The Commission on Higher Education delayed a vote Thursday that would allow Trident Technical College to offer a four-year culinary arts program.

Commissioners shied away from a precedent-setting accreditation approval of a four-year degree at the two-year technical college. They said they will vote after the S.C. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of a bill that is the lifeline for Trident's four-year program.

"I don't want to be put in the position to face it unless we have to," Commission Chairman Dalton Floyd said, adding that the program could set a "dangerous precedent" for two-year schools wanting to offer four-year programs.

With a decision on hold, Trident Tech President Mary Thornley said the program won't be ready to accept students in fall 2006, leaving a void when Johnson & Wales moves to Charlotte.

"We can't afford to sit still because then we won't be ready to offer anything in the fall of 2006," Thornley replied.

Commissioners debated the issue Thursday, with Thornley on the hot seat, before deciding to postpone their decision until the state's highest court rules on a lawsuit against the Life Sciences Act, also known as the "kitchen sink bill." The bill was designed to provide research opportunities and economic development in biotechnology and related fields.

Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed the bill, which was loaded with amendments from the House and Senate. Establishing a four-year culinary program at Trident Tech was among those amendments.

When the Legislature overrode Sanford's veto, Edward Sloan Jr., a Greenville businessman and self-proclaimed government watchdog, filed a lawsuit against the bill in April. It is unclear when the Supreme Court will reach a decision.

If the bill is defeated, so is Trident's four-year program. If the bill survives and the commission approves Trident's program, Trident would become the first two-year college in South Carolina offering a four-year degree.

This would move Trident into the realm of underfunded four-year public institutions in South Carolina, commissioners said.

"It puts us in a position of setting a precedent," Floyd said, because normally only four-year colleges can offer a four-year degree.

Others agreed.

"Once you crack that door, it's going to be open," Commissioner James Konduros said.

Thornley said without the commission's approval, the program couldn't seek other necessary state-level approvals and regional accreditation. In order to be ready to implement the program in 2006, the college needs to continue to move forward until the Supreme Court reaches a decision.

"We lose time," Thornley said.

A local cooking school provides training for Charleston's tourism and hospitality industry, and the realization of the need for such a school extends beyond the college arena. Charleston Mayor Joe Riley reportedly contacted two undisclosed national culinary schools earlier this year in hopes of luring them to Charleston. He said then that the odds of attracting them were "100 percent."

Attempts to reach Riley for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.

Thornley said Trident's four-year program would be world class. The college already expects to open its $27 million, 77,000 square foot, state-of-the-art Culinary and Hospitality Training Center in the fall of 2005. The center was planned for Trident's existing two-year culinary arts program when state legislators asked Trident to develop the four-year culinary arts program to replace Johnson and Wales.

Thornley said she pursued a joint program with the College of Charleston, but was unsuccessful.

Commissioner Douglas Forbes said Trident Tech was caught in the midst of a political appeal by some state legislators, who were trying win over constituents.

"It will never be a prestigious culinary arts school," Forbes said.

Some commissioners favored establishing the four-year program.

"Sometimes, I think progress is about working outside of the box," Commissioner Cyndi Mosteller said. "I applaud you for taking the ball and running with it."

In other news, the commission approved a new associates of health science degree in Emergency Medical Technology at Trident. Also, the commission voted to let MUSC offer a doctorate program in physical therapy, starting in the summer of 2005. The program would replace MUSC's master's level physical therapy program.

Click here to return to story:
http://www.charleston.net/stories/100804/sta_08trident.shtml