I’m delighted to introduce you to SCICU’s newest employee: Emma Reabold, who will serve as Vice President for Development and Campus Services.

Emma is a product of an independent college education. She attended Presbyterian College where she got her first experience in campus leadership as president of student government.

This is a new position in that it was previously responsible solely for development. Now Emma will play a lead role in ramping up SCICU’s capacity to facilitate collaborations among staff with similar functions on campuses. She’ll also pursue opportunities to share services and will be SCICU’s liaison to organizations and businesses seeking partnerships with our member institutions. And what she learns in terms of student and campus needs will inform SCICU’s fundraising.

Emma is well equipped for these duties. She comes to us from the University of South Carolina where she was Associate Director for Peer Leadership and Administration. She has extensive experience working with all aspects of campus operations in order to enhance the student experience.

In her work Emma is a proven relationship builder which will be essential to forging the trust from donors on which SCICU’s fundraising is built. Emma has also participated in grant writing, which is an important source of funding for SCICU student aid programs.

Emma is already busy introducing herself to SCICU’s campus partners, financial supporters, and other state organizations, to name a few.

Thanks for being part of the SCICU Team, Emma!

 

I hope you all have enjoyed the summer.

As you read this, students are making their pilgrimages back to campus for the upcoming fall semester.

Once they arrive on campus, what helps them stay on campus? Surely, we can point to the work of our faculty members, who pride themselves on getting to know their students and providing the encouragement and support to continue their studies.

But who’s responsible for supporting students the rest of the time? Student Affairs staff are the unsung heroes of student success. They provide for the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of students, and so much more. And their jobs keep getting harder. Students have so much more with which to contend than previous generations, and Student Affairs is charged with helping them to manage.

This summer I sat down with student affairs officers from SCICU member institutions in order to get a better idea of the challenges students face and how much more complex their jobs have become in order to address them.

And Student Affairs staff are responsible for more than you may realize – it’s not just about residence halls and freshmen orientation. They let me know being a Student Affairs staff member is a 24/7 job – student crises have a nasty habit of happening on weekends and at 2 a.m.

Student Affairs is also responsible for student health and mental health services, the demands for which have skyrocketed in recent years. Students in record numbers are reporting anxiety, stress and – worst of all – suicidal ideation, putting greater demand on securing staff capable of addressing these challenges.

Student Affairs staff are not waiting for problems to happen. They develop programs that promote healthy behavior and coping mechanisms that equip students to handle daily struggles and navigate the challenges of adult interactions. One student affairs staffer observed they are responsible for “helping students build and maintain healthy relationships.” Anyone whose ever had a teenager in the house knows that’s a tall order.

These kinds of programs require the coordination of many aspects of a campus’ operations, from facilities and engineering, to IT, to the athletic department, to the president’s office. Student Affairs staff are campus diplomats working across the “silos,” in college jargon.

And they look to the future – what is the plan for after graduation? Career services is a sophisticated operation that has become so much more than resume advice. It supplements what students have learned in the classroom by identifying their personal strengths and matching them to their aspirations. Indeed, by helping students to see a bright future, career services inspires students to stick with their studies, improving retention and graduation rates.

Notice all these services that are central to a student’s personal success, and essential to remaining in school and graduating, all occur outside the classroom. I find the criticism regarding a college’s “non-academic” expenditures utterly myopic, and misguided. Today’s students need more support and colleges are obliged to provide it.

So, three cheers for the student affairs professionals! Students wouldn’t make it without them.

 

May is always graduation season, but this month marks a particularly significant “commencement,” made possible by certain “angels.”

On May 11, after three years, four months, one week, and a day, the COVID-19 federal Public Health Emergency expired.

As at graduations, let’s take this opportunity to acknowledge everyone who helped our campuses get through the pandemic.

Faculty and staff worked hard to apply the many accommodations at the time were recognized as necessary precautions. At the same time, they worried about the well-being of their own families. It’s hard to focus on work when absorbed with questions like, “Am I safe?” or “Will I get sick?” or even “What would my family do without me?” But they persevered.

Our campus leaders labored mightily to adapt to the pandemic. In a matter of weeks campuses went from business as usual to completely online. They had to reorganize class schedules, implement new technologies, and secure the resources to provide remotely a rewarding academic experience.

Then, almost as quickly, everyone had to transition to students back on campus, but in a manner that accounted for the urgency of the pandemic. Extra space had to be found that would allow for lower classroom density. Residences also housed fewer students, and living arrangements had to be made for students that tested positive and were quarantined.

All this would not have been possible were it not for the “angels” of our campuses and students – our many donors, to whom we owe our deepest thanks.

Their support literally contributed to the resilience that made SCICU member campuses among the safest places to be during the pandemic. With families facing illness and employment disruptions, donors provided financial support at a time when students most needed it. They also supported the institutions at a time of fiscal uncertainty.

In particular, I want to thank SCICU’s generous donors who were steadfast in their support throughout the pandemic. They maintained scholarships, and they provided emergency “Lifeline” grants and other aid when students needed it most. Our donors also underwrote research projects that helped students focus on their students and prepare for their future endeavors.

We are blessed to have these angels in our lives.

 

Last week we finished what I think are the best 18 hours at SCICU.

At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 18 we held the SCICU Excellence In Teaching Awards Dinner at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. Each campus names an award recipient who demonstrates the inspiring instruction and commitment to students for which SCICU member institutions are rightly known. Each recipient receives a framed award certificate and a $3,000 professional development grant and are recognized at a dinner in their honor.

What makes the SCICU Excellence In Teaching Awards Dinner so special is that it’s a family affair. Professors typically are recognized for their achievements at academic conferences that families and friends don’t attend. They’re warmly welcomed at our awards dinner – all the hard work that goes into the planning and execution pays off when we see the recipients’ guests smiling broadly and beaming with pride.

Just a few hours later SCICU participated in Higher Education Day at the S.C. State House. About 90 students and staff from SCICU member institutions joined those from public universities and technical colleges to thank legislators for their support of need-based aid “the Tuition Grants Program gives students the opportunity to attend the private college or university that best meets their academic goals and career aspirations.

Travelling early in the morning from all over the state, the students, our best ambassadors for higher education, by 9 a.m. had fanned out over the Blatt and Gressette legislative office buildings and State House wearing their college colors and large red “Thanks for my Tuition Grant!” stickers. They met with legislators who had previously received thousands of handwritten letters of thanks from our students for the Tuition Grants Program. Among the 12,000 Tuition Grant recipients are those from every county in South Carolina.

The students from all three higher education sectors gathered in the balcony of the House of Representatives to be recognized from the floor by Rep. Tim McGinnis (R-Horry), the chair the House Higher Education Subcommittee of the Education and Public Works Committee.

The students then moved to the steps of the State House to meet with Gov. Henry McMaster and receive a proclamation declaring April 19, 2023 as Higher Education Day in South Carolina. Each sector had a student speak on its behalf. Kylah Montgomery, a junior at Benedict College, spoke eloquently of the importance her Tuition Grant has played making her college education possible. Gov. McMaster graciously took the time to chat with the students and join them for countless photos.

By noon the students had grabbed their box lunches and were heading back to campus. In just 18 hours we saluted great professors, celebrated with their families, gathered with inspired students who met with, and impressed, our state’s leaders.

My deepest thanks to the campus staffs, and our team at SCICU, for making this great day happen.

 

As mentioned in the South Carolina Update, I had the honor of testifying in the House Judiciary Constitutional Law Subcommittee supporting Speaker Murrell Smith’s bill that calls for a statewide referendum allowing voters to decide on striking the racist relic Blaine Amendment from the S.C. Constitution.

Removing the Blaine Amendment from the South Carolina Constitution is the right thing to do not only for SCICU’s 21 member colleges and universities, but for the state as a whole. Your support of this cause is very important. Please reach out to your members of the South Carolina House and Senate and ask them to support H.3591.

My testimony and message supporting H.3591 is shown below and is available for downloading in PDF. A video of my testimony is also available here.

Testimony of L. Jeffrey Perez, Ph.D.
President and CEO, South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities
Prepared for Delivery Before the South Carolina House Constitutional Laws Subcommittee
Regarding H. 3591
February 9, 2023

Chairman Jordan and members of the Constitutional Laws Subcommittee:

Good morning, my name is Dr. Jeffrey Perez. I am president and CEO of South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities. I represent 21 campuses in South Carolina and their 36,000 students. Together they employ about 8,500 individuals and generate nearly $1 billion in annual business operations.

Thank you for giving me a few minutes to express my strong support for H. 3591 and the potential it holds to remove a stain on the state’s constitutional legacy and create opportunities for public/private cooperation that would benefit the people of South Carolina.

I want to thank Speaker Smith for introducing H. 3591 and Representatives Felder, Brandon and Weston Newton, Haddon, Pace, Taylor, Thayer, West and Yow for sponsoring it.

We support the repeal of the provision of the South Carolina Constitution, known as the Blaine Amendment, which is a racist and anti-religious relic in our state’s constitution.
This legislation provides for a public referendum on striking Section 4, Article XI, the so-called “Blaine Amendment,” from the state constitution. The provision is entitled: “Direct aid to religious or other private educational institutions prohibited,” and states: “No money shall be paid from public funds nor shall the credit of the State or any of its political subdivisions be used for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.”

This provision dates back to the drafting of the South Carolina Constitution in 1895 and was inserted by none other than Ben “Pitchfork” Tillman in order to thwart the growth of African American institutions like Allen University, Benedict College, and Claflin University because they were providing the kind of college education of which he did not consider African Americans worthy. These three distinguished HBCUs, along with Morris College and Voorhees University, are all members of SCICU.

Because of its presence in the state constitution, the Blaine Amendment has had additional unintended effects. In 2020 the federal CARES Act provided funding for which Congress specified that independent colleges and universities qualified. Reflecting Congress’ intent, the General Assembly passed, and the governor signed, Act 154 of that same year which provided independent colleges and universities access to the federal funding. However, the South Carolina Department of Administration stopped the process by which the independent colleges and universities were to apply for the funding. It argued that once the funding passed through the General Assembly it became state money, and thus would run afoul of the Blaine Amendment.

Similarly, the governor initially intended to apply some of his Governor’s Emergency Education Relief, or “GEER,” funding from the CARES Act for the state’s HBCUs, but, because of the Blaine Amendment, decided not to.

Let me be very clear, the SCICU member institutions are not, and do not want to be, public colleges. They want access to federal funding that Congress intended in the CARES Act and any similar future funding.

The Blaine Amendment also has been a roadblock to private colleges and universities collaborating with state and local governments to the benefit of the people of South Carolina.

There have been several attorney general opinions that advised state and local agencies against entering into a relationship with independent colleges and universities:

• Cherokee County was advised not to include a private college in a scholarship program for workforce development. 2012 S.C. AG LEXIS 26.
• The South Carolina Department of Transportation was told that it would be a violation of the Blaine Amendment to bury electrical utilities owned by Columbia College as part of a streetscaping program. 2011 S.C. AG LEXIS 18.
• The General Assembly was told a grant of $3 million to HBCUs for building maintenance and repair was unconstitutional, because of the Blaine Amendment. 2003 S.C. AG LEXIS 3.

It also has come to my attention that SC TRAC, a state system for comparing college courses to make transferring easier, does not include independent institutions, because, as it is a state contract, they would be benefiting from direct state funding.

I also understand there can be a legitimate difference of opinion regarding the application of state and local resources. But those who stand behind the Blaine Amendment to bolster their case are standing next to the ghost of Ben “Pitchfork” Tillman.

This is clearly an important public policy decision. So why not let the public decide? As I mentioned, H. 3591 does not strike the Blaine Amendment but directs a state referendum be put before the voters to settle the matter.

I should point out that in 1972 the voters approved striking one part of the Blaine Amendment which prohibited “indirect” funding. The approval by the people of that referendum allowed creation of the South Carolina Higher Education Tuition Grants Program, which, to date, has given nearly half a million South Carolinians the chance to attend the independent college or university that best suits them.

You now have the opportunity to finish the job.

SCICU strongly believes there’s no place for the racism that inspired the Blaine Amendment to remain in our state’s constitution, and that state and local government should have the freedom to engage who they believe will best serve the public benefit. We are confident that, if given the chance, voters would agree.

Please support H. 3591.

Thank you.

What is an “influencer?”

According to Merriam-Webster it’s “a person who is able to generate interest in something (such as a consumer product) by posting about it on social media.”

To me, that means making a living from yelling, “Look at me!” They are famous for being famous. They then monetize that manufactured fame.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Influencers can be entertaining and share useful information. The problem becomes when so many young people think “influencer” is a viable career path. According to a survey conducted by IZEA Worldwide, 67 percent of social media consumers said they’d like to be a paid social media influencer, but 30 percent said they already considered themselves to be an influencer.

To be an influencer means constantly seeking content, and constantly checking for hits, likes, and retweets. They are emblematic of the behaviors at the root of the increase in serious mental health issues born of social media overuse.

Imagine peering at yourself in a mirror countless times a day. You’d become fixated on every little imperfection and absorbed with what you’d think of as your attractive features. And when you’re not looking in the mirror you’re looking to see if others are looking at you and comparing yourself to them.

Social media is a mirror with a scoreboard.

There’s a term for this: narcissism. And it isn’t healthy.

According to Dr. Louis Tay at Purdue University a study of about 1,700 U.S. young adults found that the amount of time and frequency of social media use both related to greater levels of depression. On the other hand restricting the amount of time spent on social media improved happiness.

Cognitively, there isn’t a difference between dwelling on yourself on social media and unhappiness.

I don’t think we should be surprised that the increasing mental health issues young people struggle with correlate to the increasing popularity of social media. Let’s remember, Facebook was founded in 2004, Twitter in 2006 and Tik Tok just six years ago, in 2017. They became embedded in popular culture as Gen Z (born after 1995) were growing up. And that’s why it’s hard for previous generations to understand the gravity of the matter.

Am I a caveman? Absolutely. I still marvel that I can make a call without finding a payphone and having 10 cents in my pocket. For me the generational divide is knowing what “calling collect” means.

It’s hard for me to appreciate the immense pressures that young people feel to keep up with the unrealistic ideals presented as the norm on social media. But the pressures are very real and I believe they are a leading cause of the mental health issues that students at our campuses wrestle with every time they look at their cell phones.

What’s the remedy? Prescribing “don’t look at your phone so much” is easy to say but hard to do without appearing to wear a bear skin and drag a club.

Spending time not thinking about oneself is the key. It’s no accident that those who are charitable – thinking about the well-being of others – are happier. Studies have found that people who give money to charity tend to be happier. While it may seem contradictory, the more we think about others, the happier we are. Mohandas Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. faced great struggles but strike me as having been happy and at peace with themselves.

Students at SCICU member institutions have a leg up on happiness in that they have the opportunity to learn the ideas and values that inspired these great people, and others like them.

They are the most important influencers of all.

What’s that you say? Why would I want to shave a yak? It’s a term I came across and is defined as: “The activity you do that appears important when you are consciously or unconsciously procrastinating about a larger problem.”

How often do you find that the things you resolved at the beginning of the day to be a top priority remain unaccomplished by day’s end? How did that happen? Yak shaving.

Technology, the great boon to my productivity is also my greatest enemy. Before computers my distractions were limited to what was on my desk. Now I have a limitless number of websites to captivate me.

The opposite of yak shaving would seem to be “focus.” For example, when I try to work and listen to a podcast, I find what I’m doing is… listening to a podcast. I don’t think humans can truly focus on more than one thing at a time. But with phones, computers, laptops and tablets all demanding my attention, all shout “Look here! Look here! You might need to know this!”

I’m reminded of the exercise of fitting larger rocks and smaller pebbles into a jar. The rocks are one’s priorities and the pebbles are duties of lesser importance. If one puts the pebbles in first, the rocks won’t fit, but if the rocks go in first the pebbles will fill in the spaces. I spend the day resisting the temptation of all the pebbles pouring out of my devices.

Email is the greatest accessory of the yak shaver. Rather than committing to something I need to get done, I’ll say to myself, “I’ll just give my emails a quick check.” Then three hours go by. Of course, it’s easy to justify when you’re staring at 150 unopened emails.

But yak shaving isn’t without its benefits – turns out there’s another definition: Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing you to overcome intermediate difficulties, allows you to solve a larger problem. That’s what makes yak shaving all the more devious – I can convince myself I’m on course when I’m way down a sidetrack.

By the way I came across the term yak shaving while I was… yak shaving.

Serves me right. And firms my resolve to stick with my resolution.

Hmm, I wonder where the concept of “New Year’s Resolutions” comes from? I’ll just look it up…

Maybe you’ve heard the old saying: “Give a person a fish and they’ll eat for a day. Teach them to fish and they’ll eat for a lifetime.” I don’t think it’s right.

Every now and then I like to fish in the pond across the street from my house. I rarely catch anything – it’s more an opportunity for quiet reflection. During one of these outings, it occurred to me that one can be taught the technical aspects of fishing: how to bait the hook, how to cast, the operation of the reel, etc., but will you really eat for a lifetime?

Sure, you may be successful with those particular skills, but what if the conditions change? What if your equipment breaks? What if the fish are gone? Being taught to fish isn’t necessarily enough.

Being equipped to learn about fish behavior, the impact of the weather, as well as water pH, and having the capacity to observe and analyze these conditions will lead to more, well, fish. And if there are no more fish, the ability to learn, observe and analyze will be useful as you pursue other means of securing your daily bread.

That’s why fishing is a metaphor for a college education.

Acquiring particular skills will certainly get students a specific job, but I fear that’s all they’ll get. Because of the breakneck pace of technology, jobs that are rewarding now may not exist in a few years. As troubling as that may be, a more bleak prospect is being stuck in a dead-end job, with no opportunity to advance or the skills to do so – fishing may be fun the first couple of years, but after 10 years the luster can wear off.

A liberal arts degree is proof of the graduate’s ability to conduct research, analyze findings, communicate effectively in a variety of media and collaborate with others. They can adapt to new circumstances and thrive in changing environments.

Of course, part of earning a liberal arts degree is developing an expertise in a particular body of knowledge that suits their chosen careers, but it is done in the context of a broad understanding of the world and the people in it.

So, if you’re looking for someone to fish with, pick a liberal arts graduate. The conversation will be a lot more interesting. And you’ll catch more fish.