper Counties made the site central to USCB's plans. There was both public and private support for the expansion. USCB was indebted to Dr. Palms, to all of the Board of Trustees, to the legislative delegation, and to everyone who helped get the state money for the project.
Dean Upshaw also wanted to thank publicly the Beaufort and Jasper County Councils, introducing Councilman Bill McBride who was present. The Councils were an integral part of providing the public/private partnership.
Dean Upshaw acknowledged the incredibly generous support of Helen and Brantley Harvey and of Hargray Communications Group, Inc. Groundbreaking ceremonies would be held as soon as the necessary approvals were secured. The first 55,560 square foot multipurpose facility, now the Hargray Building, would house all of the classes, science labs, student services, library, computer labs, and faculty and administrative offices that were currently housed in one-half of a leased facility that was 8,000 square feet.
There was also an important construction project underway on Carteret Street to restore the Beaufort College Building to its 1852 facade and renovate the interior. This project was also a public/private partnership utilizing state funds, Beaufort County money, and private support.
Dean Upshaw reported on the "Buy a Brick, Buy a Window, Buy a Door" campaign. Before the campaign was announced, commitments of in excess of $50,000 had been received.
There was much excitement at the Beaufort Campus. A part of every developing University was a small group of leaders who were committed to opening doors, not only for the students of today, but for the students for tomorrow: the children of future generations. Dean Upshaw stated that those were present at USC Beaufort, in the faculty, on the staff, in the community, on the county council, and in the legislative delegation. Equally important were those leaders in Columbia with Dr. Palms, on the Board of Trustees, with the Columbia faculty, with the Columbia administration, and with the USC Aiken faculty and administration.
Dean Upshaw concluded that, together, the doors could be opened for the people of this region of South Carolina. Mrs. Harvey had requested that Dean Upshaw read the following letter:
I am very sorry that I am unable to attend the USC Board of Trustees meeting today in Beaufort. Family business in London precludes my being there. However, I wanted to send greetings to the Hargray Board on this special day in the life of the entire University and USC Beaufort. Both Brantley and I are very grateful for the Hargray Board's willingness to partner with the University by giving $3.5 million to build the first building on the New River Campus. We are pleased that the University's Board of Trustees will name the first facility the "Hargray Building."
For many years, we have known that having a centrally located site was an essential element in the development of a full-service campus of the University to serve the residents of our region. The New River Campus will meet this critical need. By having a location at the focal point of the largest growth in the state, USC Beaufort will be in a position to change the face of higher education in the Lowcountry. The Hargray gift makes this campus possible.
I thank the Hargray Board for its visionary leadership in making the dream that we have held so long become a reality.
Congratulations to all of the Hargray Board and to the University of South Carolina Beaufort.
Again, I want to say a very special thank you to the Hargray Board of Directors for their visionary leadership through their gift of $3.5 million for the first multi-purpose building of the New River Site of USC Beaufort. This commitment is an incredible example of how a successful business, as I said at the luncheon, can look beyond itself and give back to the community that it serves. This gift should serve as a challenge, and we hope it does serve as a challenge to other businesses to become a partner with USC Beaufort to provide this important resource for the people of the Low Country. I again want to thank Mr. Wes Jones and all of the people at Hargray for all that they have done and the vision that they have - - and then the followup to that vision that is making all of this a reality.
We are also very pleased that the Jasper County Council made their commitment to the New River Campus by contributing $600,000 dollars for the construction of this building and this coupled with Beaufort County's $2.4 million means that local governments will contribute a total of $3 million for this project. Mr. McBride, thank you again for your leadership in this effort and all of your colleagues on the County Council. This is a great example of the way partnerships are suppose to work. Private sector, local government, state government, private individuals, and businesses all working together for the greater good of the people in a particular area, in this case the Low Country of South Carolina.
I was present that day with Governor Campbell and the Union Camp folks when they made the generous gift of land. And, at that time it was pine trees and pine trees. It is exciting; we toured that facility as a Board of Trustees following our retreat last year. And now to know that we have the funds in place after all the hard work to see it come to fruition is very exciting. We have certainly come a long way from the time of that announcement. It just shows what tenacity will do.
The University of South Carolina's presence in Beaufort is certainly important to the University, and we are very proud that the University of South Carolina Beaufort has a forty year history of providing educational degrees and services here in Beaufort. As Jane said, we are currently in the process of restoring the Beaufort College Building back to its 1852 facade. This restoration outside, coupled with the renovation inside, will be a $1.5 million effort and accomplishment when it is complete this summer.
The investment in Beaufort in facilities and property is certainly upwards, and even over, $20 million. USC Beaufort's New River site is about expanding facilities for the region, but clearly not at the expense of the campus in Beaufort.
All of this is about access to higher education; it is about access to knowledge. This campus - - this University in this Low Country - - will be the cornerstone of the new economy in this part of South Carolina. We all know that investment goes where there is knowledge, a knowledge base, and a place where knowledge is being created, stored, and transferred. This is what this campus will do for this region. It will be a place where knowledge is created, knowledge is stored, and knowledge is transferred. It will attract new investment - - high tech investment - - in this region; it will be the cornerstone and the catalyst for growth and even more progress in this area.
This region has been under served for higher education opportunities. Early in this decade, this Board met here and saw for the first time demographics similar to those Dean Upshaw showed us today. I remember vividly seeing the statistics showing the growth of this region. Those predictions have proven to be accurate. This region is exploding. That growth in population demands that the state of South Carolina and the people in this area work together to provide higher educational opportunities.
The University of South Carolina certainly is committed to providing those educational opportunities for the people of the Low Country, and we look forward to the growth of USC Beaufort as it not only mirrors the exponential growth, but as it becomes the leader in the progress of this region.
Dr. Upshaw and I were reminiscing earlier about a time I was here before when the Two-Year Study Committee of the Commission on Higher Education had heard plans for, perhaps, a merger of USC Beaufort and the Technical College of the Low Country. Our task was to study the opportunities down here, to study the program, and to try to determine what was the appropriate course for USC Beaufort. Dean Upshaw said at that time there was a sense here that maybe the whole future of this institution in this area was at stake. This campus survived that. We all survived those initiatives. I think what the study itself proved is that we see here today, that there is an absolute need for this kind of campus, this kind of University, in this location. Fortunately, we have moved ahead with that vision and not another vision that would have not led us down the path that we are now enjoying and seeing come to reality today.
Dreams do come to reality through hard work and all of you, connected with this campus, are certainly to be commended for your tenacity, your hard work, and your diligence in seeing the New River Campus come to fruition.
We are all about students. The transfer of knowledge is a vital function of any University, and this campus does it so well. We, as a Board, are certainly aware of this. We see evidence of the quality of the faculty on this campus. The faculty, at USC Beaufort, is known for its quality, and that quality is known throughout the University of South Carolina system. And, it is known for its teaching, for its excellence in teaching. This Board is delighted to be a part of the University of South Carolina at Beaufort.
I would also like to report to you today on a meeting I attended about two weeks ago. For the second year in a row, the Board Chairs of the Southeastern Conference met, and it was, for the second year in a row, in New Orleans. It was a very enlightening experience for me, and I really do get a lot out of those meetings. I think I reported to you last year at our Lancaster meeting about some of the thoughts and initiatives that came from those discussions, and I would like to report to you today on the meeting two weeks ago.
The most enlightening part of it was a presentation from Dr. Michael Crow, who is the Executive Vice President for Research at Columbia University in New York City. He said that the Universities are the critical asset in the knowledge economy; I just spoke about that a moment ago. He noted that 75 percent of science and technology is academic science and technology. And that the economy is driven more and more, as we all know, by this technological advancement. The business of venture capital is investing in those who have knowledge. Again, another reason why we have to make an investment in this campus as well, is because that is the way the world is moving. We have to have strong colleges and universities.
Columbia University is actually selling knowledge. It is selling the contents of its courses to the media for use over the internet. And last year, Columbia University received $130 million in revenues from licenses and patents alone. That does not include their grant funding.
This is certainly an untapped resource at the University of South Carolina. We need to put a lot more emphasis, I think, on protecting our intellectual property and seeing to it that this property is developed, protected, and put into the marketplace.
At Columbia University, Dr. Crow's office has ten people, and he described how they literally get on bicycles, ride around campus, go into laboratories, meet with professors, and they ask them, "What are you doing?" or "What are you working on?" And, they gather ideas and they see the projects that are underway. That group of people's task is to try to take what they learn and match it up to the marketplace and see if there is a niche for these processes, technical advancements, and scientific endeavors that the faculty are working on at that campus. He said that the important thing is to let the faculty do its work, and his group is designed to support that academic work. His group is supposed to worry about the marketplace and let the faculty just go about thinking and doing their teaching.
Interestingly the budget for his office is $2.2 million, plus the legal fees that are necessary for the protection of that property for the patent lawyers. Out of that investment annually of $2.2 million, Columbia University gets a return of $130 million. Charlie, that is almost as efficient at fundraising as our Development Office. It is really a remarkable thing if you make the right investments in higher education; you can actually get immediate returns that more than pay for that investment.
Then Columbia University takes the return on that investment and reinvests it in the faculty. The University goes another step and rewards those faculty members who work or engage in interdisciplinary work or multi-disciplinary work. At Columbia University the effort is to try to get faculty to work together. To get someone from Physics, Chemistry, or Biology to work together to not keep the research areas confined to a particular unit or department. He said the key is collaboration, not only among departments, but between colleges.
In that connection, about a month ago I had the opportunity to meet with some trustees from MUSC and Clemson to start some discussions on ways the three research universities of this state can collaborate in an effort to try to take advantage of some of the opportunities that will be presented in the next five years. I met with Dr. Palms before that meeting, and he educated me on an entity called the Georgia Research Alliance which is a template that he thinks we should use in this state to gain greater grant funding from out of state to allow us to import more money into South Carolina. That organizational structure has private sector businesses putting seed money into an organization that is governed by CEOs and the Presidents from the research universities in Georgia, and they have to attend those meetings to show how important it is for the professors to work together. Priorities are set within that organization, and it creates opportunities for much greater access to grant funding than if they tried to go it alone.
Dr. Crow gave some interesting comments on how he perceives grant funding. He is on a number of review committees that decide how grant funds are to be allocated. He said that in a place like the University of South Carolina, you may not have the same critical mass of people in the top echelon of a particular discipline, but throughout your campus and throughout your campuses you do. You have to take your stars and put them together and go after these funds. If you are nimble about doing that, and if the faculty is entrepreneurial, and people are not concerned about turf, and they are not worried about protecting their own domain, he said the opportunities are unlimited.
I have heard reports that grant funds for the National Institute of Health, for instance, may double in the next five years. We want to be in a position in South Carolina and at the University of South Carolina to take advantage of these opportunities. So we are going to be looking for ways that departments within the University system can work together, have interdepartmental cooperation, and have cooperation among the colleges in this state to take advantage of these opportunities.
He also enlightened us about internet universities. He described Britannica University which is under development. Britannica University is going out and cherry picking faculty from great institutions and basically creating a university that will be taught using modern media, especially the internet. The smart universities are embracing this digital media enterprise; I don't think any of us can turn our back on it and say that we are going to keep doing things the way we have been doing them before. Today we saw a video presentation that would have not been possible thirty years ago, but we embrace that. We have embraced the telephone, we have embraced personal computers, and we have to embrace the internet. We have to take advantage of it and not run from it, if we are going to be successful.
He said universities are uniquely positioned to benefit from this technology because unlike other institutions which can provide content for the internet, universities authenticate knowledge. They can put their stamp of approval on it by saying this is the content from a certain course that has been certified and validated. We are in a unique position to take advantage of those technological opportunities.
I am very pleased to report that the Board Chairs of this conference have agreed and accepted our invitation to host the conference at the University of South Carolina next Spring. So, we will have two representatives from each Board of the Southeastern Conference coming to our campus. You will be hearing more about it. I think it is a great opportunity for us to show off the University of South Carolina and make sure that all the other Boards in the Conference know that we are a vital part of it. Frankly, I think many of those Board Members can learn a lot from the way that we are progressing and much of the outstanding progress that we are making.
In conclusion, I want to thank this Board for its important efforts in the recruitment of students to the University. I especially want to thank those members of the Board who have hosted dinners and helped recruit students -- especially Mr. Adams, Mr. Bahnmuller, Mr. Bradley, Dr. Floyd, Mrs. Harvey, Mr. Lister, Mr. Loadholt, Mr. Staton, Mr. Doar, Mr. von Lehe, Mr. Whittle, Mr. Wienges, and Mr. Mungo. All of these people hosted events in their communities with other members of the Board of Visitors.
All this is important as we try to matriculate an outstanding class at the University of South Carolina.
Mr. Stepp asked the Board to recognize Chairman Hubbard's contributions to recruiting the best students. Chairman Hubbard then continued his remarks:
It is really important that we work together. Recruitment of the best students is important for the progress of South Carolina to keep these top students in our state. Statistics show that 75 percent of the students who leave do not come back. We need to make sure that the academically talented students stay in the state of South Carolina and contribute to the progress of this state like the progress that we had described to us today on our visit here to USC Beaufort.
So thank you very much for all that you do, and again, thank you Dean Upshaw for your hospitality. I appreciate it.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Chairman has touched our appreciation and expressions of appreciation of the high spirits at USC Beaufort. It is a wonderful time for higher education in the Low Country.
I am glad to hear that there will be more baccalaureate degrees awarded than two year degrees. We offer five baccalaureate degrees programs now. We are growing. Seeing these wonderful students here at Beaufort demonstrates that we have come a long way. I want to congratulate all of you and also thank you for mentoring Chris and giving him the appropriate skills to assume his new responsibilities -- it has been wonderful.
For the Board of Trustees, as a point of information, last week I had the opportunity to visit Southern Methodist University as Chair of their reaccreditation committee. That is upon us every ten years. Aiken is soon to be reaccredited. The entire University will be reaccreditated next year and the process and the criteria have changed considerably since you were reaccredited 10 years ago. One of the aspects of this process is Board involvement and Board awareness of what is going on. The Board should be aware, as you know, of the strategic planning that takes place in all of the departments and in the colleges, that there is an institutional effectiveness assessment of how these programs are doing and with the product that is being produced, and the feedback brought into the strategic planning process. So, there is a continuous evaluation of institutional effectiveness.
At the appropriate time, particular Board Members are to serve on some of these reaccreditation committees. Peter Becker is heading our reaccreditation process.
There is a traditional process that you use or you can request a non-traditional process. That does not mean that you must not satisfy the traditional criteria and standards. But, we have chosen a non-traditional process focusing on information technology and how it will affect the running of our institution. That process is taking place.
In the meantime, we are also monitoring all the checks and balances and the other things that we have to do. We will be keeping you informed. We want to be sure that we incorporate you into this process.
Finally, it is a critical time in the legislature. You have heard this Board speak and the President speak about the effect of the flag, particularly on the Columbia Campus, with the kinds of cancellations we have had to endure of some of conferences and symposia and the affect this has had on faculty recruiting, as well as deans' recruiting. Students have expressed their concern about attending colleges in South Carolina as long as the flag is hanging. Yesterday's progress in the Senate is well received by the institution.
But, the budget for next year is equally as important for us. The Senate is taking up that budget. If you have friends in the Senate, I would encourage you to have them support a stronger budget for higher education than came out of the House. There is only $2 million in the House budget that went for performance funding, the actual "formula funding" for all of higher education in South Carolina. That is certainly not adequate. The Senate will have to correct that, and so we urge you to encourage the Senate.
We have particular items in the budget process that are very important to us, and I think you know what they are. We are getting a lot of help from the business community, but this is a time for us to put a little pressure on the legislature.
Mr. Chairman, that is my report. I appreciate your support.
Mr. Husser made the following comments:
I would just like to say that I have found it a pleasure to serve the Carolina Community in the capacity in which I did. Coming to Carolina I felt as if I wouldn't be able to be inclusive coming from the small town of Goose Creek here in the Low Country. I felt that going to such a large institution, it would be hard for me to stand out.
But, encountering such administrators as Dr. Pruitt, Mr. Brewer, Dr. Palms and, you, the Board, I have found myself being able to adjust myself well, become acclimated to the environment and serve the Carolina Community to the best of my capacity.
I thank God for this opportunity, and I thank you the Board for serving the Carolina Community as you do and as I wish to do in the future, for all those whom I encounter. Thank you very much.
There being no further matters of business to come before the Board, Chairman Hubbard declared the meeting adjourned at 3:18 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas L. Stepp
Secretary