Governor's budget plan could cost 300 Clemson jobs

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Speaking at a university town meeting on the budget crisis, Kelly said Extension offices would be forced to close and academic programs also could be affected.

Job cuts would be a last resort and some lawmakers predict the final cut won't be as deep as the governor proposes, however shock waves ran across the campus.

"It is a matter of concern," said Michael Palmer, of Central, a 33-year-old graduate student who is about three years away from his doctorate in genetics.

Some faculty already took early retirement Clemson offered to prevent layoffs because of state budget cuts last year, and Palmer fears more losses could impact the education he has invested his money and his life to get.

Will Folks, spokesman for the governor, said average job loss in state government over the last two years has approached 2,000 annually. Under the governor's budget proposal, potential job loss is roughly 1,300.

"We think that given the fact that we're confronted with a $350 million budget hole, that reducing overall job loss in state government is quite an accomplishment."

Lawrence Nichols, Clemson's director of Human Resources, said the proposed cut "would devastate" Clemson's public service activities, and "literally every college would feel some impact of a cut of that magnitude."

"We will do all we can to save jobs, but we may not be able to save jobs," Nichols said.

Sanford's proposal would cut 3.5 percent from Clemson's educational programs and 41 percent, or $15.6 million, from public service activities. It cuts state support from $38 million to slightly less than $23 million and directs Clemson to limit public service to traditional agriculture.

Kelly cites a $46 million net loss because Clemson also would lose $30 million in outside gifts, grants and fees generated by programs that would be cut.

"It scares me to death," said Lynn Christian, 54, of Anderson, whose staff position in the College of Health, Education and Human Development is funded through Clemson's public service budget.

"I could lose my home, my car. I don't think people realize what all we do and who all it benefits. You'll never meet more dedicated people in your life."

Brenda Vander Mey, a sociology professor and a Clemson extension specialist, is one of many faculty salaried partly through Clemson's education budget and partly through the public service budget.

"It distresses me to think we'll be handicapped in continuing our long tradition of public service to the people of South Carolina," said Vander Mey, who celebrates her 20th anniversary at Clemson this year.

Folks said the governor's budget never specifies any job loss for Clemson public service. He said Clemson's job loss calculation is "based on their assessment of the governor's budget."

"The governor's budget is very clear in asking Clemson PSA to focus on its core mission. Clemson is making job related claims on its own. It could very well be that Clemson PSA would experience some loss of jobs," Folks said.

On the academic side, hardest hit would be Clemson's public service activities, the College of Forestry, Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Health, Education and Human Development, said Kelly and university Provost Dori Helms.

Calvin Schoulties, dean of the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, where half the budget comes from public service money, said Clemson remains committed to its undergraduate and graduate teaching programs

Clemson "will move heaven and earth to make sure we have the qualified instructors," said Schoulties, who taught a microbiology course himself last semester and probably will again, as well as looking for more private donations.

The "unprecedented cut" would force Clemson "to shoulder a disproportionate burden of the state's budget deficit and would eliminate programs that serve people in every county of the state," Kelly said.

"If this budget is implemented, Clemson would never be the same again. The core of Clemson has always been public service. Now we feel that's being jeopardized."

The governor's proposal is the first step in an approximately five-month process that now goes to the state House Ways and Means committee.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said there is strong support to fund Clemson's public service at either the current level "or certainly as high as we possibly can under the constraints we have on the budget."

There also is support in the state Senate to increase the proposed funding, said state Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Walhalla, who was in Clemson Friday.

Clemson President James Barker said he found "lots of support" when he met with a Ways and Means subcommittee earlier this week, but how that that would translate into dollars "remains to be seen."

Kelly said Clemson public service is willing to accept its fair share of a budget cut in the current crisis, but not such a disproportionate amount.

"This is the most fragile of times," Kelly said, asking Clemson employees on the main campus and across the state, who listened in on the meeting, to remain unified.

Most Clemson employees are modest people who work very hard and don't want much attention for what they do, but "now it's time to tell our story," Kelly said.

Sanford's proposal would eliminate $8.1 million in funding for programs in economic and community development, environmental conservation, food safety and nutrition, and youth development. An additional $7.5 million would be cut from unspecified areas.

The proposal recommends that those operating expenses should be paid from proceeds of a land sale at the Sandhill Research and Education Center in Columbia, but university officials say using one-time funds for recurring expenses is fiscally unsound.