1996 Permanent House Journal Printed Pages 1630-1639 - South Carolina Legislature Online

Journal of the House of Representatives
of the Second Session of the 111th General Assembly
of the State of South Carolina
being the Regular Session Beginning Tuesday, January 9, 1996

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Printed Page 1620, Mar. 26 | Printed Page 1640, Mar. 26

Printed Page 1630 . . . . . Tuesday, March 26, 1996

EXAMINATION BY SENATOR GLOVER:
Q: Ms. McBride, in looking at your application, is there a reason you don't have a voter registration number?
A: No, because I can use my driver's license. I am a registered voter.
THE CHAIRMAN: We feel better.
Q: I also wanted to know ... I don't think you have had previous service. Tell me why you would like to serve on this Board?
A: I do have previous service.
Q: Okay.
A: I've been on the Board for 12 years.
Q: Okay, yes. I'm sorry. I see it now. But tell me. Tell me about your service on the Board ...
A: Well, I have ...
Q: ... and why you would like to continue.
A: Because I have a good working relationship with the other Board members and also because I'm an advocate with education for everyone and the opportunity at school offers this to all of our students.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, ma'am. Our next candidate is Ms. Frankie Newman.
FRANKIE NEWMAN - EXAMINATION BY THE CHAIRMAN:
Q: Raise your right hand, please. Ms. Newman, do you swear that the foregoing testimony is the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
A: I do.
Q: Ma'am, do you have any health-related problems that the screening committee should be made aware of that would prevent you from serving on the Board in a full capacity?
A: No.
Q: Considering your present occupation and other activities, would you be able to attend Board meetings on a regular basis?
A: Yes, sir, I would.
Q: Do you have any interests, professionally or personally, that present a conflict of interest because of your service on the Board?
A: No, sir.
Q: Do you now hold any public position of honor or trust that, if elected to the Board, would cause you to violate the dual office holding clause of the constitution?
A: I'm not certain it would be a conflict, sir, but I do Chair the Lexington County Board of Assessment Appeals. My term in ending in September. If I would be fortunate enough to be elected to this Board, I'd be happy to resign that position.

Printed Page 1631 . . . . . Tuesday, March 26, 1996

Q: I fully understand. Any questions of the lady? Thank you, ma'am.
THE CHAIRMAN: Our next candidate is Suzanne Reynolds.
SUZANNE REYNOLDS - EXAMINATION BY THE CHAIRMAN:
A: Good morning.
Q: Raise your right hand, please, Ms. Reynolds. Do you swear that the foregoing testimony is the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
A: I do.
Q: Ms. Reynolds, do you have any health-related problems that the screening committee should be made aware of that would prevent you from serving on the Board in a full capacity?
A: No, sir.
Q: Considering your present occupation and other activities, would you be able to attend Board meetings on a regular basis?
A: Yes, I would.
Q: Do you have any interests, professionally or personally, that present a conflict of interest because of your service on the Board?
A: No, sir.
Q: Do you now hold any public position of honor or trust that, if elected to the Board, would cause you to violate the dual office holding clause of the constitution?
A: No, sir.
Q: Any questions of the lady? Thank you, ma'am.
THE CHAIRMAN: Our next and final candidate is Ms. Olive Wilson.
OLIVE WILSON - EXAMINATION BY THE CHAIRMAN:
Q: Ms. Wilson, do you swear that the foregoing testimony is the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
A: I do.
Q: Ms. Wilson, do you have any health-related problems that the screening committee should be made aware of that would prevent you from serving on the Board in a full capacity?
A: None, sir.
Q: Considering your present occupation and other activities, would you be able to attend Board meetings on a regular basis?
A: I've been doing that.
Q: Do you have any interests, professionally or personally, that present a conflict of interest because of your service on the Board?
A: No, sir.

Printed Page 1632 . . . . . Tuesday, March 26, 1996

Q: Do you now hold any public position of honor or trust that, if elected to the Board, would cause you to violate the dual office holding clause of the constitution?
A: No, sir.
Q: Any questions? Senator Giese.
EXAMINATION BY SENATOR GIESE:
Q: Mr. Chairman, in light of Ms. Wilson's long service in the Board, I wonder if you would tell us what you consider to be the biggest problem facing Wil Lou Gray at the present time?
A: You might not like to hear this, but our funding is our biggest problem, generally. We run a very tight budget. If you'd noticed our operating budget, and we have a good many students who come who have no financial resources to back them, and it's ... we have to sort of scramble. And we have a foundation that Ms. Wil Lou Gray really, basically, started funding for years ago with a grant or I think she left us money for it, and we use the interest from that. And it is used up every year with scholarships for our students.
Q: Hasn't the mission really of Wil Lou Gray changed through the years?
A: Oh, yes.
Q: I think that's why the perceptions of what it used to do and what it does now is ...
A: We began as an alternative school for adults who had not had the opportunity as young people to get an education. And we have just evolved through the years as to what the state needs. And right now we see our mission as, basically, those who have failed in public schools. And somebody has to pick up the slack and we're trying.
Q: Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Any other questions? Thank you, ma'am. That completes Wil Lou Gray. We go now to Winthrop University. We have two seats and we have three candidates. Our first candidate is Jane Shuler.
JANE SHULER - EXAMINATION BY THE CHAIRMAN:
A: Good morning.
Q: Good morning, ma'am. Raise your right hand, please. Ms. Shuler, do you swear that the foregoing testimony is the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
A: I do.

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Q: Ma'am, do you have any health-related problems that the screening committee should be made aware of that would prevent you from serving on the Board in a full capacity?
A: No, sir.
Q: Considering your present occupation and other activities, would you be able to attend Board meetings on a regular basis?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Do you have any interests, professionally or personally, that present a conflict of interest because of your service on the Board?
A: No, sir.
Q: Do you now hold any public position of honor or trust that, if elected to the Board, would cause you to violate the dual office holding clause of the constitution?
A: No, sir.
Q: Any questions of Ms. Shuler?
REPRESENTATIVE INABINETT: I have one question.
EXAMINATION BY REPRESENTATIVE INABINETT:
Q: I know that you allude to accountability?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: In any way that you would like, just tell us your feelings with records to accountability.
A: Okay. My opinion as a public school guidance counselor or my opinion as a Trustee?
Q: As a Trustee.
A: All right. Good. I feel like our college and universities need to be accountable for what the students are learning at their schools. I feel just like the previous speaker that funding is a problem, nd we've seen that at our school, at our Winthrop University. I've served on the Board for six years. I would like to continue doing this. But I think our professors need to be made accountable. I know the tenure issue is a problem, but we need to know what they're doing in the classroom. We need to know how our students face the world when they need to go into the world to work. With the School Board Transition Act, that's very, very important. And I've really been talking with Winthrop University and the Department of Education, because I feel like these students deserve the opportunity to get a job. And if aren't being accountable at Winthrop, in our programs. And I know some of the new changes with the Commission of Higher Education will make this probably come into focus more. And I look forward to the changes. I see no problems with it. As far as accountability act for K through 12, that's many a different story.

Printed Page 1634 . . . . . Tuesday, March 26, 1996

Q: Thank you.
A: Uh-huh (affirmative response).
THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, sir. Senator Giese.
EXAMINATION BY SENATOR GIESE:
Q: I served 28 years with the University of South Carolina faculty. And I notice that you felt it was important in your statement to quote testimony to state that I support President DiGiorgio.
A: Correct.
Q: And I think the problem was that the faculty had some feelings about his service.
A: Very few faculty. There have been a lot of problems. A lot of bad publicity you might say. But I feel like when you're on the campus as much as I am and I'm on the campus a lot, there's a lot of support there too. But newspapers don't tend to print, you know, all the good stories. I think recently one particular example is Vice President Cormier receiving a job as president of a school in Virginia. Well, it was publicized as being so terrible that she was leaving. Well, it was really a wonderful honor that they chose one of our vice presidents to be a president of another school. We didn't feel that it was detrimental at all, but the way the story came out, you know, that's the way it was. So, I think that there's always going to be faculty who are not pleased with administration. That's part of the job. And that's part of our job as Board of Trustees to see that those things can be worked out the best they can.
Q: Thank you.
A: Uh-huh (affirmative response).
THE CHAIRMAN: Senator Glover.
EXAMINATION BY SENATOR GLOVER:
Q: Yes. You mentioned, Ms. Shuler, that the last two years have been kind of difficult.
A: Right.
Q: How do you think, as a Trustee member, what do you think the Board can do?
A: The Board has done a whole lot in the last year. I hope that we have made correct steps. One thing we have done, Ms. Glover, is to offer the students and faculty a thirty minute period before all Board meetings to come in and speak on subjects that are on the agenda. It's amazing. I've been a chairman of committees. No one comes to the committee meetings. If there are problems, I've asked, why don't we see you? So we are offering these opportunities. I think that the president has done a very good job in trying to get out into the community on the campus. All

Printed Page 1635 . . . . . Tuesday, March 26, 1996

these things we are very aware of, and we've really worked extremely hard to improve them.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, ma'am.
A: Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Our next candidate is Walter H. Smith.
WALTER H. SMITH - EXAMINATION BY THE CHAIRMAN:
A: Good morning.
Q: Good morning, Mr. Smith. Raise your right hand, please, Mr. Smith. Do you swear that the foregoing testimony is the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Ms. Smith, do you have any health-related problems that the screening committee should be made aware of that would prevent you from serving on the Board in a full capacity?
A: No, sir.
Q: Considering your present occupation and other activities, would you be able to attend Board meetings on a regular basis?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Do you have any interests, professionally or personally, that present a conflict of interest because of your service on the Board?
A: No, sir.
Q: Do you now hold any public position of honor or trust that, if elected to the Board, would cause you to violate the dual office holding clause of the constitution?
A: No, sir.
Q: Any questions of Mr. Smith? Thank you, Mr. Smith.
A: Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Our next candidate is Mr. David White.
DAVID WHITE - EXAMINATION BY THE CHAIRMAN:
Q: Do you swear that the foregoing testimony is the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God, Mr. White?
A: I do.
Q: Mr. White, do you have any health-related problems that the screening committee should be made aware of that would prevent you from serving on the Board in a full capacity?
A: No.
Q: Considering your present occupation and other activities, would you be able to attend Board meetings on a regular basis?
A: Yes.

Printed Page 1636 . . . . . Tuesday, March 26, 1996

Q: Do you have any interests, professionally or personally, that present a conflict of interest because of your service on the Board?
A: Mr. Stoddard, I practice law in Rock Hill and have a lot of business clients. And occasionally we have a client who has some business relationship with Winthrop and on very rare occasions these matters come to the attention of the Board and I have to excuse myself and not participate. So, I'm bound to say to the Committee that there are very rare occasions in which a conflict of interest arises out of my representation of clients in Rock Hill. But it is my belief and view that that in no way precludes or adversely affects my ability to serve Winthrop.
Q: But you always rule yourself out in ...
A: Oh, indeed, yes.
Q: In terms of ... do you now hold any public position of honor or trust that, if elected to the Board, would cause you to violate the dual office holding clause of the constitution?
A: No.
Q: Any questions of Mr. White?
SENATOR GIESE: Mr. Chairman.
THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, Senator Giese.
EXAMINATION BY SENATOR GIESE:
Q: In your statement you mentioned that there's continuing concern about the faculty relations, and some issues remain unresolved. Could you mention a couple of issues that remain unresolved by the faculty?
A: Well, the faculty, some members of the faculty, I would say a good number still believe that it's not a sufficient opportunity for them to communicate their concerns to the Board of Trustees. These concerns are varied. There are many, many kinds of concerns. For example, Senator Giese, the fact they are very concerned that because of funding cuts of recent years, certain expense monies or no longer available for programs that are important to them. Such as, travel funds for the Winthrop course would be an example. The budgetary system whereby appropriations for different purposes are made is not well understood by the fact that I believe that we need more communication, not only between faculty and the administration, between faculty and the Board, to air these kinds of problems and to ventilate some of this anxiety and animosity that exists. And as a member of the Academic Affairs Committee of the university I have advocated that our Committee meetings be open and that we have ... give opportunities in that context, what's more meaningful dialogue than you can have in a full Board meeting. That's an example. I don't know. That's not very specific, but I could give you some more examples at a better time.

Printed Page 1637 . . . . . Tuesday, March 26, 1996

THE CHAIRMAN: Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. White.
A: Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: That concludes our screening of the candidates for the year. Do I hear a motion for approval of the candidates?
SENATOR BRYAN: So moved.
REPRESENTATIVE INABINETT: Second.
THE CHAIRMAN: Senator Bryan moves that we find all candidates qualified. Seconded by Representative Inabinett. All in favor say aye, opposed no. The ayes have it. Now, that would allow them to commence with their seeking of pledges for the gentleman and lady. So you may proceed to seek those cherished votes. Thank you for coming. Correction - Representative Inabinett seconded the motion last week by Senator Wilson. Before the Committee takes testimony from the two individuals who filed after the deadline, I want to make the chair's position clear. I believe it would be imprudent and improper to allow late applicants to be screened, and I consider it a mistake to even hear their testimony today. By inviting these two individuals to appear before us this morning, the Committee has built some expectation that if their excuse is good enough, the Committee will activate their applications and proceed with their screening. My position is that the deadline is final, regardless of excuse, and I will not vote to excuse these late letters of intent. My position has nothing to do with the two late applicants personally. I want that to be clearly understood. My position has to do with my responsibility - and yours - to protect the integrity of this Committee and the General Assembly. If the Committee allows the late applicants to be screened, the public will undoubtedly view our process as a Kangaroo system in which legislators take care of their own and their special or powerful friends. Mr. Darby, would you like to take the stand and give us your ...
MR. DARBY: Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning.
THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, sir.
MR. DARBY: My name is Warren Darby. I'm a member of the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina State University. This was my first position as Elective Trustee of the University of South Carolina. I was unaware of the process of running again. I expected to be notified that my term had expired. I knew it expired in 1996, but I did not know the deadline for when you had to refile. The week of February the 15th, in which the filing deadline occurred, I was out of town that week, and was contacted by a member of the University staff on the 16th, telling me that I had missed the deadline and to get a letter to them as quickly as I could in order to ask this Committee for some exception in order to file after the

Printed Page 1638 . . . . . Tuesday, March 26, 1996

deadline. I had a letter dictated and was hand delivered to this Committee within two hours of the notification I had missed the deadline. We had a Board meeting the following Thursday and at that meeting I had planned to inquire about what the deadline was, knowing that this process occurred in 1996. I sent the letter. I had it delivered. I would have delivered it personally, had I been in Columbia, but I had someone deliver it for me. And then on, that was on Friday the 16th. On the 21st I was informed that my petition to have my name entered as a Trustee candidate had been denied. So, on the 21st I wrote a letter to President Davis, telling him that I would not be able to run again because this request had been denied. I have a copy of that letter if you would like it, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, I have a copy of your letter.
MR. DARBY: I was speaking of the letter I wrote Dr. Davis, telling him that I was sorry, but I would no longer be a Trustee because I had missed the deadline, basically.
THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, sir.
MR. DARBY: The Board of Trustees met on the 23rd, and I informed the Board of the dilemma that I was in. That I had missed the deadline. Six of the Trustees came forward and wanted to help me see if this Committee would be willing to make an exception, since I honestly did not know when the deadline occurred. I take full responsibility for that, but I did miss the deadline and understand the ramifications of that. In addition, the leadership of faculty senate came forward and asked what they could do to help me, as well as certain key members of the administration. So that's where I am right now, asking for some understanding of this issue. I think the other question is why am I so interested in continuing to serve on the University's Board. I joined the Board of Trustees three years ago, right after President Smith had resigned and Dr. Hadden had been appointed. A year and a half later Dr. Hadden had left, shortly thereafter the vice president of finance had been arrested for embezzlement. I was then named Chairman of the Physical Policy of the Finance Committee of the Board, and a number of interesting things have happened since then. The legislative audit counsel in 1992 had issued a report of 42 different recommendations of fiscal mismanagement, poor management practices. And as a result of my working with the president and others, we were able to get the legislative audit counsel report resolved. They commended the school on its new management practices and I feel like the Committee that I served on helped deal with that. There's an issue of accreditation. Several of the schools are in jeopardy of accreditation and we've done two things to deal with that; one is the music department needed a new building, the accreditation depended

Printed Page 1639 . . . . . Tuesday, March 26, 1996

on it, it'd been six years since the accreditation ... since a building had been planned. Finances were a problem. We brought in Harvey Gantt, the architect, to ask him to rescape ... scale down the building that would meet up to creditation, but also meet the schools budget. The Trustees last meeting approved that and we've moved forward with that building. The main issue facing the school was its issue of the lowest SAT scores, some of the lowest graduation rates, the lowest faculty salaries, and the lowest tuition of any state supported institution. The tuition is half of what other historical black institutions in South Carolina is.
THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Darby.
MR. DARBY: Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: We realize that your contribution there was superlative, but our issue here is the reason for your tardiness.
MR. DARBY: Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: And that's what we want to limit that to. I have a letter dated the 14th, which we received on the 16th. Your letter of intent.
MR. DARBY: Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: Now, your institution was informed, I believe, February the 2nd of the upcoming elections and vacancies. Then later, your ... not only your institution, but an employee of theirs was notified. And the only way, I guess, that a Trustee knows that his term is up, is if not when he's elected he doesn't remember it, why, contact with his institution. And that's generally, I think, pretty common place. And we always let the institutions know, all of them that have Trustees whose terms expire. And through that grape vine they're notified. But our issue here, entirely, is just to hear your reason for not filing on time.
MR. DARBY: Yes, sir. I apologize for getting that detailed. But the first meeting in 1996 was on February the 23rd and at that meeting I'd planned to inquire with the administration of what the process was for refiling, having not served in public position before. And my unfortunate situation was that the filing deadline was a week before that. And like I said, the employee of the University, Sandy Gillum, contacted me by car phone on the 16th as I was returning from Charleston, and as a result of that conversation I, on the car phone, I dictated a letter which was delivered, like I said, two hours later. The situation is totally my fault and I accept that. I do ask the Commission for some consideration, however.
THE CHAIRMAN: We certainly appreciate your appearing, and ... Senator Bryan.

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