Senate Votes to Keep SC State Bill As Is

Columbia , S.C. (WOLO) — State lawmakers continue to move towards changes at South Carolina State University. The Senate discussed the bill Wednesday to replace the existing Board of Trustees at South Carolina State University. The senate voted 41 to 1 Wednesday to keep the bill as it stands, despite several proposed amendments. The Senate spent several hours on floor debating whether or not the bill is the solution to help get the University through its financial crisis. The bill calls for the current board of trustees to be fired and replaced with a new 5 member board appointed by lawmakers. They will serve for 3 years. Throughout this process over the past few weeks, much of the argument from those in support of the bill is urgency, and that action needs to be taken now to get the university back on it’s feet. However, in Wednesday’s debate Senator Gerald Malloy argued despite the need to act quickly, that replacing the board is not a solution to fix the schools problem. He said the bill does not include any type of plan to get the university out of it’s financial crisis. Senators also questioned just how much debt the University is in and what to do about the schools declining enrollment. The final vote will be Thursday when the Senate reconvenes.