|
Date Published: January 13, 2004
Senate considers USC Sumter 4-year status today
Bruz Crowson / The Item
Stacy Merritt, foreground, a University of South
Carolina student, gets assistance from nighttime library
manager Dawn Eason on Monday in Anderson Library on the
campus of USC Sumter. Legislation comes before the
Senate today that would grant USC Sumter four-year
status. | |
|
|
 |
By KRISTA PIERCE
Item Staff Writer
kristap@theitem.com
Legislation that would grant the University of South
Carolina Sumter four-year status will be one of the first issues to
come before the Senate as it opens its 2004 session
today.
Local legislators say they’re hopeful the South
Carolina Life Sciences Act, which includes the USC Sumter amendment,
will pass.
“It’s the top thing on the calendar,” said Sen.
John Land, D-Manning. “It’s either going right on through or it’s
going to be defeated fast. I think we’re going to get it
through.”
Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, said the Life
Sciences bill has broad, bipartisan support, especially from
Charleston area senators because of an amendment concerning Trident
Technical College that is also attached to the bill.
Support
has also come from senators representing areas where Gov. Mark
Sanford is proposing closing two regional campuses, USC Union and
USC Salkehatchie.
The Life Sciences bill has already passed
in the House of Representatives and was being debated in the Senate
when the last session ended.
“The Life Sciences bill is
looking to enhance the state’s investment in higher education,”
Leventis said. “Why not invest in Sumter for a
change?”
Leventis said opposition to the bill has come from
legislators who have “very ideological notions that the university
is spread too far and too thin.”
Although USC President Dr.
Andrew Sorensen has voiced his opposition to USC Sumter having
four-year status, at least one member of the USC Board of Trustees
supports the plan. Sumter attorney Arthur Bahnmueller, who has
served on the board for 14 years, said he opposes the governor’s
plan to merge Central Carolina Technical College with USC Sumter and
sides with local legislators in their efforts.
“Let me put it
this way,” he said, “we’re growing over here and it’s starting to
become more of an issue. We’ve got a lot of people in the
surrounding areas that can’t afford to go to Columbia. Of course, we
offer some classes here in Sumter so they can get a four-year
degree. Still, there’s nothing like having your own four-year
institution in your own back yard.”
Leventis said other
members of the board have also voiced their support and he’s hopeful
that four-year status for USC Sumter is finally within reach.
“It’s a hill to climb,” he said. “But our whole delegation
is working hard on it.”
Contact Staff Writer Krista
Pierce at kristap@theitem.com or
803-774-1272.
E-mail
to a friend Previous
Page |
February 6, 2004 
