Let’s begin with the obvious: South Carolina State University is a mess. No, it’s way beyond a mess; it is on life support and its very existence is in grave danger.
But, it can be fixed and, in fact, the solution is fairly straightforward. It’s not rocket science; if GM can go from the brink of extinction to making a profit in less than 24 months, then S.C. State’s problems can be solved.
Phil Noble
This is not the place to recount all the problems of S.C. State; that would take a book. Suffice it to say, the finances have been incompetently — if not criminally — mismanaged for years. Corrupt politicians have tried to use S.C. State as their own profit center, triggering some, though not nearly enough, jail terms for a number of school officials. It is hemorrhaging students, with a 40 percent drop in enrollment since 2007.
God only knows how much money the school owes (at least $87 million, according to most projections) or how much more it would take to fix things permanently. Current President Thomas Elzey’s latest estimate is upward of $50 million, but no one really thinks that would be enough.
And through it all, it seems that everyone in any position of responsibility is at odds with someone else over their alleged arrogance, stupidity, corruption or worse. The Legislative Black Caucus just passed a resolution of no confidence in Elzey and called for him to resign.
The response of the school’s board was to announce they supported the president who recently pocketed a $50,000 “performance bonus” on top of his already very generous salary of $326,000.
