A South Carolina lawmaker told alumni of the Charleston School of Law (CSOL) that their private institution could be “absorbed” by state government – possibly by the College of Charleston – if it was the “will” of the S.C. General Assembly. In fact he said such an absorption could take place “tomorrow” if that’s what the school’s founders wanted.
Wow … talk about a perfect example of left-leaning big government backers “not letting a crisis go to waste.”
CSOL is in the throes of a major drama after its founders surreptitiously negotiated a deal with InfiLaw – a company of dubious report – behind the backs of faculty, staff, students and alumni. News of the deal – which broke exclusively on FITS – has prompted a major meltdown on campus.
In proposing this expansion of an already bloated system of government-subsidized higher education, the lawmaker – S.C. Rep. Stephen Goldfinch (RINO-Murrells Inlet) – demonstrated the utter pointlessness of the state’s Commission on Higher Education.
“The first thing I did was call the chairman on education and say, ‘Mr. Chairman, tell me what’s going on with this – what do we need to do to make this different, to make this an opportunity for CSOL and for College of Charleston and for Coastal or for a public institution?'” Goldfinch says. “I personally would rather see CSOL – if it has to be absorbed by anybody – be absorbed by the College of Charleston.”
Goldfinch says education chairman Phillip Owens (RINO-Pickens) is on board with the proposed assimilation.
“The answer was ‘Stephen if we wanted to do that, we could do that,'” Goldfinch told CSOL alumni of his conversation with Owens. “Is that the will of the legislature? Potentially. Is that the will of the Commission on Higher Ed? If we tell them so.”
Wait … isn’t the Commission on Higher Education supposed to be an independent agency? And isn’t its job to prevent the needless expansion of South Carolina’s wasteful, inefficient and duplicative government-run higher ed system?
Apparently not …
“The Commission on Higher Ed will do exactly what the political process tells it it should do,” Goldfinch told the CSOL alumni. “In other words if the chairman of education tells it ‘you’re gonna get your stuff in order on this particular school,’ or if the legislature or the governor tells the Commission on Higher Ed ‘you’re gonna get your stuff in order with this particular school,’ you’re gonna allow a change in charter – it can be done tomorrow. It can be done tomorrow.”
“Let me make that clear – it can be done tomorrow.”
Wow …
For that to happen, though, CSOL’s founders would have to be on board with the plan – which Goldfinch acknowledges “they are not.”
Thank God for that. As bad as the InfiLaw deal is for CSOL – a state takeover is totally out of the question. South Carolina government already spends far too much tax money supporting thirty-three government-run institutions of “higher learning” (at more than eighty campus locations). As a result, Palmetto State taxpayers shell out nearly 20 percent of their government’s annual budget on “higher ed” compared to the national average of around 10 percent.
That’s a lot of money for something which isn’t even a core function of government in the first place …
As we’ve noted on numerous prior occasions, state government needs to set its colleges and universities free to pursue their destinies as private institutions. The very last thing it needs to do is add another school to the taxpayer dole.
66 comments
Somebody please out George Kosko and his corruption. He was tossed as a federal magistrate for being a racist and sexist pig. Now he is making money off the taxpayer again? Stop this lunatic.
Perhaps SC State can absorb this law school as a satellite campus.
Somebody please out George Kosko and his corruption. He was tossed as a federal magistrate for being a racist and sexist pig. Now he is making money off the taxpayer again? Stop this lunatic.
Perhaps SC State can absorb this law school as a satellite campus.
You forgot to mention that Goldfinch has a degree from CSOL.
Of course he doesn’t want his degree to be further devalued, and like any other Republican, he wont hesitate to use public resources when it benefits him.
You forgot to mention that Goldfinch has a degree from CSOL.
Of course he doesn’t want his degree to be further devalued, and like any other Republican, he wont hesitate to use public resources when it benefits him.
Wait. Wasn’t the one concession USC extracted for not opposing CSOL’s accredititation that it would never become a public institution?
Wait. Wasn’t the one concession USC extracted for not opposing CSOL’s accredititation that it would never become a public institution?
It will never happen. Too many USC law grads in the State House/Lobby who are scared to death of another state supported law school to compete with USC.
It will never happen. Too many USC law grads in the State House/Lobby who are scared to death of another state supported law school to compete with USC.
“We are the Borg, you will be assimilated.”
“We are the Borg, you will be assimilated.”
There has to be a Republican School of Law and a Democrat School of Law, dummy! I’m just waiting for the Republican School of Business..
There has to be a Republican School of Law and a Democrat School of Law, dummy! I’m just waiting for the Republican School of Business..
I am proud to have Stephen representing my district. He is far from being a RINO. He has a great voting record & is always available for his constituents….. unlike many members of the General Assembly.
I’m sure he is a nice enough guy. But he graduated from CSOL. Are you okay with him being committed to pouring state resources (i.e. your tax dollars) into an endeavor that, at the end of the day, benefits only him and other CSOL grads?
I think it would be an asset for this area. I fully support this!
I am proud to have Stephen representing my district. He is far from being a RINO. He has a great voting record & is always available for his constituents….. unlike many members of the General Assembly.
A: Stephen is correct combining institutions, it only makes fiscal sense. Taking the govt out of higher ed is a pipe dream, the sooner you realize that the sooner you can start ranting on other topics that might change.
B: I know Stephen and he is one of the most conservative people I know. Both fiscally and socially. Taking shots at him is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
C: You call him a RINO off of your misquoted article? I hope you have a better day job because shoddy journalism like that would get you fired from any creditable news outlet, which there aren’t many. All of your quotes are snippets of longer quotes pasted together to form your argument for this article. Do some research before you blast a guy who is holding up the Republican ideals.
D: To “The best part”, you mean he won’t hesitate to combine two schools into one so that it reduces operating costs and increases the value and integrity of a school and city which will bring more economic value to the region? Gee, your right us Republicans sure are benefiting from that, nobody else but us.
Amen!
Name me one thing that the SC Govt. operates that is not dysfunctional? Just one?
You get the fact that this is absorbing a private institution into a public one, right? That doesn’t reduce public operating costs, son, it increases them.
We would be better off to close both law schools in this state. Neither turns out anything.
Well, that comment added absolutely nothing of value to the conversation.
Your guy overreacted and made a knee-jerk (and decidedly non-conservative) suggestion. He may be “conservative,” but funding yet another loser school just to protect one’s alma mater from implosion is not. Get over it.
I hate to brake it to you but this is a local gossip blog run by a recovering alcoholic/drug addict, not a vetted news source. We come for the occasional interesting story, but take most of it with a grain of salt. Then we run for the comments and throw rocks at each other like children with learning disabilities. Come to think of it that is probably an insult to children with learning disabilities.
Seriously if we tagged our own posts #yourmomisawhorefromredbank would come up pretty often.
A: Stephen is correct combining institutions, it only makes fiscal sense. Taking the govt out of higher ed is a pipe dream, the sooner you realize that the sooner you can start ranting on other topics that might change.
B: I know Stephen and he is one of the most conservative people I know. Both fiscally and socially. Taking shots at him is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
C: You call him a RINO off of your misquoted article? I hope you have a better day job because shoddy journalism like that would get you fired from any creditable news outlet, which there aren’t many. All of your quotes are snippets of longer quotes pasted together to form your argument for this article. Do some research before you blast a guy who is holding up the Republican ideals.
D: To “The best part”, you mean he won’t hesitate to combine two schools into one so that it reduces operating costs and increases the value and integrity of a school and city which will bring more economic value to the region? Gee, your right us Republicans sure are benefiting from that, nobody else but us.
I am proud to have Stephen representing my district. He is far from being a RINO. He has a great voting record & is always available for his constituents….. unlike many members of the General Assembly.
I’m sure he is a nice enough guy. But he graduated from CSOL. Are you okay with him being committed to pouring state resources (i.e. your tax dollars) into an endeavor that, at the end of the day, benefits only him and other CSOL grads?
I think it would be an asset for this area. I fully support this!
A: Stephen is correct combining institutions, it only makes fiscal sense. Taking the govt out of higher ed is a pipe dream, the sooner you realize that the sooner you can start ranting on other topics that might change.
B: I know Stephen and he is one of the most conservative people I know. Both fiscally and socially. Taking shots at him is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
C: You call him a RINO off of your misquoted article? I hope you have a better day job because shoddy journalism like that would get you fired from any creditable news outlet, which there aren’t many. All of your quotes are snippets of longer quotes pasted together to form your argument for this article. Do some research before you blast a guy who is holding up the Republican ideals.
D: To “The best part”, you mean he won’t hesitate to combine two schools into one so that it reduces operating costs and increases the value and integrity of a school and city which will bring more economic value to the region? Gee, your right us Republicans sure are benefiting from that, nobody else but us.
Amen!
Name me one thing that the SC Govt. operates that is not dysfunctional? Just one?
You get the fact that this is absorbing a private institution into a public one, right? That doesn’t reduce public operating costs, son, it increases them.
We would be better off to close both law schools in this state. Neither turns out anything.
Well, that comment added absolutely nothing of value to the conversation.
Your guy overreacted and made a knee-jerk (and decidedly non-conservative) suggestion. He may be “conservative,” but funding yet another loser school just to protect one’s alma mater from implosion is not. Get over it.
I hate to brake it to you but this is a local gossip blog run by a recovering alcoholic/drug addict, not a vetted news source. We come for the occasional interesting story, but take most of it with a grain of salt. Then we run for the comments and throw rocks at each other like children with learning disabilities. Come to think of it that is probably an insult to children with learning disabilities.
Seriously if we tagged our own posts #yourmomisawhorefromredbank would come up pretty often.
Law schools are one of the few profit centers for public universities. The university typically retains about 25 percent of all law school tuition for other non law school university items. So, absorption of csol would reduce, not increase, the taxpayer burden.
Exactly. It appears that “News” is a loose term with this site.
Maybe in 2007 that was the case, but since the drop in law school applications, law schools have been running in the red. Catholic University had to cut its ENTIRE operating budget by 20% due to falling law school enrollment.
http://www.cuatower.com/news/2013/04/14/law-school-enrollment-dropoff-causes-departmental-budget-cuts/
Law schools are one of the few profit centers for public universities. The university typically retains about 25 percent of all law school tuition for other non law school university items. So, absorption of csol would reduce, not increase, the taxpayer burden.
Exactly. It appears that “News” is a loose term with this site.
Maybe in 2007 that was the case, but since the drop in law school applications, law schools have been running in the red. Catholic University had to cut its ENTIRE operating budget by 20% due to falling law school enrollment.
http://www.cuatower.com/news/2013/04/14/law-school-enrollment-dropoff-causes-departmental-budget-cuts/
Head to Michigan. They will take anyone. Then return to SC a drunken job-hopper and go from firm to firm until you end up back at square one running the pumps while scraping up enough to score a rock on Friday.
Head to Michigan. They will take anyone. Then return to SC a drunken job-hopper and go from firm to firm until you end up back at square one running the pumps while scraping up enough to score a rock on Friday.
Could we also not just close the CSOL tomorrow and abolish the crisis?
Could we also not just close the CSOL tomorrow and abolish the crisis?
Only our lovely state would think of absorbing a cancerous cesspit like CSOL. Better to let it die off on its own and let whoever else fill their void, whether it be CofC or another private institution. Whatever institution replaces CSOL can make the decision of what credit to accept from ex-CSOL students.
Only our lovely state would think of absorbing a cancerous cesspit like CSOL. Better to let it die off on its own and let whoever else fill their void, whether it be CofC or another private institution. Whatever institution replaces CSOL can make the decision of what credit to accept from ex-CSOL students.
Your story misses one key point—the reason InfiLaw is in the law school business to begin with is that they make money. Unlike many other grad schools that require labs and infrastructure–law schools primary expense is faculty compensation, library (which costs a lot less than it used to) and occupency (rent). Run the numbers on the tuititon collected versus expenses and you will see that these things are huge cash cows. So while there would be an initial capital outlay by College of Charleston, it would probably be cash flow positive in just a couple of years.
Your story misses one key point—the reason InfiLaw is in the law school business to begin with is that they make money. Unlike many other grad schools that require labs and infrastructure–law schools primary expense is faculty compensation, library (which costs a lot less than it used to) and occupency (rent). Run the numbers on the tuititon collected versus expenses and you will see that these things are huge cash cows. So while there would be an initial capital outlay by College of Charleston, it would probably be cash flow positive in just a couple of years.
Goldfinch must be an idiot.
The country doesn’t need any more lawyers.
Law schools across the country are being sued by their graduates because they can’t find jobs and the schools didn’t tell them the only place they could find work is immigration law in North Dakota.
Goldfinch must be an idiot.
The country doesn’t need any more lawyers.
Law schools across the country are being sued by their graduates because they can’t find jobs and the schools didn’t tell them the only place they could find work is immigration law in North Dakota.
It is so funny to me how a bunch of degenerate hicks from
South Carolina, historically with one law school, do everything within their
power to bring down the only other law school in the state. You guys hide
behind these screen names like a bunch of uncloaked Klansmen. What’s next, an
article supporting a perpetual ban on gay marriage, barring interracial
marriages, denying women the right to vote? Instead of focusing on real issues,
you spend your time on manufactured bs – do any of you guys actually have jobs
during the day?
Quite honestly, how is it even possible for any one of you to
sit here and pass judgment, as if you all just graduated from Harvard or Yale
or even Duke for that matter, lol – you pass judgment the way others pass
judgment on you and don’t even know it! You are the laughing stock of the
country and in any case, a failed Confederacy, a less than remarkable economy,
and subpar schools that tend to graduate generational idiots. Yet, instead of
trying to do something about this, ideas come flowing in from the good ole boys
and their lackeys with their undereducated simplistic back-to-the-future seersucker
suit wearing screw-ups who think that by putting on a bowtie and expressing an
opinion that it somehow makes them more intelligible. You are a joke. You guys
do yourself and the southeast a favor, stop trying to step on each other
because it’s that same Civil War mentality that got you in this place in the
first instance.
As it relates to FITSNEWS, what about one single once of
journalistic integrity? How many hits does your site even get? As for the “libertarian”
bit, you wish you had a clue as to what real libertarianism is – you’re content
has nothing to do with being fiscally conservative and you are clearly socially
inept. The layout of your webpage looks decent though… I’ll give you that – it would
be even better if it said something worthwhile, but it doesn’t.
Good luck CSOL and sorry that you are surrounded
by a bunch of dumbasses who can’t even articulate as to why they don’t like
you. Uh, may the South rise again, just not in the same way it attempted to do
so before :)
It is so funny to me how a bunch of degenerate hicks from
South Carolina, historically with one law school, do everything within their
power to bring down the only other law school in the state. You guys hide
behind these screen names like a bunch of uncloaked Klansmen. What’s next, an
article supporting a perpetual ban on gay marriage, barring interracial
marriages, denying women the right to vote? Instead of focusing on real issues,
you spend your time on manufactured bs – do any of you guys actually have jobs
during the day?
Quite honestly, how is it even possible for any one of you to
sit here and pass judgment, as if you all just graduated from Harvard or Yale
or even Duke for that matter, lol – you pass judgment the way others pass
judgment on you and don’t even know it! You are the laughing stock of the
country and in any case, a failed Confederacy, a less than remarkable economy,
and subpar schools that tend to graduate generational idiots. Yet, instead of
trying to do something about this, ideas come flowing in from the good ole boys
and their lackeys with their undereducated simplistic back-to-the-future seersucker
suit wearing screw-ups who think that by putting on a bowtie and expressing an
opinion that it somehow makes them more intelligible. You are a joke. You guys
do yourself and the southeast a favor, stop trying to step on each other
because it’s that same Civil War mentality that got you in this place in the
first instance.
As it relates to FITSNEWS, what about one single once of
journalistic integrity? How many hits does your site even get? As for the “libertarian”
bit, you wish you had a clue as to what real libertarianism is – you’re content
has nothing to do with being fiscally conservative and you are clearly socially
inept. The layout of your webpage looks decent though… I’ll give you that – it would
be even better if it said something worthwhile, but it doesn’t.
Good luck CSOL and sorry that you are surrounded
by a bunch of dumbasses who can’t even articulate as to why they don’t like
you. Uh, may the South rise again, just not in the same way it attempted to do
so before :)
It is so funny to me how a bunch of degenerate hicks from
South Carolina, historically with one law school, do everything within their
power to bring down the only other law school in the state. You guys hide
behind these screen names like a bunch of uncloaked Klansmen. What’s next, an
article supporting a perpetual ban on gay marriage, barring interracial
marriages, denying women the right to vote? Instead of focusing on real issues,
you spend your time on manufactured bs – do any of you guys actually have jobs
during the day?
Quite honestly, how is it even possible for any one of you to
sit here and pass judgment, as if you all just graduated from Harvard or Yale
or even Duke for that matter, lol – you pass judgment the way others pass
judgment on you and don’t even know it! You are the laughing stock of the
country and in any case, a failed Confederacy, a less than remarkable economy,
and subpar schools that tend to graduate generational idiots. Yet, instead of
trying to do something about this, ideas come flowing in from the good ole boys
and their lackeys with their undereducated simplistic back-to-the-future seersucker
suit wearing screw-ups who think that by putting on a bowtie and expressing an
opinion that it somehow makes them more intelligible. You are a joke. You guys
do yourself and the southeast a favor, stop trying to step on each other
because it’s that same Civil War mentality that got you in this place in the
first instance.
As it relates to FITSNEWS, what about one single once of
journalistic integrity? How many hits does your site even get? As for the “libertarian”
bit, you wish you had a clue as to what real libertarianism is – you’re content
has nothing to do with being fiscally conservative and you are clearly socially
inept. The layout of your webpage looks decent though… I’ll give you that – it would
be even better if it said something worthwhile, but it doesn’t.
Good luck CSOL and sorry that you are surrounded
by a bunch of dumbasses who can’t even articulate as to why they don’t like
you. Uh, may the South rise again, just not in the same way it attempted to do
so before :)
It is so funny to me how a bunch of degenerate hicks from
South Carolina, historically with one law school, do everything within their
power to bring down the only other law school in the state. You guys hide
behind these screen names like a bunch of uncloaked Klansmen. What’s next, an
article supporting a perpetual ban on gay marriage, barring interracial
marriages, denying women the right to vote? Instead of focusing on real issues,
you spend your time on manufactured bs – do any of you guys actually have jobs
during the day?
Quite honestly, how is it even possible for any one of you to
sit here and pass judgment, as if you all just graduated from Harvard or Yale
or even Duke for that matter, lol – you pass judgment the way others pass
judgment on you and don’t even know it! You are the laughing stock of the
country and in any case, a failed Confederacy, a less than remarkable economy,
and subpar schools that tend to graduate generational idiots. Yet, instead of
trying to do something about this, ideas come flowing in from the good ole boys
and their lackeys with their undereducated simplistic back-to-the-future seersucker
suit wearing screw-ups who think that by putting on a bowtie and expressing an
opinion that it somehow makes them more intelligible. You are a joke. You guys
do yourself and the southeast a favor, stop trying to step on each other
because it’s that same Civil War mentality that got you in this place in the
first instance.
As it relates to FITSNEWS, what about one single once of
journalistic integrity? How many hits does your site even get? As for the “libertarian”
bit, you wish you had a clue as to what real libertarianism is – you’re content
has nothing to do with being fiscally conservative and you are clearly socially
inept. The layout of your webpage looks decent though… I’ll give you that – it would
be even better if it said something worthwhile, but it doesn’t.
Good luck CSOL and sorry that you are surrounded
by a bunch of dumbasses who can’t even articulate as to why they don’t like
you. Uh, may the South rise again, just not in the same way it attempted to do
so before :)
Is education no longer a “core function” of government, FITS?
Is education no longer a “core function” of government, FITS?
You rednecks talk about the POTUS and his administration, but nothing beats your cracker politicos really know how to spend to purchase a two-bit diploma mill. And you have the audacity of bashing “obamacare”, my what hypocrites we have in Columbia.
You rednecks talk about the POTUS and his administration, but nothing beats your cracker politicos really know how to spend to purchase a two-bit diploma mill. And you have the audacity of bashing “obamacare”, my what hypocrites we have in Columbia.
Lander law school? Newberry? Midlands Tech? They would all make sense.
Lander law school? Newberry? Midlands Tech? They would all make sense.
Essentially, law schools provide a conduit for federal loan monies to flow into the local area. Students take out unlimited GRADPLUS loans, which are used to provide jobs, fund construction projects, and stimulate economic activity. Follow the money.
Essentially, law schools provide a conduit for federal loan monies to flow into the local area. Students take out unlimited GRADPLUS loans, which are used to provide jobs, fund construction projects, and stimulate economic activity. Follow the money.