Dr Tobin presides over Trustees meeting.

Work goes on at S.C. State

R esolving the issue of who is the legitimate chairman of the South Carolina State University Board of Trustees became more urgent recently when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools questioned the board’s governance policies. Since October, there have been two chairmen elected on two separate occasions: Dr. Walter L. Tobin and Patricia Lott. Trustees disagree which of the two should be chairman under the board’s bylaws.

However, Jackson called Interim President Dr. Cynthia Warrick about the issue. “He indicated that he received Dr. Tobin’s letter,” Warrick said. “He said a letter would be forthcoming and that we would have to respond to that letter by Jan. 8.” Tobin said he hopes and trusts that the question of board leadership will be resolved by January. Trustees Anthony Grant and Dr. John Corbitt called for the board to resolve the issue at Thursday’s meeting. “I want us to address it as soon as possible and I want us to move forward because we have many, many more issues that are far more important than who’s going to be chairman of the board,” Grant said. However, Tobin noted that the issue was not on the agenda and asked trustees to work on the issues at hand. “We all know we’ve got to deal with these issues,” Grant said. “But for the good of the institution at this juncture, Dr. Tobin is leading this board until we address this concern.” Following the meeting, Tobin said the board will be working to resolve the problem of leadership.

Other Business

In other business, the board unanimously approved the 2012-13 budget as presented by the budget committee. It calls for an additional $600,000 in cuts. Vice President for Finance Eric Eaton reported earlier that Academic Affairs will receive a cut of $350,000. Decisions about specific areas to be cut will be left to the departments, he said. Warrick said some adjunct professor positions will be cut, but no permanent teaching positions will be eliminated. Eaton also proposed cutting $50,000 in each of the following: the president’s office, finance division, institutional advancement, athletics and institutional effectiveness. Several trustees and Faculty Senate President Dr. Larry Watson expressed concerns that academic affairs suffered such huge cuts. Trustee Maurice Washington noted that $300,000 is being spent to pay for cell phones for university employees. He said that makes no sense at all when teachers are being laid off. The employees with cell phones are making enough to pay for their own cell phones, he said. Eaton said he would look at where the university could save money by cutting back on cell phones and that he would continue looking at fund raisers. In other business, the board elected Lott as a member of the executive committee by acclamation. Tobin also presented a proposal for the process of selecting a permanent president to be considered at a later meeting.