EDITORIAL: So Much for Scherrens: Other Fine Candidates Up for the CCU Presidency

By The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Feb. 3–Maybe it’s just as well that Maurice Scherrens turned down the presidency of Coastal Carolina University this week, after keeping university trustees on tenterhooks for nearly three weeks after they offered it to him. The person who succeeds Ron Ingle at Coastal’s helm shouldn’t be a ditherer.

Coastal needs a president who really wants to run our fast-growing, fast-improving degree-granting institution of cultural, educational and economic enrichment. And at least two of the other applicants, Coastal Vice Presidents David DeCenzo and Edgar Dyer, meet that requirement. Western Carolina University Provost Kyle Carter dropped out of the running on Friday. The fourth applicant, Sue DeWine, provost at Ohio’s Marietta College, was unavailable for comment this week, but likely would still be interested.

So chalk up the Scherrens episode as an irritating but harmless three-week delay in the naming of Ingle’s successor. The trustees will come up with an equally suitable candidate who is eager to tackle the enormous challenges the university faces. In addition to stimulating the continued improvement of Coastal’s academic offerings, the new president will have to put the school on firm, predictable financial footing.

Under the unintegrated and politicized S.C. higher education finance “system,” state appropriations as a proportional share of Coastal’s budget decline every year. Trustees have responded by raising tuition higher than it should be and by accepting more out-of-state students than some observers think advisable. Those students bring in double the tuition that S.C. students pay, and the university gets to keep all of it.

Stabilizing Coastal’s budget is a daunting but not insurmountable challenge. The legislative clout of Coastal’s two main service counties, Georgetown and Horry, is increasing. And legislators are under pressure from other quarters to rationalize the higher education spending.

Ingle, a patient man, has handled this aspect of his job well, and his successor will, too. We look forward to finding out who that will be.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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