Barker says funding, parking among challenges in new school year

By Anna Simon
CLEMSON BUREAU

CLEMSON -- Initial growing pains due to a planned $225 million investment in facilities at Clemson University are forcing returning students to relearn their way around the campus.

Three major construction projects have disrupted pedestrian and vehicular traffic and reduced the number of parking places several hundred of which won't come back as new buildings replace former parking lots.

"Welcome back; bear with us," was the message from Clemson President James Barker in his convocation speech to faculty and staff that sets the tone for the coming academic year.

The campus is experiencing "growing pains" that also are "a sign of progress," said Barker, who gave a rundown of various projects including improvements slated for 50-year-old Lee Hall, which hasn't changed much since Barker's own days as an architecture student there.

The investment in facilities and information technology is part of a plan for the next five years to improve the living and learning environment, Barker said. Various means of funding these projects range from gifts to state bond money.

Clemson University will continue to follow its roadmap even as belts tighten even further to address a new round of state funding cuts.

With the new round of cuts, Clemson has $10 million less than this time last year, Barker said.

"These cuts will be felt on campus." They will "help us focus on our true priorities," he said.

The new 3 percent cut levied last week by the State Budget and Control Board took approximately $3.3 million from Clemson's educational and general budget and $1.5 million from Public Service Activities, said Clemson spokeswoman Cathy Sams

In addition, the board reduced the Capital Reserve Fund, which eliminated $800,000 for Clemson that had been earmarked for the South Carolina Light Rail, Sams said.

Elsewhere, the state cut 6.5 million from the University of South Carolina system, with $5.4 million of that hitting USC-Columbia and its School of Medicine, said USC spokesman Russ McKinney.

Both schools said they will avoid across-the-board cuts and try to protect students.

USC President Harris Pastides "will prioritize and try to take the cuts in areas that least affects the students and their instruction," McKinney said.

USC deans and vice presidents are developing recommendations for dealing with the cuts, McKinney said.