(L-R)Sen. John E. Courson (Columbia-R), Chair of the Senate Education Committee, and Dr. Nayef H. Samhat, President, Wofford College.
Samhat and LeFever attended a meeting of the Senate Education Committee which was considering legislation to establish a coordinating council for workforce development and training and the Tucker Hipps Transparency Act requiring additional reporting of investigations and violations occurring at fraternities, sororities and other social organizations at public institutions of higher learning.
Sen. John Courson, Education Committee chair, welcomed Dr. Samhat to Columbia and the Senate. In addition to his role as committee chair, Sen. Courson is the chair of the Higher Education subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee. He was honored as the SCICU Legislative Champion in 2012.
After the meeting, President Samhat met with Sen. Courson and several of the other members of the Education Committee including Sen. Nikki Setzler, chair of the committee’s Higher Education subcommittee.
Meetings with members of the House were cut short by a Joint Assembly to elect the chief justice of the Supreme Court, chief judge of the Court of Appeals, and other judges. Before the Joint Assembly, Dr. Samhat met with Rep. Todd Atwater, a 1988 graduate of Wofford College and CEO of the SC Medical Association. Rep. Atwater was elected to the House from Lexington County in 2010 and is a member of the Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee.
During lunch, Dr. Samhat met SC Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt and Carl Blackstone, President and CEO of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce.
The day provided a great opportunity to promote the liberal arts and independent higher education with some of the friends that SCICU counts on for support.
