COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON

Long Range Planning Coordinating Committee

Executive Summary

July 2000

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF LRPCC OBSERVATIONS

Purpose

     A remarkable consensus exists both internally and externally regarding the current strengths of the College of Charleston and its strong competitive position among colleges and universities in the state and the region. The College has been blessed with outstanding leadership, marked most recently by the eight-year term of office of President Alexander M. Sanders, Jr. The financial condition of the College is sound and the enrollments of the College are healthy. The academic quality and reputation of the College continue to rise. Since it is far better to plan during time of prosperity than during time of crisis, the College is at an ideal point to begin the process of planning for its future. As the futurist John Schaar has observed: "The future is not some place we are going to, but one that we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination." Accordingly, now is the time for the College of Charleston to begin the exciting and challenging process of creating this future.

Process

     In July 1998, the Board of Trustees of the College of Charleston and President Sanders established a long range/strategic planning initiative for the College of Charleston. A Long Range Planning Coordinating Committee (LRPCC) was formed and charged with the responsibility of creating an open and inclusive process to gather and analyze information. This committee was also charged with the responsibility of providing a preliminary report of observations and scenarios of possible institutional structures to the President and the Board, which would assist them in articulating a vision for the College of Charleston. The committee established nine working groups, composed of one hundred and thirty members of the faculty, staff, board of trustees, student body, alumni, and business community. These working groups each conducted an environmental scan, assessing various strengths and weaknesses of, and opportunities and challenges for the College.

Summary

     A convenient way of classifying four-year institutions is by placing them in categories along a continuum defined by size, breadth of programs, and level of degree offerings. In contemporary American higher education there are three broad categories of institutions: liberal arts and sciences colleges, comprehensive universities, and research universities. These categories reflect certain distinguishing features often typifying the institutions that are placed within them. [Note: A complete discussion of these three categories of institutions may be found in the full report.]

Although all three classifications have valuable components, no one category accurately reflects where the College of Charleston is today nor provides for an appropriate vision of where the institution should be tomorrow. The core values and culture of the College, the institution's finances and facilities, the political and economic climate, the current and projected social, demographic and educational environment, the competitive position of the institution, and the programs and people of the College all point to a different model and a different vision for our two hundred and thirty year old institution of higher learning. Most importantly, any model that the College adopts must remain true to our tradition of academic excellence in an intellectually stimulating environment, dense with faculty and student interaction.

Borrowing the best in both form and function from the three traditional categories, the College of Charleston should design a new category, the "Public Liberal Arts and Sciences University." As such, the College should then envision itself as a nationally preeminent Public Liberal Arts and Sciences University for the 21st Century. The hallmark of the education provided by this institution should be exemplary teaching by a faculty of teacher-scholars who engage the students through exceptional instruction and scholarship. The commitment to a teacher-scholar model reflects a deeply held conviction that both teaching and scholarship are integral and necessary parts of a whole and as such should be nurtured and rewarded. Accordingly, a fundamental precept of this model is that in order to instill a passion for learning and discovery, students at the College should be exposed to high quality faculty who are intellectually engaged and engaging.

The call for a new model or category reflects the belief that the College does not need to transform itself into a different type of institution than it currently is. Instead, it appears that the College should focus its efforts and its resources on finding ways to do what it does, only better. The College is in an enviable position, both fiscally and educationally, and, therefore, change purely for the sake of change would make little sense. Conversely, self-satisfaction and complacency in today's rapidly changing higher education environment would be foolhardy. The College should follow a path of self-improvement, not transformation, and should adopt a model that builds upon those strengths of the institution, which have enabled the College of Charleston to achieve its current recognized status as an institution noted for academic excellence.

At the institution's historic downtown campus, the College of Charleston will stabilize enrollments at their current levels. The College will provide an exceptional undergraduate liberal arts and sciences residential education that is designed to prepare an increasingly diverse and academically qualified student body to be contributing and productive members of society. This education will be offered in high quality, technologically-equipped facilities. This educational experience will be assured by the provision of a rigorous core curriculum for all students and the availability of challenging academic majors and degree programs. Further, the College will be competitive in the recruitment and retention of scholarly roster and tenure-track faculty who are committed to the liberal arts and sciences teaching mission of the institution.

Consistent with the "university" component of its name, as a Public Liberal Arts and Sciences University, the College will offer a limited number of graduate programs that are cost effective, meet demonstrable community and state needs, and are best offered by the College. Likewise, to the extent that there is sufficient community demand, the College may offer courses and programs at sites other than its downtown campus; however, the programs and courses at these alternate sites will at all times maintain the same academic standards and integrity as the main campus.

This vision of the College of Charleston as a premier Public Liberal Arts and Sciences University for the 21st Century is both bold and attainable. Such a vision draws upon the many strengths of the College and its people and represents a wonderful opportunity and exciting challenge for our institution as it enters the new millennium.

[N.B. The Full Report, copies of the working group reports, supporting documentation, and names of the participants may be found at the College of Charleston website at http://www.cofc.edu/~lrpcc/ and on reserve at the Robert Scott Small Library.]