Clemson chief rejects offer to go private

e-mail this story More details Your view Gov. Mark Sanford wants to allow public universities to go private. Do you favor this idea? Yes No I'd need to hear more details View Results Related Online extra • Transcript of Barker's comments

"If it is up to us, the clear answer should be 'No'," Barker said, responding to a recent proposal from state Gov. Mark Sanford to allow some state colleges and universities to go private and free up some state funding for other uses.

"There has not been careful, thoughtful deliberation, and there is no indication that such a move would be in Clemson's or South Carolina's best interest," Barker told faculty members and staffers in a speech at Clemson's Brooks Center.

"Certainly it is not an action that should be taken simply to balance the state budget."

Barker said in a later interview that university trustees are unanimous in their desire to remain a public institution.

Sanford proposed that the commission that governs universities have more power to eliminate duplicate programs. And he said that if a four-year school didn't want to be part of the new system, it could go private.

The proposal would have to go before the state Legislature.

In response to Barker, Sanford's press secretary, Will Folks, said Wednesday the governor's proposal wasn't "a strategic objective in and of itself."

It was "more of a tactical move as well as a safety valve for schools that might want to take him up on it," Folks said.

"In outlining the need for a more strategic focus and efficient targeting of our higher education resources, it was important to the governor that schools have other options to think about," he said.

Barker said Clemson has "no plans to abandon the public mission that has served the state well for 115 years."

The new International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville wouldn't exist and "there would be no 800,000 face-to-face problems solved last year by our Extension Service," if Clemson was private, Barker said.

"There would be no student access to a top 35 education in South Carolina if Clemson was private," Barker said, referring to Clemson's ranking on the current annual US News & World Report list of top national public universities — up from number 39 last year.

Barker said he is concerned that Clemson is becoming a private university "by default," as state funding dwindles. Currently 24.8 percent of Clemson's budget — about $85 million — comes from the state.

"Today Clemson is over 75 percent private. If we, in South Carolina, truly value a public Clemson, we must find the collective will to support a public Clemson," Barker said.

K.B. Kulasekera, a statistics professor at Clemson, said he agreed with Barker that Clemson shouldn't go private. "It's going to be a disaster," he said.

Calvin Schoulties, dean of Clemson's College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, said Barker "made it very clear what his position is and I think it's the correct one."

Matthew Saltzman, an associate professor of mathematical sciences, said the proposition that Clemson go private "hasn't been well thought out. It's certainly not a substitute for the full support of the state."

Eleanor Hare, a former member of the Faculty Senate who recently retired but still teaches computer science at Clemson, said she was "delighted" with Barker's response. "I back Barker 100 percent. He has clearly thought it through and gathered input and done an excellent job," she said.

Barker said that while the $85 million that Clemson gets from the state is a small part of the university's budget, it is "funding we could not do without."

Barker said he was surprised when Sanford called him the day before making the proposal public. Clemson plans to continue to push for passage of a regulatory relief bill that passed the state House and will go to the Senate when the General Assembly reconvenes in January, Barker said.

The bill would move the state's three research universities, Clemson, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina, from control of the state Commission on Higher Education.

As Clemson's funding moves more from state to private sources, the school also should be allowed more flexibility from regulation, Barker said.

Folks said that establishing a separate structure to govern the three research universities would further splinter accountability and could lead to a situation where there is no accountability.

Folks said there will be "a lot more direction on higher ed in our upcoming executive budget as well as during the next legislative session."