Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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'Che 0 am eco ck « r Palms discusses budget, scholarships at meeting Compiled by Brandon Larrabee and Charles Prashaw The Gamecock USC President John Palms’ potential bid for U.S. Senate and a proposed increase in freshman enrollment weren’t the only topics to come up at the board of trustees’ Thursday meeting. The board also discussed issues such as proposed cuts to USC’s state funding and the faculty senate’s new goals. ■ Palms implies budget cuts could be worst ever USC President John Palms implied that the budget cuts being debated at the State House — which might slash the University’s funding by as much as 12 percent — could be the worst the university has ever known. “Wfe’ve never faced such a cut,” Palms said. According to Palms, the university could stand to lose $24 million in state allocations if the 12 percent cut is passed in the House’s budget. The Senate has two options: the House’s budget, which cuts the university’s state funding by about 12 percent, or a new plan by Gov. Jim Hodges, which would restore nearly all funding to the university’s budget. “The Senate will consider both the House bill and the governor’s plan next week,” Palms said. But the money Hodges has devoted to protecting higher education from the budget cuts this year would use funding that wouldn’t be there in the future, Palms said. Trustee Arthur Bahnmuller complimented students for signing thousands of letters uiging state legislators to spare the university. . “They all got involved on this tiling,” Bahnmuller said. “They did a heck of a job.” ■ Palms praises scholarship winners Palms recognized students who received prestigious scholarships, including a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship and three Goldwater scholarships. He said few, if any, schools other than USC had as many Goldwaters. “You get 16 Goldwaters in the last four years, people know; you’re on their radar screen,” Palms told the trustees. ■ Dean changes continue Palms also talked to the board about the loss of one dean and the hiring of another. Dean John Montgomery will step down as dean of the law school June 30, Palms announced. He also introduced Gordon Smith, recently chosen to head USC’s graduate school. “We now have two ‘Dean Smiths’ — [Business Dean] Joel Smith and Gordon Smith,” Palms said. ■ Faculty survey During the board of trustees meeting, Faculty Senate Chairwoman Caroline Strobel told the trustees about a recent faculty survey. A list of six goals faculty members would like to see the board to consider was created after the survey was conducted. The primary goal the faculty wants the university to accomplish is to maintain and repair campus buildings. The second goal is to improve graduate education by increasing stipends. Other goals were to maintain high aspirations for undergraduate education raise faculty salaries and benefits, maintain the library system and research tools and reduce life and work stress on faculty members by creating benefits such as child day care. The university desk can be reached at , gamecockudesk@hotmail.com IBUS from page 1 • faculty, whose hard work and dedication continue to make this top ranking possible,” Smith said. This ranking is just one of many achievements the Darla Moore School of Business has made over the past couple of months. In January, The Financial Times of London ranked the school one of the world’s top business programs offering master’s-level business training. Among U.S. business schools, USC ranked 30th overall and 12th among public institutions. In February, the state Commission on Higher Education awarded three of the school’s programs, the master of international business studies (MIBS), the international master of business administration (IMM) and the professional master of business administration (PMBA), its Commendation of Excellence. Also in February, USC announced that the school had received two gifts of $1 million each, one from BMW and another from Mount Vernon Mills. Other colleges included in the U.S. News report were USC’s law school, which placed in the second tier of the rankings, the College of Social Work, ranked 29th, and the College of Nursing, ranked 52nd. “We are very pleased with this ranking because our staff and students have worked extremely hard over many years,” said Frank Raymond, dean of the College of Social Wbrk. “This honor is even especially wonderful considering our college is the youngest school ranked in the top 50.” The U.S. News rankings are based on objective measures, such as entering students’ test scores and faculty/student ratios, as well as reputation ratings drawn from both inside and outside academia. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com would have eleven members, including five members of the board and three members of the faculty (the chair of the USC Columbia faculty senate, a faculty member elected by the'faculty senate and a representative of USC’s regional schools). Also joining the committe would be the incumbent student body president, the incumbent president of the USC Alumni Council and a representative from the university’s various foundations. Debates about the resolution dealt" with details; some board members pushed successfully for the committee to present “four folly acceptable candidates for the presidency” instead of “no more than four folly acceptable candidates.” Trustee Arthur Bahnmuller, who supported the change, said the board needed at least four candidates to choose from. He dismissed fears that the committee might feel pressed to present unqualified candidates to the board to fill the quota. “Then we ought to be smart enough to eliminate the other two,” Bahnmuller said. Trustee Helen Harvey was concerned about the resolution’s adding the committee layout to the board’s bylaws. “I don’t want us to tie down some other search committee and some other board of trustees,” Harvey said. But Mungo said the resolution ensured that all the university’s constituencies were represented when a search occurs. He said a future board could overturn the resolution if it needed to. “They can change the bylaws if they want to do that,” Mungo said. He said adding the resolution to the bylaws ensured continuity. “If we don’t put it in the bylaws, it doesn’t have any lasting quality,” Mungo said. Mungo said there was nothing new in the approach the resolution took. “This is precisely hew it was done when I was chair 10 years ago,” he said.: “We want to represent the faculty, the, foundation, the students in this process.” The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Palms from page 1 apologized for how suddenly news of his possible candidacy had hit. Whittle said board members used the conference to discuss Palms’ potential run with him. “Each of the board members had time to ask Dr. Palms questions and to express their concerns about his possible run,” he said. Palms said he would consider what the trustees had said. “I listened to the board members’ concerns about what my leaving could possibly mean to the university, and I’ll take their comments into consideration,” Palms said. Meanwhile, the board prepared for the possible Palms resignation by approving a resolution that sets the groundwork for a presidential search committee. The resolution, sponsored by trustee Michael Muitgo, lays out the composition of a search committee. The committee & snnpiivppp^ It's a simple calculation: TIAA-CREF’s low expenses mean more money working for you. forifrae ) ■_ -, calculator^/ i I The equation is easy. Lower expenses in managing a fund can equal better performance. How much? Just take a look at the chart. Then call us. We'll send you a free, easy-to-use expense calculator so you can see for yourself that no matter what your investment, you’ll benefit from low expenses. And CREF variable annuity expenses range from just 0.28% to 0.34%.' 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