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reprint or license thisClemson’s Hunley campus hits snag
Budget panel delays bond decision; governor objects to ‘mission creep’
By JOHN MONK
jmonk@thestate.com
Led by Gov. Mark Sanford, the five-member State Budget and Control Board voted Tuesday to put on hold Clemson University’s request for $10.3 million in state bonds to start work on a Hunley submarine-anchored campus in North Charleston.
The vote also means Clemson’s proposed takeover of the Hunley conservation project, which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, is in limbo.
Sanford and fellow board member state Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom questioned why Clemson:
• Didn’t have more realistic projections of jobs to be generated by the campus
• Had no final contract in place to take over ownership of the 82 acres designated for the campus on the former Naval base
• Would serve so few students — between 50 and 100 — for a $10.3 million expenditure
Sanford said a new satellite campus — 200 miles from Clemson’s main campus — would be “mission creep.” He said S.C. universities are expanding out of control in a kind of higher education “arms race.”
Clemson spokeswoman Angie Leidinger told the board the proposed campus had been extensively studied for more than a year, and the $10.3 million bond issue deserved approval.
“It is our intent to (also) seek external grants” after approval of the $10.3 million, Leidinger said.
Clemson could come back with more information as early as the board’s Dec. 12 meeting. But Sanford said he hoped the board would put off the matter until next year.
The General Assembly should study the proposal in the broader context of proliferating, expensive new college campuses, Sanford said. Already, he said, South Carolina has 89 public college campuses, with little central authority over new campus creation and expansion.
Sanford quoted a recently released report by his Higher Education Task Force, which in September recommended he and the Legislature appoint a committee to suggest a strategic plan to coordinate higher education proposals.
“Every one of us has a responsibility to the taxpayer,” Sanford said. He said duplication in South Carolina’s higher education system was a major reason why the state’s public tuition rates are among the region’s highest.
Leidinger told Sanford the proposed North Charleston campus was like Clemson’s successful automobile-oriented ICAR campus in the Upstate.
Sanford disagreed, saying ICAR has attracted millions of dollars in support from private businesses like BMW and the Timken Co., a ball-bearing manufacturer. And there are numerous recognizable auto-related businesses near the campus to support it, Sanford said.
“What we have here is a fascinating artifact (the Hunley), but we don’t have any built-in economic infrastructure around that artifact,” Sanford said.
The Hunley, a long-lost Confederate submarine, was raised from the Atlantic floor in 2000 and moved to a North Charleston conservation laboratory on the former Naval base. The sub must undergo a costly and years-long preservation process or it will turn to rust. It is a top priority of Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, a Civil War-era enthusiast who worked with Clemson to put together the necessary land for its new campus.
Leidinger said what she meant was the ICAR is comparable to the proposed North Charleston campus in the number of students they would have. ICAR is expected to have up to 100, she said.
Eckstrom said he had expected more information from Clemson. He said the Budget and Control Board was being asked to issue $10.3 million in bonds when major contractual issues remain unresolved between Clemson, the city of North Charleston and the Hunley Commission, which oversees the sub’s preservation.
“Even a draft (contract for the land’s ownership) is not included,” Eckstrom said.
The vote to delay was a rare postponement of a large project by the board, which routinely approves big-ticket, publicly funded items pushed by state lawmakers or state agencies.
The board is made up of Sanford, Eckstrom, State Treasurer Grady Patterson, House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Dan Cooper, R-Anderson, and Senate Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence.
Patterson voted with Sanford and Eckstrom in the voice vote. Cooper didn’t vote but said he had no problem with the decision. Leatherman appeared to keep silent. There was no formal count.
According to Clemson, the new campus would be a major center for public and private research on the latest preservation and restoration methods. Research would include a variety of scientific fields, not just the area of marine artifact preservation.
So far, preserving the sub — expected to take at least until 2013 — is the only identifiable endeavor on the new campus.
In coming years, Clemson hopes to offer a range of academic and research initiatives, from historic preservation to brownfields remediation.
With regard to the $10.3 million, Clemson wants to spend:
• $3 million to repair and upgrade the Hunley lab
• $6 million to build a 22,000-square-foot Restoration Research and Education building
• $1 million in additional costs
Clemson would put another $3 million of its own toward the Restoration Research and Education Building.
In all, the new campus’s initial value (more phases are planned) in cash, land, resources and endowed professorships exceeds $35 million.
That includes $15 million in public land and buildings donated by North Charleston and $2.8 million worth of equipment from the Hunley lab, the Warren Lasch Conservation Center. It also includes $5 million for two endowed professorships, one of which would be assigned to the Hunley lab.
It would cost about $800,000 annually to staff and operate the Hunley lab, Clemson spokeswoman Sandy Woodward said.
Hunley preservation continues under the Friends of the Hunley, a state-created foundation. The foundation is overseen by the Hunley Commission, which is chaired by McConnell, who could not be reached for comment.
Reach Monk at (803) 771-8344.
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