March 30, 2000

Dear Colleagues:

   We are writing to inform you of progress on the strategic planning initiative. We want to take an opportunity first to thank all of you who have participated in the long range planning process to date. As you will recall, in October 1998, the President and the Board of Trustees established a strategic planning initiative for the College of Charleston. For the first phase of the process in which we are currently engaged, they created a Long Range Planning Coordinating Committee. The charge to the Committee was to oversee an open and inclusive process aimed at the development of observations to facilitate the Board's articulation of a vision for the College of Charleston. In the second phase of the process, which should begin in Fall 2000, this vision statement will be used by the College community in the development of an implementation plan.

   After eighteen months of information-gathering, discussion and debate by a broad cross-section of faculty, administrators, alumni, community members and others, the Long Range Planning Coordinating Committee has produced its preliminary report. As the document reflects, despite the fact that there were 9 working groups, composed of 130 individuals with diverse perspectives, a remarkable consensus emerged. You will see in this report that it is the unanimous recommendation of the Long Range Planning Steering Committee that the College strive to become a premier Public Liberal Arts and Sciences University. We believe the data, information, opinions, and analysis considered by these working groups supports this conclusion. This material is available on the College's website http://www.cofc.edu/~lrpcc/ and on permanent reserve at the Robert Scott Small Library.

   Prior to sending this recommendation to the Board, it is important to us to be able to gauge the degree of support for the proposed vision of the College as a Public Liberal Arts and Sciences University. The Committee will soon create a number of formal opportunities for you to provide this input. We are interested in responses at all levels, however, organized responses by departments or other groups will be particularly useful to the Committee as it prepares the final report for the Board of Trustees this summer.

Sincerely,

The College of Charleston Long Range Planning Coordinating Committee