By Jean Scott
Independent-Mail
December 17, 2003

CLEMSON — Clemson University should remain a public university, President Jim Barker told faculty and staff Wednesday.

When Gov. Mark Sanford proposed 12 days earlier giving the state’s public colleges and universities the option of becoming private, Mr. Barker said the issue would require study.

He also posed a question: "Is a private Clemson University in South Carolina’s best interest?"

During an end-of-semester faculty and staff meeting Wednesday, he said the response from every corner of the campus and the state was a definite "no."

"There would be no Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research if Clemson was a private school," he said. "There would be no 800,000 face-to-face problems solved last year by our extension service if Clemson was private."

Mr. Barker acknowledged that Clemson — once an all-male, all-white military school — had taken on fundamental changes.

"Many of you have been asking if privatization is the next major change that Clemson will undergo. If it is up to us, the answer should be ‘no.’ If we apply the same standards that have been used in the past, it does not meet the test," he said.
"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," he said. "Certainly, it is not an action that should be taken simply to balance the budget."

In making his proposal, Gov. Sanford had suggested privatization could free up some of the state money now allotted to its 33 public institutions.

But Mr. Barker suggested Wednesday that Clemson, which has raised tuition to help make up for continued cuts in its state funding, needs more financial support from South Carolina, which now supplies only about 24 percent of the university’s overall budget.

"If we in South Carolina truly value a public Clemson, we must find the collective will to support a public Clemson," he said.

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, Alan Grubb, a faculty member who serves as a liaison to Clemson’s Board of Trustees, encouraged his peers to forward their ideas about privatization to him so he could communicate them to the trustees.

Another group mulling the governor’s privatization pitch is South Carolina’s General Assembly, which holds the power to move it from proposal to reality.

Jean Scott can be reached at (864) 654-6553 or by e-mail at scottj@IndependentMail.com.

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