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CU President hopes to hold onto what the school has achieved

May 25, 2009 By

Clemson University has come a long way over the last few years, but is facing a large hurdle after having its budget cut $40 million.  In his recent President’s report, school President James Barker presented board members with a report card, assessing the institution’s success so far in achieving the school’s 27 goals set forth in 2001.

The school moved this past year from being the 39th highest-ranked public university in the nation to the 22nd position, according to U.S. News and World Report.

Barker says getting into the top 20 will be a tremendous step forward.  “ That means we are well on our way to giving South Carolina and its students a top 20 education, without having to leave the state.  Up until this point, you would have to leave the  state if you got a Palmetto or Life scholarship (if you wanted a degree from a top 20 school).

The national ranking measures such criteria as graduation rate, S.A.T. scores and the high school performance of incoming freshmen.
At the same time, Barker says that Clemson has had some of the lowest support from the state of any university in the U.S.   “How’s that possible?  I think we’ve done that by being efficient, being very accountable, being very focused.  I don’t think we are where we want to be yet, but we made tremendous progress.  I’d say the biggest obstacle in the beginning was self concept.  But now I’d say the biggest obstacle is having enough resources to be able to do that.”

Barker says now the school just hopes to hold onto the status it has achieved, until the economy and state funding get better.

Filed Under: Economy, Education, News

Sanford lets stimulus deadline pass

May 25, 2009 By

Governor Mark Sanford allowed Monday to come and go and intentionally missed the deadline to accept $700 million in federal stimulus money. Sanford says the budget law requiring that he accept it  is unconstitutional.College of Charleston Professor Emeritus Jack Bass says Sanford’s refusal to take the stimulus money is puzzling.   “It cannot be used for the purpose of reducing debt, of which South Carolina has very little.  And even if it were used for that, it would be like asking your  neighbor to take out a loan to pay your mortgage.” 

Bass says Sanford’s move isn’t helping industrial recruitment.   “Why would someone wanting to bring a major industry to South Carolina want to come to a state that’s trying to reduce the quality of its public education system, and of its university system.  A lot of the attention has been on the affect to public schools.   But this has cut deeply into higher education in the state.  And higher education in South Carolina is becoming  more like private colleges and universities.” 

Sanford and some lawmakers have argued that the governor’s office should be more powerful and that maybe more would be done if that were the case.

Bass says that the South Carolina Governor’s office has less power than some states but more power than many others, and that the real handicap is Sanford’s failure to work with the legislature to achieve compromise. He says all previous governors have accomplished a lot with even less power than Sanford has, but with the power to compromise.   “That’s the way legislation is shaped.  And Governor Sanford seems far less interested in working with the legislature and is frequently involved in conflict in with the legislature.” 

Bass says Fritz Hollings, who served as Governor in the early 1960s, accomplished more through working with the legislature than any other governor since World War II.

Bass recently released his newest of eight books. “The Palmetto State: The Making of Modern South Carolina” is a narrative history.

Filed Under: Legislature, News, Politics & Government

DHEC warns of swine flu resurgence in Fall

May 25, 2009 By

A legislative panel says it was pleased with what they heard from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control in a report last week on the state’s swine flu response.  In a report and testimony to a House subcommittee, DHEC Commissioner Earl Hunter says quick response, widespread public information and voluntary containment has kept the case rate and severity down in South Carolina.

He says DHEC is however, preparing for a second wave and he thanked the lawmakers for giving them more power to take drastic measures if needed.

“That’s the kind of tough choices we’ll have to make if we have another wave in the Fall and it proves to be very virulent,very pathogenic.” says Hunter. “What we saw coming out of Mexico, we were seeing 400 cases and 60-70 deaths were being reported right away, so it was very much mimicking what we were seeing with some of the terrible pandemics in the past. I think we reacted in the right manner. Luckily, it’s turned out to kind of miss the mark so far and we gotta hope that it continues.”

State epidemiologist Dr. Jerry Gibson says we are now in period of what he calls “the new normal. ” Gibson says that means watching and monitoring closely for the continuation of this or of regular seasonal flu.”

And the “new normal” for DHEC, includes remaining wary of this new flu strain as the history of such outbreaks shows a second wave can happen in colder months.

Gibson is clear to caution that in three of the past four similar pandemics, “It was this early wave in the Spring or the Summer, then a severe one in the Fall and Winter when it got to be cold and dry and the right conditions for this virus to spread,” says Gibson. “And it’s thought, especially in 1890 and 1918, that the virus had evolved and was more pathogenic; it caused more severe illness that second time too.”

Gibson says that we do have an advantage over the other severe flu pandemics.

“I do think that, with modern medical care,” says Gibson,”with the existence of anti-viral drugs that work and a vaccine –when it takes five or six months to be ready–that even a much more pathogenic virus wouldn’t be as destructive as 1918.”

As of May 19, there were 37 confirmed cases of swine flu statewide.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Legislature, News

Stimulus funds tussle spills over into the courts

May 25, 2009 By

As you return to work from your long holiday weekend, you may have discovered that the judicial branch of government is being included in the state’s executive and legislative branches’ battle over stimulus money.The General Assembly and Governor Mark Sanford’s battle over $700 million in stimulus money has spilled over into the court system. Governor Sanford filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop legislators from forcing his hand to spend the portion of the federal stimulus dollars he can apply for unless they’re used to pay down state debt. The White House has twice refused Sanford’s request to use the money for that purpose. Sanford called his suit a “pre-emptive strike” against a lawsuit that has been filed in the State Supreme Court.

Friday Chapin High School senior Casey Endwards refiled her lawsuit in the State Supreme Court to force the state to request the $700 million in stimulus funds intended for education. Edwards lawsuit was set aside by the State Supreme Court last month as premature. USC law student Justin Williams was added to Casey’s suit as plaintiff.

The South Carolina Association of School Administrators have also filed a lawsuit in the State Supreme Court against the Governor and State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex. Association officials says Rex was added in the suit because the Governor’s actions have impaired Rex’s ability to perform his duties.

The State Supreme Court has given Governor Sanford and the plaintiffs in the case a Tuesday deadline to file papers outlining their repective positions in the cases.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, News, Politics & Government

Sanford standing firm on stimulus money debate

May 25, 2009 By

Governor Mark Sanford has a week to draw down stimulus funds and he has said he will not do so. He punctuated that statement by filing a federal lawsuit saying that the legislature making him take the money is unconstitutional.In his most recent press conference, Governor Sanford says his suit was a preemptive strike because he anticipated at least one suit to be filed against him.

“The Constitution grants me, quote, Supreme Executive authority,” said Sanford. “You now have authority that has been granted to you by Federal Code and what you have is a legislative body, this state legislative body, coming in and pulling it out which we think to be unconstitutional.

“I would not have acted on that because I think it to be unconstitutional which is why we’re bringing the case which means they would have done what they promised to do which is bring a case against me.”

Two cases have been filed against him: one from a high school and a law school student saying tuition will be raised and schools and students will suffer, and another suit from the South Carolina Association of School Administrators asking him to to sign document to apply for federal stimulus money that has been set aside for the state.

Governor Sanford, in his press conference, said he would possibly negotiate with legislators saying,  “I would hope to sit down with them at the table, be glad to sit down at the table, if they will negotiate in good faith. To date, that has not been the point based on their beliefs that they had this trump card wherein they were going to get me to spend it all, period.”

So, to date, all three branches of state government are at a stalemate, until a lawsuit is heard or a truce is reached.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Legislature, News, Politics & Government
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