What Stood Out From Bob Caslen’s “State Of The University” Speech On Wednesday Afternoon

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The other day, President Bob gave his first State of the University address. I have not been around the school long enough to have seen the past addresses, but I would have to imagine that there were more eyes on this one compared to the past. 

First things first, we need to give more credit to our digital media team. Everyone talks about how our International Business program is number 1 in the country. But I think our media team can go against anyone in the SEC and beyond.

There are very few people that can create a promo video about expanding external funding with corporate research partnerships and make it feel it’s a 7:30 kickoff and Sandstorm is about to play at Willy B.

So if you’re not going to watch the entire 45 minute video, at least check out the beginning promo.

Now a lot of the topics discussed are the basic talking points that are brought up in every college at all times: Becoming more diverse, making college affordable, expanding research etc. 

Not saying it shouldn’t have said it, but that was a given. 

But some of the topics got into specifics so here ya go. 

One of the big ones was that they are freezing tuition for next year. No other way to spin this other than saying that this is a good thing. There was however, one local news site that reported this with some weird wording: 

“USC has not raised tuition on the Columbia campus since 2019 when it increased by 0.6 percent” 

I’m thinking, “Um excuse me, I know this year has felt like a decade, but that was last year.” 

Another part was talking about athletics and the President said 

“Frankly I think we Gamecocks are bold enough to believe that our women’s basketball team was indeed the national champion last year.”

So are we getting a parade in the Spring? If we are bold enough to declare ourselves as champions, we can definitely be bold enough to celebrate like champions. These are the questions that need answers. 

Finally, he talked about the issue of renaming buildings that people in the University and the community may take offense to, to which he said the school started a commission that “is charged with researching every building on our campus whose name has a controversial history; and delivering a comprehensive report to me by the end of the year that includes recommendations for renaming.”   

I’ll save you some time @UofSC. You don’t need any commissions or long ass reports. All you need to do is read my old article about renaming stuff. FYI Jadeveon Cloney just signed a $15 million dollar contract with the Titans. 

If we name the fitness center after him, I GUARANTEE that there’s a chance he’ll send us some spare change so we can get more parking spaces on campus. Just a thought.

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