Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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A Conver BY BOB BAKER Editor-in-Chief GAMECOCK: USC will ap parently suffer a $3.2 million cut in state appropriations. As chief academic affairs officer how do you think USC will fare with this cut? DAVIS: The budget cut will not so much affect current programs, as it will four new programs ap proved by the Commission on Higher Education. They are all basically in thei- first major year of funding, and include new programs in medicine, public health, criminal justice and in ternational business. These are the areas in which the cut will have the highest impact, for these are developing programs. I think the General Assembly was well briefed on the needs of the University and of the state. It is interesting to note that many of these new programs were heavily encouraged by the legislature but that now seems to be a very dif ferent story. You might be in terested to know that Clemson contained its cut by reducing its faculty by 12 full-time faculty equivalents. We are having no cuts in faculty as an immediate thing although we are working on a program of redirection. GAMECOCK: Do you think the tuition increase is needed? DAVIS: I think a strong argument could be made for it. Over the last five years, the tax payers of South Carolina have been picking up the burden of paying for an education which most will never see. Five years ago the state appropriated approximately $1,300 per student. Today, the taxpayer's share accounts for some $2,300 per student. Of all this money, ap proximately 55 to 60 per cent of it goes to actual academic training. With the budget cut we've received we are having to tighten our belts. If someone resigns in a given department, we may ask that department not to fill that vacancy without complete justification. GAMECOCK: A couple of years ago, the University announced it would set a limit on freshman enrollment. Because the formula for budget planning which the state uses is based on total fall enrollment, would you anticipate making a wide-open admissions policy for USC? DAVIS: To my knowledge, the 2,500 limit plus or minus 10 per cent was set as a general understanding with other schools in the state to assure them that USC would not take in more than its share of state high school graduates. Of course, you know this limit has never been reached. I think that USC's enrollment growth comes almost as equally from transfers as it does from freshmen. I don't see how USC will once again have wide open admissions. Obviously, the quality of upper division and post baccalaureate courses gives USC a richer curriculum than most other schools and that's where we should concentrate on our growth. I might add that we. are not neglecting lower division courses while striving to improve the upper division here. Next year, for in stance, full-time faculty members will be handling all sophomore level English courses instead of graduate assistants, and I un derstand the same will be true for 'reshmen courses in a few years. CjAMECOCK: What do you V" sation Wi consider your most major ac complishment in the past year as provost? DAVIS: I think it was a matter of getting faculty involved in in stitutional goals. When I got-here, there seemed to be a strong sense of lack of participation in major decisions by the faculty. We have taken major steps to turn that around. First, we now have a very comprehensive tenure and promotion policy which guarantees 'Hard times and contr coming in the next yet to all faculty the opportunity for appeal on all tenure cases. This year 164 cases were appealed, and the fact that they were heard seems to gjve the faculty the fairest system of tenure and promotion policy around. Second, we are becoming involved in im portant decisions about reorganizing USC. There is a strong effort on the part of the Administration to go back to the old college of Arts and Sciences. Whereas the faculty developed no real consensus of opinion on how the three schools should be dealt with, we saw a need based on one faculty recommendation to merge two of the schools (arts and letters, social and behavioral sciences). We also have a long term goal, say in five or six years of putting the entire school back together. With this recombination, we anticipate there will be no cuts in the present levels of enrollment. GAMECOCK: There has been some controversy as to whether USC's branch campuses are filling their specified needs or just overlapping in instructional training as in technical education centers (TEC). Would you like to comment on this? DAVIS: I presume you are talking abovt comments from Julius Bortolazzo, former head of the TEC system. I think his comments about the University are intemperate and unfair. There was no real degree of overlap in programs until the TEC centers began changing their image to that of colleges. You must remember that USC did not develop vocational curriculums, while the TEC system developed college curriculums. The regional cam puses are probably the biggest bargain in this state now. Costs are approximately one-half of what they are at other schools and the schools are situated in ideal locations. I think Bortolazzo was a little off base with some of his comments. GAMECOCK: Do you think USC could ever gain control of the other state's colleges and form a statewide University system as is popular in other states such as North Carolina, Georgia or Ten nessee? DAVIS: I doubt that any school could gain control over another. It's possible that the Commission on Higher Education could serve as a Board of Regents for a statewide system, and that this would eliminate unnecessary competition among schools which could be working with one another. A University-wide system is im probable though as the will of Thomas Clemson leaving land for the development of a college (now Clemson University) maintains a IEWFR h Provost. selection of certain life perpetuating members of its Board of Trustees. To develop a University system, the legislature would have to break the will, and I don't believe they are willing to create that kind of controversy. GAMECOCK: What kinds of plans do you have for USC for the next 10 years? DAVIS: As far as institutional goals, that is a little sketchy right now. A major portion of my job iversial decisions are tr. for later in the summer and most of next year will be to work with Dr. Paul Fidler, new academic planning officer, on a five-year plan for the University. The first thing we need to do is examine and critically evaluate graduate and professional programs. We must decide which areas should continue to grow. Programs are good only because of money, faculty interest and student interest. We will be studying these areas. Many hard decisions will have to be made over the next year. The English department, for example, has a good program and is one of the tops in the nation. Yet, there is a glutted market in the country of English majors with Ph.D.'s. What we are trying to do this next year is trim back the size of programs while insuring that we are maintaining their quality. The second thing we need to do is make sure that we are using our resources, people and money as well as we can. In the last decade Carolina has had to get staffed up to capture the flood of students who were allowed in. Not only are we faced with looking at what we created, but we are also interested . HI' moE RUSSELL HC Contempor, Every Mon< 312-Russell Are Welenr ZOMTII Keith Dav in knowing what we can combine or consolidate. If we don't save money, we will not have anything to initiate new programs with. Because of some of the changes we will be making, people's lives will be affected and this is a very delicate problem. Hard times and controversial decisions are coming in the next year. We are being faced with the situation of what can we do with less money. GAMECOCK: Are you in favor of having USC become a nationally or internationally reknowned in stitution for academic learning? DAVIS: Sure. Being against that sort of thing is like being against God, mother and country. We all want it, but I think first we have to examine the areas in which we can do it. Again, we cannot neglect our lower division courses in order to concentrate on our status. Of course, this continued concern won't do a wit for our reputation. There you need lots of doctoral students and outstanding people in faculty positions. I think we can develop a reputation in a way different from the traditional way. The tradition is to hire two or three superstars who teach a handful of doctoral courses. Well, there are legitimate superstars out there who are just as willing to teach a handful of large classes. Morris Peckham is a genuine academic giant. Students who are willing to put the time into his course get a lot out of it. While we are attempting to achieve a prominence, we must never forget to ask ourselves, "Where is South Carolina?" and "What about the needs of the state?" One of the needs, which is unique for many schools, especially USC, is the need for strong first level masters and professional proorams. In the Southeast, the Business Ad JH COT Iday, junc 5:30 iUSE PATIO, RAIN-G ary Sounds Commi lay Night At 8:00 House. All USC S ne. CONTEMP ISOUNDS EE TOP 0 Is ministration school at USC has a very strong reputation, but you won't ever see it ranked in the top ten because it fails to grant a substantial number of Ph.D.'s. There are presently only two schools in the region devoted to public health, UNC at Chapel Hill and Tulane. South Carolina has some massive health needs, such as in the area of nutrition, venereal disease, etc. You have to realize that a program in this area would not make a national contribution, but does make its contribution through the improvement of life in South Carolina. So, it is apparent that international reputation is not really one of our primary motives. The English department has verged on national reputation, but a loss of five full professors as a result of retirement, resignations and deaths could cut the national prestige. However, it is still in a position to attract people to its program. Chemistry and history have certain strengths which make them recognized nationally. Geography has a good program for training at the masters level. We could make our professional schools comparable to other top scools in the nation if we could somehow appropriate about $1-2 million for such a purpose. We need more private. soliciting of funds from within the schools if we are ever going to achieve any kind of status. The law center is working with groups now to get more money for scholarships. I think it's great when a student gets a scholarship to Harvard or any other top school for that matter. But USC needs to be in a position to compete for this same kind of person. If we don't provide the scholarships for these people, then how can we realistically expect them to stay in South Carolina and help us with its problems? '0N ~23 OLDEN SPUR ttee Meets PM In Room tudents ORARY