South Carolina State University will not lay off any employees or mandate furloughs as a result of state funding cuts, the president said Thursday.
“That’s not an issue that is on the drawing board at this time,” Dr. George Cooper said.
S.C. State trustees passed a budget reduction plan Thursday in response to the cuts, which Cooper says have cost the university $7 million in state funding.
The plan was passed after a three-hour closed session called by the board to discuss what it called a personnel matter.
After the vote, Cooper said the board recommended he “do what is necessary” to bring the university’s budget in line with the cuts.
Under the plan, he said costs would be cut by instituting a hiring freeze for certain positions, eliminating all unnecessary travel, managing energy use and cutting back on supplies and equipment. Those are all cost-cutting measures mentioned previously by Cooper in response to the first budget cut in August.
He also said the university will save $90,000 by limiting the number of phone lines in dorm rooms. In addition, the university will reduce the funding for a capital campaign study and hold off on another study regarding staff.
Another 4 percent cut from the state could follow, Cooper said.
Thursday’s meeting marked the first occasion that Lumus Byrd served as chairman before the full board. He said the university must return to its core values of access, opportunity, integrity, excellence and respect.
“We can bring about change,” he said.
Byrd said he has no interest in trying to run the university, employ his friends or relatives there or receive benefits from university contracts.
Critics of the board’s decision last year to oust former President Andrew Hugine claimed the board attempted to micromanage the administration.
“I think as we draw a bright line between the board and the administration, that perception will go away,” Byrd said.
John Smalls, senior vice president of finance, discussed several construction projects on campus. He said $20 million in renovations to Hodge Hall are fully funded and should be completed by early 2010. Construction on Lowman Hall is expected to be finished by next fall, Smalls said.
A new $24.7 million science and engineering building on campus should be completed in September 2009, he said.
Cooper told trustees the projected enrollment of 4,800 students for the fall semester was short by 200. He hopes targeting potential transfer students and recruiting new ones will close that gap.
Smalls also addressed how the university will accommodate future growth in student enrollment. S.C. State can not build more dorms without increasing its $85 million debt, he said.
“I didn’t think that’s the smartest thing,” Smalls said.
Instead, he proposed outsourcing the university’s additional housing needs to an outside developer who would build living quarters near campus.
He said the university could recommend that development to students who don’t receive university housing. In exchange, the developer would build housing in accordance with university specifications.
“I don’t know why we are sitting around and talking about enrollment growing when we can’t take care of what we have now,” trustee Robert Nance said.
Trustee Maurice Washington said the university can’t survive financially without growing enrollment.
“It’s forward thinking,” he said.
In other business:
Cooper announced the university will receive $100,000 from Wachovia for scholarships.
The board recognized the 2008 S.C. State Bulldog football team for winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship.
The board approved the use of $35,000 to produce a television show about the university. The show will air in Charleston.
T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached by e-mail at ltant@times anddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-534-1060. Discuss this and other stories at TheTandD.com.