Lancaster community says college must stay

By Jackie Alexander
Edited by Barry Gabay
Feb. 25, 2009

LANCASTER - Inside Wagz & Wishes, a small cafe on the four-block strip that is downtown Lancaster, locals feast on sandwiches and homemade ziti, straight from Mama's kitchen. The Wagner family gabs and entertains their guests as the espresso machine whirs and sputters.

When you walk in, everyone turns to look and smiles. Conversations carry between tables like old neighbors talking in their yards. But talk nowadays inevitably seems to turn to the University of South Carolina-Lancaster, the community school, and "that man."

That man is Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, who on Jan. 9 proposed shutting down USC's Lancaster, Union and Salkehatchie campuses as part of his executive budget. He says the cuts would save the state $2.4 million in the first year.

"But that wouldn't really happen would it?" restaurant owner Dawn Wagner asks, turning from the caramel frappucino she is making.

The governor's proposal was another blow to a county hit hard by the textile industry's decline. Last year, Forbes magazine listed Lancaster as the nation's small town most vulnerable to a recession, citing its 20 percent poverty rate. Less than 20 percent of Lancaster residents have an associate degree or higher.

Dean Faile knows the community's 8,000 residents would be doomed if the school closed. He's seen the numbers.

The Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce president says that at minimum, the county would lose $25 million in revenue and then sink into a "poverty death spiral."

USC-Lancaster, with 246 employees, is the second-highest employer in the county behind Springs Memorial Hospital. A new nursing program works as a feeder for the hospital and has eliminated the need for contract nurses, saving $2 million.

And that doesn't count future opportunities squandered, he says. The number of students has doubled in the past eight years. Since the mills began shutting down 10 years ago, many former workers have gone to USC-L to train for new jobs.

"How are we going to get our folks that have been working in textiles for 30 years and those jobs are gone, how do you get them ready for another job if they only have a high school diploma?" Faile asks.

Since the word came from the Capitol, community members have flooded an e-mail address created to save the school and have filled the local newspaper with letters.

Community members near the Union and Salkehatchie campuses feel similar. Allendale County, home of USC-Salkehatchie, saw unemployment hit nearly 20 percent in December. USC President Harris Pastides has said he strongly opposes cutting any campuses without knowing the economic and social impact.

"Well beyond this budget crisis, the citizens of our state must have access to the many educational opportunities that the University of South Carolina provides," he recently told a South Carolina House subcommittee.

At Wagz & Wishes, Carolyn Taylor, a retired USC-L professor, argues against the governor's viewpoint while sharing a hot sandwich lunch with a high school friend.

"They're doing so well, and that's why you want to slap the governor aside the head," she says.

Taylor taught theater and English for more than 25 years. USC-L operated out of a house when it started 50 years ago. Now, it boasts a state-of-the-art cultural and arts facility, a wellness center and a public research library on a 140-acre campus just west of downtown along S.C. 9. More than 1,600 students learn from nearly 250 faculty and staff.

Taylor goes there for her diabetes counseling. Just the week before, she caught a ballet performance on campus.

Closing it is not an option for this community, Taylor says. "It's a lifeline."

Wagner moved to Lancaster three years ago from New Jersey. She remembers how a small college in that state, Monmouth College, grew into a now large university. She says she loves Lancaster's quaintness and scenery.

If USC-L were to close, Lancaster would be even "more of a ghost town" than it was after the mills closed down, she said.

That's why the Lancaster County Council, City Council, and county Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Heath Springs and Kershaw town councils, have banded together to present the governor with a resolution detailing the school's good points and value to the community.

Sanford said in his proposal that students could go to several other quality schools within 30-miles. County Administrator Steve Willis doesn't think so.

USC-L accepts 99 percent of its applicants.

"Dean John Catalano and the staff over there has done a fine job," Willis says. "If you want to go to college, he's going to find you a spot."

That's not the case at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, about 23 miles away, Willis says. Not only would many USC-L students not get in to Winthrop, they couldn't afford it. Winthrop charges $5,500 per semester, compared to USC-L at $2,400.

Many of the students are looking for a second chance, like Aaron Story, who transferred from a West Virginia college.

"Last year I didn't do so well," he says. "It's a much better atmosphere here."

At USC-L he was recruited to be part of the first Lancers baseball team. If it weren't for baseball, Story says he wouldn't stay in Lancaster.

Kira Robinson, 25, came to the college after a stint at Penn State University. The nursing student says she could transfer to nearby York Technical College if USC-L shut down, but the opportunities for other students would be limited.

Back inside the cafe, customers quietly finish their lunches before paying compliments to the chefs. As she throws away the last scraps of her sandwich, Taylor says she'd have a few words for the governor.

"Before you sign that paper, read the fine print," she says.