When torrential rains doused the East Coast earlier this month, many South Carolinians feared it was going to turn some parts of the state into areas like those of the Gulf Coast when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Mississippi coast a decade ago.
For sure, there was death — some 19 storm-related losses — and widespread property damage. Businesses shut. Schools closed. Amid the storm and the continuing clean up efforts, South Carolina State University (SCSU), the state’s lone historically Black public college, was spared the worst, although many areas nearby were flooded and students and employees from nearby Columbia affected. SCSU closed for the weekend and a day. Then, most of its crew and students were back.
A most fortunate turn of events for an institution that has been otherwise flooded with mostly bad news for several years now: its accreditation in danger, enrollment declining and past due bills in excess of $10 million. Being spared the brunt of this month’s storm was, in contrast, a burst of good news for the university.
“In spite of the rain and things we’ve been going through, we’re still standing,” said veteran SCSU career counselor Rudine Williams. “It’s not about us, it’s about the students we serve here,” said Williams, as she and colleagues resumed work on the university’s ambitious Career Extravaganza that started Monday.
Indeed, surviving storms is what SCSU is about these days. It’s become an all-hands-on-board challenge as the university’s leadership tries to shore up weakened support for it.
“We’re exploring every avenue to achieve savings and bring in money,” says 51-year-old interim SCSU President W. Franklin Evans, the university’s 10th chief executive in just over a decade.
Indeed, SCSU faces troubles of its own, all of which are burning on a short fuse.
