2015 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 59 - Education
CHAPTER 127 - SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
Section 59-127-20. Board of trustees; election; terms.

(A) South Carolina State University is managed and controlled by a board of trustees, composed of thirteen members, twelve of whom are elected by the General Assembly, one member from each congressional district and five at large for terms of four years each and until their successors are elected and qualify. In electing members of the board, the General Assembly shall elect members based on merit regardless of race, color, creed, or gender and shall strive to assure that the membership of the board is representative of all citizens of the State of South Carolina. The Governor of the State or his designee is ex officio, the thirteenth member of the board of trustees. In case of a vacancy on the board, the Governor may fill it by appointment until the next session of the General Assembly. Members of the board are entitled to subsistence, per diem, and mileage authorized for members of state boards, committees, and commissions.

Each position on the board constitutes a separate office and the seats on the board are numbered consecutively, one corresponding in number to each congressional district and Seats Eight-Twelve at large. The Governor or his designee occupies Seat Thirteen. Effective July 1, 2012, the member from former Seat Seven is transferred to Seat Eight, the member from former Seat Eight is transferred to Seat Nine, the member from former Seat Nine is transferred to Seat Ten, the member from former Seat Ten is transferred to Seat Eleven, and the member from former Seat Eleven is transferred to Seat Twelve.

The terms of the present members of the board who are elected by the General Assembly expire on the thirtieth day of June of the year in which the terms are scheduled to expire. The General Assembly shall elect successors to the elective trustees not earlier than the first day of April for a term to begin the following July first. Elections to fill vacancies on the board which are caused by the death, resignation, or removal of an elective trustee may be held earlier than the first day of April of the year in which the unexpired term terminates, but the term of the person elected to fill the vacancy expires on the last day of June of the year in which the term of the former member would have expired.

(B) Beginning with members elected to the board during 1992, terms of members are four years. In 1993, members from Seats 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 11 must be elected, and the term of the member elected in 1993 from Seat 3 shall be one year, the terms of the members elected in 1993 from Seats 1, 2, and 4 shall be two years each, the term of the member elected in 1993 from Seat 11 shall be three years, and the term of the member elected in 1993 from Seat 5 shall be four years. Thereafter, successors to the members of the board elected in 1993 and successors to members of the board provided six-year terms by the provisions of this subsection must be elected for terms of four years each.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 22-552; 1952 Code Section 22-552; 1942 Code Section 5800; 1932 Code Section 5800; Civ. C. '22 Section 2819; Civ. C. '12 Section 1879; Civ. C. '02 Section 1293; 1896 (22) 174; 1954 (48) 1722; 1960 (51) 1529; 1966 (54) 2149; 1983 Act No. 130, Section 14; 1983 Act No. 132, Section 10; 1984 Act No. 354, Section 8; 1988 Act No. 510, Section 14; 1991 Act No. 248, Section 6; 1992 Act No. 392, Section 1; 1993 Act No. 47, Section 1; 2012 Act No. 176, Section 11, eff May 25, 2012.

Editor's Note

2012 Act No. 176, Section 18 and 19, provide as follows:

"SECTION 18. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any person elected or appointed to serve, or serving, as a member of any board or commission to represent a Congressional district, whose residency is transferred to another district by a change in the composition of the district, may serve, or continue to serve, the term of office for which he was elected or appointed; however, the appointing or electing authority shall appoint or elect an additional member on that board or commission from the district which loses a resident member as a result of the transfer to serve until the term of the transferred member expires. When a vacancy occurs in the district to which a member has been transferred, the vacancy must not be filled until the full term of the transferred member expires.

"SECTION 19. In the event that elections for incumbent university board of trustees' seats whose terms are expiring this year are not held prior to June 30, 2012, current board members will retain their seats until the General Assembly reconvenes and holds elections."

2015 Act No. 121, eff May 7, 2015, Section 1, provides as follows:

"SECTION 1. (A) Immediately upon the appointment of an Interim South Carolina State University Board of Trustees pursuant to subsection (B), the current members of the Board of Trustees of South Carolina State University are hereby removed from service, and their positions, powers, and duties are hereby transferred to the newly appointed Interim Board of Trustees pursuant to subsection (B).

"(B) Section 59-127-20 of the South Carolina Code, relating to the South Carolina State University Board of Trustees, election, and term, is suspended until June 30, 2018. There is established a new Interim Board of Trustees of South Carolina State University, to be composed of:

"(1) one member appointed by the Governor;

"(2) one member appointed by the State Treasurer;

"(3) one member appointed by the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives;

"(4) one member appointed by the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee;

"(5) one member appointed by the State Superintendent of Education;

"(6) one member appointed by the chairman of the Ways and Means Higher Education and Technical Colleges Subcommittee;

"(7) one member appointed by the chairman of the Senate Finance Higher Education Subcommittee;

"(8) the President of the South Carolina State University National Alumni Association, to serve ex officio and nonvoting; and

"(9) the South Carolina State University Student Government Association President, to serve ex officio and nonvoting.

"The members of the Interim Board of Trustees must be appointed no later than seven days following the effective date of this joint resolution. The Interim Board of Trustees shall meet as soon as practical and elect a chairman and other officers from its membership. Vacancies must be filled in the manner of the original appointment.

"(C) Unless extended by the General Assembly, the Interim Board of Trustees established pursuant to subsection (B) shall serve until June 30, 2018, or until a full new Board of Trustees is elected and qualified pursuant to Chapter 127, Title 59. The term of office for each seat on the Board of Trustees shall be suspended as of the date of removal pursuant to subsection (A) until a new member of the Board of Trustees is elected to that seat pursuant to Chapter 127, Title 59, after June 30, 2018. Initial terms of the new members of the Board of Trustees shall be the unexpired terms of the seats to which they are elected.

"(D) The Interim Board of Trustees is responsible solely for the selection, periodic evaluation, and retention or termination of the university's president.

"(E) The Interim Board of Trustees shall ensure there is a clear and appropriate distinction between the policy-making functions of the Interim Board of Trustees and the responsibility of the university's president, administration, and faculty to administer and implement policies and that the university has a clearly defined organizational structure that delineates responsibility for the administration of policies.

"(F) The Interim Board of Trustees shall ensure that the university has qualified administrative and academic officers with the experience and competence necessary to lead the university.

"(G) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Interim Board of Trustees is authorized to develop programmatic, personnel, and related policies it deems necessary to ensure that the university operates within its appropriated and authorized budget. The policies the Interim Board of Trustees develops may be across all operations of the university including, but not limited to, administration, academics, auxiliary operations, public service activities, and athletics. Programmatic and personnel policies developed by the Interim Board of Trustees pursuant to this subsection must be reported as information to the Commission on Higher Education and the State Division of Human Resources, respectively, as soon as is practicable after implementation.

"(H) The Interim Board of Trustees, in consultation with the president, shall review both the educational accreditation of the university and the past and current financial situation of the university and make recommendations regarding the path that the university must pursue in order to lead the university out of the current financial crisis with an emphasis on having the university return to the valuable and functional institution of higher learning that it has been in the past. Any recommendations made by the Interim Board of Trustees also shall be provided as information to the Executive Budget Office and made public on the university's website.

"(I) The Interim Board of Trustees shall be indemnified in the same manner as members of the Retirement System Investment Commission, mutatis mutandis."

Effect of Amendment

The 2012 amendment rewrote subsection (A).