President: S.C. State ‘can’t go backwards’; officials focusing on enrollment, other priorities

“On top of COVID and trying to keep everyone safe, the hacking of our computer system and all of those things that went with that, our students certainly displayed a very, very high level of resiliency … along with our faculty and staff,” Alexander Conyers said last week.

“In addition to what they were encountering here on this campus, many of them had situations to deal with back at home. … So, again, a special thanks to all of our stakeholders, alumni included, for being patient with us during this very challenging semester,” Conyers said.

Conyers addressed the issues during the university’s board of trustees meeting on Thursday.

The university’s fall 2021 enrollment stands at 2,374, but “we can’t go backwards,” Conyers said.

“We’re continuing to work hard. I’m very close to selecting a vice president for enrollment management that will consolidate many of these functions under one roof. Admissions, enrollment, financial aid, registrar – currently those four entities are bifurcated across four different leaders. So, looking forward to doing that and getting after our timeliness of responding to applicants as far as following up,” he said.

Conyers said he has also conducted interviews for a chief finance officer and was still reviewing applications for a general counsel.

During the meeting, he introduced Dr. Frederick Evans as the university’s interim provost and vice president for academic affairs.

He said conducting a review of academic programs and assessing current business needs are also top priorities.

“I’m willing to look at everything from aviation to veterinarian. … We’ve been putting men and women from this university in military uniform for the last 70 years. We can certainly put them in a pilot uniform as well,” Conyers said.

“There are several HBCUs out there currently with aviation programs where students can graduate with a commercial pilot’s license and, in this case, the curriculum will occur here, and their lab will be the Orangeburg County Airport, the same with veterinarian school. There’s not a vet school in South Carolina,” he said, with Tuskegee University in Alabama serving as the only HBCU with a veterinarian program.

Trustee Dr. Doris Helms said, “An actual vet school is horrendously expensive; however, you have a real opportunity for a vet tech program that gives a B.S. degree.”

“I think you could afford to do that, but when you get into a vet school, you have to do surgery, and you have to do all of the things that are associated with a vet school,” she said. “There’s an opportunity there with aviation. I think you can find your niche.”

The university’s efforts to enhance safety will include providing campus police services to nearby Campus Corner and University Village, both of which are leased by the university.

“My number one thing is the health and safety of our students, and part of that is reinstating South Carolina State University’s Campus Police authority at Campus Corner and University Village,” he said.

Conyers continued, “A decision was made a while back to pull those authorities away from those two entities that we lease. … Every other university that enters lease agreements with properties like that extend every service to those properties.

“We will do that, along with community assistants/residential assistants at those properties beginning in January.”

Conyers said he had already walked the campus with the university’s vice president of student affairs, chief of police and director of information technology.

“We had a complete site survey by a professional company,” Conyers said. Work will include “ensuring that the cameras that we have are the best, replacing the ones we need to replace, install call boxes, and all of those things that will allow us to monitor this campus and provide for the safety of our students, faculty and staff. We have the funding to do that.”

Increasing bed space is another priority.

“Over the last 10 years, we’ve lost over 500 beds on campus. The quickest thing I can do now is to bring Truth Hall fully back online. We’re currently only utilizing about one-third of the beds in Truth Hall because of the fire and safety issues on the top seven floors,” Conyers said.

“It costs about $4 million to get that done, but we have the money. … So now we will take that $4 million and reinvest into Truth Hall … and give us an additional 200 beds,” he said.

Conyers also encouraged the board to explore the usage of the public-private partnership, or P3, model to create additional student housing.

“That’s what universities across the country are doing. They’re providing the land on campus, a private entity will come build those dormitories, and then they could pay the rent from the students. It’s just a win-win for the university. It’s a win-win for those companies,” he said.

He continued, “Obviously those companies will do their own financial analysis before they enter an agreement with any university. Recently, at North Carolina Central, they just built three dormitories using that model.

“They’re in the midst of building one now at the University of South Carolina. … Very exploratory phase, but it’s something we should look at as we consider the need for housing.”

Conyers said he is also reviewing policies that may be create unnecessary barriers for the university.

“We just went through this and found out that for decades we had the false notion that we had to wait until an employee left the university before we could advertise for that vacancy. As you can imagine, that would always cause at least a three- to four-month lag. … Now that office, if it’s only a three-man shop, is down to two persons. So, again, we’ve fixed that,” Conyers said.

Fundraising

The university launched a $1.25 million “Ready All to Do and Dare” fundraising campaign this year in celebration of its 125th anniversary and which runs through the end of December.

Conyers reported that the campaign has exceeded its goal and currently stands at $1.28 million. It was reported that the university exceeded its goal with funds provided on Giving Tuesday.

“Thanks to the alumni association, to all of our stakeholders. This was done mostly with individuals. … This is with folks who care about South Carolina State University,” Conyers said.

“The purpose of this is to use these unrestricted funds so that we can get things turned around quickly, but first and foremost will be general scholarships, campus beautification, student experience, faculty/staff appreciation,” along with professional training and chapter recruitment, he said.

Community/university
engagements

Conyers said a newly established Parent Association has been successful.

“The purpose of this is to improve communication to parents. We found that there was a huge gap in communicating to parents, especially parents who aren’t familiar with the college process. So we’re getting those parents signed up,” he said.

“We’re emailing them pertinent information as to how to help their student navigate through college. We think this will pay huge dividends to the university. … We look forward to building that database to share information with parents,” the interim president said.

He said the university is also working to expand its footprint in downtown Orangeburg.

“We are in the works of being donated a very stately building on downtown Orangeburg. It’s not one of the buildings when you think driving through Orangeburg that is old and is vacant. … This is a very stately building that we will be proud to affix our name to. Hopefully before the next board meeting, we will have a deed to that property,” Conyers said.

He said he envisions moving the university’s small business development office from Belcher Hall to the new building.

Trustee Macie P. Smith said, “I love that idea to integrate community.”

The university has also worked to make sure it gets its share of the state General Assembly’s $2 billion in surplus money and has requested $145 million.

Conyers has said, “We don’t know when they will take this up, but prior to that, myself and other key members, including the chairman, will engage … with several of those committee members.”

Student/staff
highlights

Conyers reported that the university was awarded a $700,000 grant from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to develop and disseminate culturally-responsive COVID-19 prevention education, marketing and outreach.

“Since July until November, we’ve received over $2 million in grants. This was the largest one,” he said.

A team of S.C. State students earned first place in the fifth annual HP (Hewlett-Packard) Business Challenge. The students include: Nasjay Bostick, Jessica Outlaw, Keyanna Russ, Jaevien Akinmola and Selim Ben Ali.

Conyers said these are the type of students who would work well with the development of a Bulldog think tank that would produce “student-led solutions for campus issues.”

“They will be assigned a faculty coach, or a staff coach, to help them with that, and we will pay them a stipend to come up with this solution. Our students are within six months to a year of providing great solutions for corporate America. We could utilize that same talent here,” he said.

Sports standouts were also recognized, including Jada Banks, a sophomore from Conyers, Georgia, who is the 2021 MEAC 5K champion, and Dexter Ratliff, a sophomore from Beaufort, South Carolina, who is the 2021 MEAC discus champion.

The S.C. State football team is preparing for the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta on Dec. 18.

“From that Celebration Bowl, $760,000 is guaranteed from the game, and then we were given $150,000 worth of tickets. Those tickets that we sell, that $150,000, comes back to the university. So we have the potential for about $900,000 for this game. That’s huge,” Conyers said.

Notable university alums will be in attendance, including Congressman Jim Clyburn and pro football hall of famers Harry Carson and trustee Donnie Shell.