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.

The Student-Trustee Liaison Committee of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees met Friday, September 13, 2002, at 3:06 p.m. in the Carolina Plaza Board Room.

Members present were: Mr. Arthur S. Bahnmuller, Chairman; Mrs. Helen C. Harvey; Mr. Toney J. Lister; Mr. Miles Loadholt; Mr. Herbert C. Adams, Board Vice Chairman; and Mr. Mack I. Whittle, Jr., Board Chairman. Members absent were: Dr. C. Edward Floyd; Mr. James A. Shuford; and Mr. M. Wayne Staton.

Others present were: President Andrew A. Sorensen; Secretary Thomas L. Stepp; Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Jerome D. Odom; Vice President for Student and Alumni Services Dennis A. Pruitt; Vice President for Human Resources Jane M. Jameson; Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer William F. Hogue; Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Richard W. Kelly; Vice Provost and Executive Dean for Regional Campuses and Continuing Education Chris P. Plyler; Associate Vice Provost for Regional Campuses and Continuing Education Carolyn A. West; Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, USC Sumter, Lynwood Watts; General Counsel Walter (Terry) H. Parham; Director of Business Affairs Helen Zeigler; Director of the Department of Student Life, Division of Student and Alumni Services, Jerry T. Brewer; Director of Academic and Student Support Services, Regional Campuses and Continuing Education, David Hunter; USC Salkehatchie math professor Dr. Akira Iwasa; and Trustee Helen Harvey's spouse Mr. Brantley Harvey.

Student Government Association (SGA) representatives present were: USC Aiken: Vice President Kristin Allen and Secretary/Treasurer Amanda Brown; USC Beaufort: President Jonathan DuBose; USC Columbia: President Ankit Patel, Vice President Katie Dreiling, Treasurer Becky Floyd, Director of Institutional Affairs Jessica Steadman, and Chief-of-Staff Drew Richardson, and President of Carolina Productions David Schroder; USC Lancaster: Vice President Matthew Ellis; USC Salkehatchie: President Daryl Bartley, Vice President Erica Taylor, Walterboro Secretary Angel Rush, Allendale Secretary D. J. Smith, SGA Senators Zackery Scriven, Tehaji Gray, Joseph Mathis, Matt Saxon, and Valerie Blue, Parliamentarian Jeremy Frank, and SGA Advisor Kathy West; USC Spartanburg: Dean of Students Laura Puckett-Boler, and President Benjamin Jeter, Jr.; USC Sumter: Chair Ty Tyler, and members Ahmad Washington, Joanne Brown, and Brendan O'neal; USC Union: Vice President Jason Blue, Secretary Allen McClure, and SGA Senator Ashley Adams.

Chairman Bahnmuller called the meeting to order and welcomed those present. He invited Board members and the Administration to introduce themselves. No members of the media were in attendance. Chairman Bahnmuller stated that the agenda had been posted and the press had been notified as required by the Freedom of Information Act; the agenda had been circulated to Committee members; and a quorum was present to conduct business.

1. Introduction of New Student Officers: Chairman Bahnmuller invited incoming student leaders from each of the represented campuses to introduce themselves.

2. Reports from Campuses: Chairman Bahnmuller requested reports from each of the represented campuses.

   1. USC Aiken: Kristin Allen stated that enrollment had increased by 4 percent for the fall. The largest freshman class in history had accounted for full housing in May; plans for additional housing would take place in the fall. Several goals had included establishing sponsored scholarships for students on behalf of student government, increasing and encouraging more student participation on campus, conducting open monthly meetings with the executive committee for students to address issues and ideas, investigating ways to prevent another tuition increase, creating more weekend programming for all students, improving the current recycling program on campus, establishing a student athlete- of-the-week program, maintaining student appreciation days, and increasing student awareness of paper usage. Groundbreaking on a new baseball field would begin in the fall; $1 million had been donated by a former student for the construction of the new field.

   2. USC Beaufort: Jonathan DuBose reported that a parking problem had existed on the campus. Several SGA goals had included sponsoring a Spring Fest with a velcro wall, a dunking booth, and other fun activities. In conjunction with the festival in the spring and for an educational activity, an International Day had been planned. A partnership had been established with the international business class which had been taught through Aiken; the class would be a Beaufort course in the spring and Judy Mims, an Aiken faculty member, would assist with teaching the course. A community issues forum had been cancelled because of lack of participation. The third annual Club Fest would commence soon. The event would entail the setup of all clubs on the front lawn of the campus whereby students could learn about each club's mission which may yield an increase in student involvement. In addition, a pamphlet detailing each campus organization had been distributed to 1,500 students to assist with increasing participation.

   3. USC Lancaster: Matthew Ellis stated that the SGA goals for the year included obtaining more student participation on campus by increasing activities of interest to students and to offer activities which would be cost efficient to the SGA budget. Also, more cultural events and community service participation would be planned. Several existing activities had included a September 11, 2001 memorial, Convocation, Making College Count, and a movie night. Plans had been established to hold a back-to-school class which would be held during the following week. In addition, SGA elections would be held on October 2nd and 3rd. Other planned events included a Halloween bash, a voter registration function, and a spring fling.

   4. USC Salkehatchie: Daryl Bartley reminded the Committee about the campus setup which involved two locations - Allendale and Walterboro. The SGA had a house in each location. Weekly meetings of the two houses had occurred in the home location, as well as a meeting twice per year as an entire group in General Sessions.

      The goals planned for the year had been to hold at least one major activity each month for students on campus which would get them involved and connected to the campus. Faculty and staff would be encouraged to participate in the activities. Events included on-going community service activities and current involvement had included the March of Dimes, the American Cancer Society, and Relay for Life. Two traditional annual events would include a Feast Day in Allendale and a luau in Walterboro. Another goal had been to work on joint projects with the Opportunity Scholars Program and with the baseball team.

      Elections of Senators had been completed and plans had been underway for activities on both campuses. Back-to-school pizza parties had been hosted during the first week of classes and included karioke. The campus had planned to co-host a hot chilli-pepper eating contest with the Opportunity Scholars Program which would include a chilli cook-off in Allendale on October 8th and on October 17th in Walterboro. The affair, considered to be hot fun, would be the second annual event.

      The Opportunity Scholars had conducted their first summer bridge program with selected new freshman. During July and August, students worked with SGA staff members as well as the Salkehatchie faculty and staff, Admissions individuals, and Financial Aid staff who assisted them with bridging the transfer from high school to college. Two of the students involved in the program were serving on the SGA. The program had been very successful; plans for expansion of the bridge program next year had been made.

      The students had eagerly anticipated a visit by Dr. Sorensen to the Allendale campus on October 1st and to the Walterboro campus on October 22nd.

      The SGA had been committed to community service. The first community service project had been scheduled for October 3rd; the SGA would provide assistance to host a fund-raiser for the March of Dimes Walk America. The Allendale campus would be the site for a home beauty fashion show with vendors participating from all areas; the profits would go to the March of Dimes. During that time, the SGA would serve hotdogs and popcorn, and the baseball team would provide a car wash with all proceeds going to the March of Dimes. In addition, the March of Dimes and the SGA in Allendale would be cooking and selling breakfast sandwiches on campus prior to early morning classes on several selected days in September. The proceeds would go to the March of Dimes.

      The news in Walterboro had been the movie, Radio, which had been a true story about a handicapped man in Anderson, South Carolina, who had been the team manager for the local high school football team since 1964. The movie had been filmed in Walterboro; some of the scenes had been filmed on the campus. The students had hoped to be selected as movie extras. Plans for social events on campus as well as more community service activities would continue. A great year had been anticipated.

   5. USC Spartanburg: Benjamin Jeter stated that the campus had witnessed an overwhelming growth with an increase of over 22 percent in the student population. In addition, the campus experienced a 25 percent minority increase and a 25 percent non-traditional student increase, which was up 3 percent from last semester. Three capital projects had been nearly completed and included groundbreaking on a new dormitory facility, the National Guard Armory Readiness Center opening in the spring, and six new soccer fields which had been built in partnerships with Spartanburg County. During the past spring semester, two USC Spartanburg students had graduated with a minor in non-profit administration; they had been the first ever in the nation. A total of 50 new faculty members had been hired to teach the various degrees. In addition, the Honors Program had experienced an increase of over 50 new students. USC Spartanburg had been looking forward to additional increases and working with the other campuses to make the University of South Carolina a greater and better university.

   6. USC Sumter: Ty Tyler reported that last year's student government had been phenomenal; elections had recently been held and the new committee had been put in place. Also, the yearly winter dance event had taken place. The SGA at USC Sumter had assumed a big part in the financial support of the clubs and organizations on campus to make the events more fun and entertaining. The students had been able to participate in new student orientation and several SGA members had been new student orientation leaders providing tours of the campus and introductions to professors and other students.

      Since last semester, the campus had been in the process of turning approximately 18 acres of unused land into a backyard habitat for a wetland/ dryland conservation organization. The project would support the preservation of woodlands.

      A welcome week had recently taken place which included rides, dunking booths, and other activities to encourage student participation from the start. In addition, a Halloween carnival had been scheduled. Other scheduled events included a Christmas Fest and town meetings with Dean Carpenter.

      The main objective of the SGA for Sumter had been to be readily available for students encountering problems with a professor; the SGA could step in and act as a mediator.

   7. USC Union: Jason Blue thanked the Board of Trustees for the bleachers in the Truluck Gym Activity Center located across from the main building of the campus.

      One of the goals of the SGA for Union had included more activity involvement by freshman. Extra advertisements would be supplied so that new students would realize the benefits and functions offered to them.

      On September 18th, a Welcome Back social event with food had been planned. The SGA senator freshman officer elections had been scheduled for September 25th, and on September 30th a faculty/staff versus student softball game would take place. A Halloween carnival had been planned for October, and in November an evening snack box would be provided for students attending late classes. In addition, a Thanksgiving dinner and a collection drive for canned foods would be held.

   8. USC Columbia: Ankit Patel informed the Committee that Jessica Steadman would provide the report for the Columbia campus; Drew Richardson would make several comments following the report.

      Jessica Steadman advised the Committee that the responsibilities of her position required her to fill student positions for all of the student and faculty committees; the process had been underway. The goal for the SGA pertaining to the committees had been to make them more useful and to provide better opportunities for fresh new ideas to all students. The committees could then involve other faculty and present ideas to the remaining administration. The committees would meet once a month to accomplish the task. Communication on campus would also be strengthened.

      Drew Richardson reported that four air-conditioned Carolina shuttles had undergone improvements for student transportation. The shuttle drivers would be adult, non-student drivers; student drivers had been utilized in the past. In addition, the evening shuttle hours had been modified to create a schedule from 6:00 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. An increase in student passengers from 2,800 to 3,800 had occurred overall and a significant increase in evening passengers had been observed. A route had been added to the shuttle system with four new stops including a stop at the Greek Village. Next year, 600 students would be located in the Greek Village; transportation for those students would be vital. Also, express routes had been planned for 2003. Parking had been provided for students at the former BellSouth building and the Coliseum. It had been anticipated that the students parking in those locations would utilize the shuttle systems into campus to alleviate parking problems on campus. In addition, work with the regional transit authorities within the community had taken place to furnish additional transportation. The transportation issues for students would be an on-going process.

      Ankit Patel advised the Committee that the last increase of the Student Activity Fee had occurred in 1998 and had only targeted student media, including the Gamecock newspaper and the Garnet and Black magazine. The current areas being targeted were Carolina Productions, late night programming, the student government budget, and the Russell House University Union. The last increase for the programming component had been over 10 years ago, hence the reason for targeting the specific components noted in the proposal.

      A $10 increase had been proposed for Carolina Productions. The increase would generate approximately $300,000 which would allow expansion of programs. The homecoming event had been a major project for Carolina Productions, as well as other entertainment activities such as movies, cultural events, and lecture series with guest speakers.

      A $3 increase had been proposed for late night programming. The program had been modeled after a highly successful program utilized at the University of Florida. It had been hoped that the program could be expanded with incoming grants from state government in conjunction with the student fee which would allow more students to get involved in activities provided on campus.

      Rebecca Floyd informed the Committee that the student government component currently provided program funding for freshman council; the only branch of student government open to freshman entering the University of South Carolina. Awards Day, an annual day in the spring in which top award recipients received recognition, had been funded by student government as well. Student government had assisted with funding for the student organization office and had provided money to undergraduate organizations as well. An increase of $2 per student for the student government budget had been proposed. The increase would help to generate approximately $60,000 in revenue for student government expenses and would provide a stipend increase for the next officers. General operating expenses, such as the copy machine, would also be funded. Currently, the student government office had been dependent on carry-forward money which had not been utilized by student organizations. The number of student organizations had increased to over 300 organizations; the amount of available money had remained the same. The programming dollars had been shrinking. The reoccurring dollars had covered minimal costs only. A reliable income would be needed in order to plan effective programming so that the requirements for the upcoming fiscal year could be established.

      Ankit Patel discussed the renovation plans pertaining to the Russell House University Union. At the request of the Board, the SGA and administration officials had discussions concerning current renovations and contracts. Sodexho had undertaken renovations to the dining services area on the first floor. The relocation of office spaces and other areas had been a concern. A $5 increase for the Russell House University Union had been proposed which would provide reoccurring dollars for general maintenance and upkeep for the facility.

      Ankit Patel informed the Committee that a tour of the Russell House University Union would be provided at the end of the meeting.

      Mr. Whittle inquired about the total amount of the proposed student activity fee increase. Mr. Patel replied that the fee would be increased from $46 to $66; the total increase would be $20. The fee would be charged to all full-time and part-time graduate and undergraduate, professional, law, medical and graduate assistant students. Part-time students would be charged a prorated percentage of the fee based on the number of enrolled hours. Full-time students would pay the $20 fee.

      It had been difficult to compare fees with other SEC universities because of the different components involved. A comparison chart of other universities was displayed; the University of South Carolina had been ranked near the bottom of the chart for general programming activities. A letter-writing campaign to put the fee proposal together had been conducted; the endorsement of nearly all of the Greek organizations, the fraternity council, the sorority council, community service programs, and other organizations had been obtained.

      Dr. Pruitt commented that the campus/student activity fee had remained low because tuition had been so high. Comparatively, the campus/student activity fees for USC over the years had hovered toward the bottom in the SEC in every category.

      Mr. Whittle remarked that the increase of the student activity fee would be viewed differently from that of the a tuition increase because the students would be provided discretion on how the funds would be spent. Mr. Patel noted that when the letter-writing campaign had commenced, the leaders had been advised about the plan and the specific components involved.

      Dr. Sorensen thanked Mr. Patel and the officers from the Columbia campus for their presentation; he thanked the students from the other campuses as well. Dr. Sorensen remarked about his concern for all eight campuses and the desire to ensure a greater coherence among the campuses. He had recently visited the campuses of Spartanburg and Sumter and had plans to visit other campuses in the near future. Dr. Sorensen expressed his desire to meet, hear, and talk with the students. In addition, students had been encouraged to participate in the "bow-tie" bus tours with Dr. Sorensen.

      Mr. Lister moved approval to increase the student activity fee from $46 to $66 as described in the materials distributed for the meeting. The $20 fee increase would be effective with the spring 2003 semester and would incorporate utilization by Carolina Productions ($10), late night programming ($3), student government ($2), and Russell House University Union ($5). Mr. Loadholt seconded the motion. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.

      Dr. Pruitt interjected that one provision had changed from the current way of operation which changed the category of students who would be charged the fee to include some graduate students and others who were not. Before the student activity fee item comes before the full Board for approval, the Provost and Dr. Pruitt would discuss the provision with the students to clarify who would pay the fee, beyond those currently paying the fee.

      Mr. Whittle noted that he had been impressed with the way the Columbia student government had compiled the proposal; it had been thought out very well.

Chairman Bahnmuller reminded Committee members of the Russell House University Union tour which would be provided by Mr. Brewer.

There being no further business to come before the Committee, Chairman Bahnmuller declared the meeting adjourned at 3:56 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Thomas L. Stepp
Secretary