South Carolina State University

South Carolina State University
Motto Scientia, Officium, Honos
Motto in English
 Knowledge, Duty, Honor
Type Public, Land Grant, Space Grant
Established March 4, 1896 (1896-03-04)
President Franklin Evans
Undergraduates 2,937[1]
Location Orangeburg, South Carolina, U.S.
33°29′50″N 80°51′00″W / 33.49722°N 80.85000°W / 33.49722; -80.85000Coordinates: 33°29′50″N 80°51′00″W / 33.49722°N 80.85000°W / 33.49722; -80.85000
Campus 447 acres (181 ha),
(160 acres (65 ha) at Orangeburg campus,
287 acres (116 ha) additional acres at Camp Harry Daniels in Elloree, South Carolina)
Colors Garnet and Navy Blue
         
Athletics NCAA Division I – FCS, MEAC
Nickname Bulldogs or Lady Bulldogs
Mascot Bulldogs
Website www.scsu.edu

South Carolina State University (often referred to as SCSU) is a historically black university located in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only state funded, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina and is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

Academics

University rankings
National
Washington Monthly[2] 34[3]
Global

Colleges, departments, and schools

Nuclear Engineering Program

SCSU is the only university in South Carolina and only HBCU in the nation to offer a bachelor's degree in Nuclear Engineering. Currently the program operates through a partnership with North Carolina State University and University of Wisconsin-Madison. As of May 2015, 47 bachelor's degrees have been conferred by SCSU.[4]

Accreditation

South Carolina State is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The university was placed on probation in June 2014 for failing to meet the accreditor's standards "concerning governing board conflicts of interest and board/administration structure, as well as financial stability and controls.".[5] In June 2015, the SACS decided to allow the college to retain its accreditation, but kept them on probation for another year.[6]

Campus

The school's campus size is 160 acres (65 ha), with an additional 267 acres (108 ha) at Camp Harry Daniels in Elloree, South Carolina. Three buildings, Lowman Hall, Hodge Hall, and Dukes Gymnasium are included in the South Carolina State College Historic District, and separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[7]

The library is the Miller F. Whittaker Library.[8] The library was allocated $1 million from the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967 for its construction, and the library was dedicated in 1969.[9] The library is named in honor of the university's third president.[9] Originally two levels, a third level (the mezzanine) was added in a 1979 expansion.[9]

History

The university's beginnings were as the South Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical Institute in 1872 in Orangeburg, S.C created in 1872 in compliance with the 1862 Land Grant Act within the institution of Claflin College, now Claflin University.

In 1896 the South Carolina General Assembly passed an act of separation and established a separate institution - the "Colored Normal Industrial Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina", its official name until 1954.[10]

1920s – 1940s

Academic programs received more attention as the student population increased, but other programs, such as the university's high school, were forced to close due to the Great Depression. Fortunately, the New Deal Programs were used to create, among other things, Wilkinson Hall, the university's first separate library building (now home to Admissions and Financial Aid).

1940s – 1950s

The college's campus grew, as it purchased over 150 acres (61 ha) for agricultural learning. After World War II, many students flocked to the college, creating a classroom shortage problem for the school. In 1947, the United States Army created an ROTC detachment, in which all male students were required to enroll until mandatory enrollment ended in 1969.

The school's name changed, as well, as the South Carolina General Assembly renamed the school South Carolina State College in 1954. Because of the "separate but equal" laws in the state, the legislature gave the college large sums of money to build new academic facilities and dormitories, some of which still stand on the campus today, including the Student Union (1954), and Turner Hall (1956). This was done in order to give black students an environment of "equal" education. Also, the legislature created a law program for the college, mainly to prevent black students from attending the law school at the then-segregated University of South Carolina. The law program folded in 1966 after the University of South Carolina integrated.

1960s – 1980s

South Carolina State University Administration Building, Orangeburg, SC

During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, many students participated in marches and rallies aimed at ending segregation. The struggle came to a climax on the night on February 8, 1968, when three students were killed and 27 others were wounded by state policemen at the height of a protest that opposed the segregation of a nearby bowling alley. The tragedy, known as the Orangeburg massacre, is commemorated by a memorial plaza near the front of the campus. From the late-1960s to the mid-1980s, under the leadership of Dr. M. Maceo Nance, the campus experienced unprecedented growth in the form of new academic buildings, such as Nance Hall (1974) and Belcher Hall (1986), new residence halls, such as Sojourner Truth Hall (1972), which, at 14 stories, is the tallest building in Orangeburg County, and a new library building (1968), not to mention enlargements and renovations of existing facilities. The school also opened the I.P. Stanback Museum & Planetarium, which is the only facility of its kind on a historically black university campus in the United States. After Dr. Nance's retirement in 1986, Dr. Albert Smith assumed the office of the school's president and, among other achievements, created an honors college in 1988.1985 homecoming queen

1990s

During the tenure of Dr. Smith, the school also gained university status from the South Carolina General Assembly, becoming South Carolina State University in February 1992. In 1993, Dr. Barbara Hatton became the school's first female president and created many improvements for the campus, such as the 1994 renovation of Oliver C. Dawson Bulldog Stadium, constructing new suites and a larger press box, as well as increasing its capacity to 22,000. Hatton also spearheaded the creation of a plaza which resides in front of the Student Union and passes by several dorms and buildings in the central portion of the campus. Under SC State's next president, Dr. Leroy Davis, South Carolina State University celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1996, and the school constructed a Fine Arts Center in 1999, giving the Art and Music departments a new home.

2000 – present

In an attempt to resurrect the shootings of the "Orangeburg Massacre", filmmaker Dan Klores made a short film entitled, "Black Magic" that debuted on ESPN March 16, 2008. Also set to broadcast on PBS in fall 2008, is the documentary film "Orangeburg," by Bestor Cram and Judy Richardson, both activists from the 1960s. Both films set out to shine light upon an incident that lacked media coverage on the night it occurred and days following. Since it commenced at night, no one expected the shootings and therefore limited pictures or television images were available to the general public. The little attention that this tragedy received was not all accurate either. It was originally perceived that this confrontation was fueled by "black power advocates" and that gunfire was exchanged between the law enforcement officials and the protesters. Later it was discovered that the victims were in fact all unarmed. The recent media awareness and film interest regarding this event may influence the passing of a bill that was introduced in 2007 to reopen the investigation into Orangeburg.[11]

Under the leadership of Dr. Andrew Hugine Jr., the school constructed a new 771-bed residence hall (Hugine Suites), which is the largest dormitory in South Carolina. The first four buildings in Phase One opened on August 26, 2006, and the last two in the first phase opened on September 10, 2006. With the opening of the new dorms, SC State has closed the following dorms, Bethea (freshmen male), Miller (female), Bradham (female), and Manning (female) Halls. Both Bradham and Manning Halls had been used since the World War I era, Miller Hall is being closed due to fire alarm system malfunctions, and Bethea is being closed after 50 years of service due to numerous building and health problems. Bethea Hall will be torn down to make way for a new $33 million complex for the School of Engineering.

The dining halls, both Washington Dining Hall and "The Pitt", located in the Student Union, received major facelifts, and the dining hall inside Truth Hall has been renovated into a cyber cafe, Pete's Arena. The university is also working to renovate Lowman Hall, which, when refurbished, will be the new administration building. South Carolina State recently broke ground on the new James E. Clyburn University Transportation Center (UTC), which will be home to the only UTC in South Carolina, one of only three among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and one of only 33 total UTCs in the nation. Currently work is being done to expand Hodge Hall. This science building will be gaining some much needed research and laboratory space.

South Carolina State hosted the first debate of the 2008 Democratic Party Presidential Candidate Debate series. This event, which took place on April 26, 2007 at the Martin Luther King Auditorium, was televised nationally on MSNBC. This debate made SC State the first Historically Black University to host a Presidential Candidate Debate on its campus.

Hugine's contract was terminated by the SC State Board of Trustees on December 11, 2007, only four days before the Fall Commencement Exercises, by a telephone conference meeting. According to the Board, his reasons for dismissal were a performance review of Hugine for the 2006–2007 school year, and a second education review. Hugine is on administrative leave, and his last day as president was January 4, 2008. The Board decided to conduct a national search for a new president immediately. On December 13, 2007, the Board selected Dr. Leonard McIntyre, the Dean of the College of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences at SC State to serve as Interim President.

Hugine is the fourth president to leave SC State since Nance retired in 1986.

Dr. George Cooper, formerly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, assumed the presidency of S.C. State on July 16, 2008 and was the tenth president to be at SCSU University. The SC State Board of Trustees voted to terminate Cooper's contract on June 15, 2010. John E. Smalls, senior vice president of finance, was appointed to lead the university in the interim.[12] President Cooper was reinstated two weeks later after a change in board membership.[13] His predecessor, Andrew Hugine, Jr., who was also dismissed and sued the university, eventually accepting $60,000 to drop his suit for defamation and breach of contract.[14] Mr. Hugine, now president of Alabama A&M University sought $1-million from South Carolina State and $2-million from the trustees who voted to oust him.

SC State Engineering and Computer Science Complex
Leroy Davis Sr. Hall

Student life

Athletics

South Carolina State is a charter member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and participates in NCAA Division I (FCS for college football). The school sponsors basketball, bowling, golf, soccer, volleyball, softball, cross country, track and field, and tennis for women, and basketball, bowling, tennis, track and field, golf, cross country, and football for men. The athletic teams compete as the Bulldogs or Lady Bulldogs and the school colors are garnet and blue.

The school's football team has won more conference championships than any other school in the MEAC, with wins in 1974, 1975 (shared title with North Carolina A&T), 1976 (shared title with Morgan State University), 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982 (shared title with Florida A&M), 1983, 1994, 2004, when it shared the title with Hampton University, 2008, 2009, and 2010 (shared title with Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M), 2013 (shared title with Bethune-Cookman), and 2014 (shared tile with North Carolina Central University, North Carolina A&T, Morgan State, and Bethune-Cookman). The team also has four Black College Football National Championship titles, with the most recent title won in 2009.

In 1994, head coach Willie Jeffries led the team to a 10–2 record and defeated Grambling State University and coach Eddie Robinson in the Heritage Bowl by a score of 31–27, which crowned South Carolina State the 1994 Black College Football National Champions.

Greek letter organizations

The university currently has chapters for all nine of the National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations

Organization Symbol Chapter Chapter Symbol
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority ΑΚA Beta Sigma ΒΣ
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity ΑΦΑ Beta Delta BΔ
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority ΔΣΘ Alpha Xi AΞ
Iota Phi Theta Fraternity IΦΘ Zeta Lambda ZΛ
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity ΚΑΨ Alpha Lambda AΛ
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity ΩΨΦ Xi Psi ΞΨ
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity ΦΒΣ Eta Alpha HA
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority ΣΓΡ Zeta Kappa ZK
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority ΖΦΒ Psi Alpha ΨA

Other National Organizations include:

Organization Symbol Chapter Chapter Symbol
Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity ΑKΨ Kappa Upsilon KY
Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Band Fraternity KKΨ Zeta Eta ZH
Tau Beta Sigma Honorary Band Sorority TBΣ Epsilon Chi EX
Beta Gamma Sigma Business Honor Society BΓΣ
Beta Alpha Psi Business Honor Organization BAΨ
Sigma Alpha Iota Music Fraternity for Women ΣAI Lambda Xi ΛΞ
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity of America ΦMA Nu Iota NI
Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity
Sigma Lambda Gamma (Multicultural Sorority) ΣΛΓ Psi Delta ΨΔ

Marching band

The university's marching band is known as the Marching 101. The band are regular performers at football games throughout the southeast, and nationally televised professional football games. The band was organized in 1918 as a "regimental band" performing military drills as well as assisting with music in the college Sunday school and other occasions. From 1924 on, a succession of band directors influenced the growth of the band as it became part of the Department of Music program. In 2011 and 2012, the Marching 101 was voted to perform at the annual Honda Battle of the Bands held in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA.

Notable alumni

Business

Name Class year Notability Reference(s)
Richard G. Shaw First African-American to serve as Insurance Commissioner in West Virginia

Education

Name Class year Notability Reference(s)
Essie Mae Washington-Williams 1946 Educator and African-American daughter of former U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond
Dr. Andrew Hugine, Jr. 1971, 1974 Former S.C. State President (2003–2008); Current President of Alabama A & M University
Dr. M. Christopher Brown II 1993 Former President of Alcorn State University
Dr. Benjamin F. Payton 1955 Former President of Tuskegee University

Arts, TV and Radio Media and Music

Name Class year Notability Reference(s)
Ron Westray Jazz Trombonist, Composer, and Educator
Armstrong Williams 1981
Nigel "Expensivelife" Harris 2012 Disc Jockey

Politics, Law, and Government

Name Class year Notability Reference(s)
Juanita Goggins First African-American woman elected to the South Carolina legislature
James E. Clyburn 1961 U.S. Representative from South Carolina (1993–present) and Majority Whip (2007–2011) in the United States Congress
Ernest A. Finney, Jr. JD, 1954 First African-American Supreme Court Justice appointed to the South Carolina Supreme Court since the Reconstruction Era
Matthew J. Perry 1948,1951 United States Federal Judge
Clifford L. Stanley 1969 U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
John W. Matthews, Jr. South Carolina State Senate

Military

Name Class year Notability Reference(s)
Amos M. Gailliard Jr. 1951 retired Brigadier General in the New York Guard
Abraham J. Turner 1976 retired Major General in the United States Army
Stephen Twitty 1985 Major General in the United States Army
Henry Doctor Jr. 1954 retired Lieutenant General in the United States Army

Sports

Name Class year Notability Reference(s)
Willie Jeffries 1959 Legendary college football coach at South Carolina State and Howard University. He was first African-American coach of a Division I majority white school.
Deacon Jones former Professional football player for the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and Washington Redskins; inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980
Phillip Adams 2010 current NFL defensive back
Willie Aikens former Major League Baseball player
Rickey Anderson former National Football League running back
Orlando Brown former professional football player for Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.
Rafael Bush 2010 current NFL defensive back
Barney Bussey 1984 former NFL defensive back
Kenny Bynum former National Football League running back
Harry Carson former Professional football player for the New York Giants; inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006 [15]
Barney Chavous 1973 former NFL defensive end
Chartric Darby Professional football player for Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks.
James Lee Professional football player Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Edwin Bailey 1980 former NFL guard for the Seattle Seahawks
Rufus Bess 1978 former Professional football player for the Minnesota Vikings
Dextor Clinkscale 1979 former National Football League safety for the Dallas Cowboys
Robert Porcher 1992 former Professional football player for the Detroit Lions
Raleigh Roundtree former National Football League player
Donnie Shell 1974 former Professional football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Mickey Sims former Professional football player Cleveland Browns
Charlie Brown 1981 former Professional football player Washington Redskins
William Judson 1981 former Professional football player Miami Dolphins
Angelo King 1980 former Professional football player Dallas Cowboys
Christian Thompson 2012 NFL defensive back for Baltimore Ravens
Dwayne Harper 1987 former Professional football player for the Seattle Seahawks
John Gilliam 1966 former Professional football player for the St. Louis Cardinals, New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings
Will Ford Professional football player in the Canadian Football League
LaKendrick Jones former football player in the Arena Football League
Marshall McFadden current NFL linebacker

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "South Carolina State University". U.S. News & World Report. 2015. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  2. ↑ "2015 National Universities Rankings". Washington Monthly. n.d. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
  3. ↑ "2014 National Universities Rankings". Washington Monthly. n.d. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  4. ↑ "South Carolina State University".
  5. ↑ Doug Lederman (June 20, 2014). "A College Loses Accreditation". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  6. ↑ Levins, Savannah (June 11, 2015). "SC State Keeps Accreditation, Still on Probation". WLTX. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  7. ↑ Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  8. ↑ Miller F. Whittaker Library, South Carolina State University.
  9. 1 2 3 About the Library, South Carolina State University.
  10. ↑ "SC State University: An 1890 Land-Grant University", www.scsu.edu
  11. ↑ Arango, Tim (2008-04-16). "Films Revisit Overlooked Shootings on a Black Campus". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
  12. ↑ "South Carolina State University". Scsu.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
  13. ↑ Fain, Paul (2010-07-01). "South Carolina State U.'s Board Rehires Ousted President - Administration - The Chronicle of Higher Education". Chronicle.com. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
  14. ↑ "Fired President Settles His Lawsuit Against South Carolina State U. – The Ticker - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher Education". Chronicle.com. 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
  15. ↑ "Harry Carson". databaseFootball.com. Retrieved December 21, 2012.

Further reading

External links

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