11/21/2008

By MEG KINNARD  / Associated Press

When Andrew Sorensen ascended to the presidency of the University of South Carolina in 2002, his arrival was marked by the traditional pomp and circumstance one might expect at the state's flagship school. More than 200 guests feted the new president with a gala reception, the price tag covered by taxpayer funds.

Now, six years later, with the nation's economy continuing to struggle, President Harris Pastides is celebrating his official investiture not by donning a tuxedo but by munching on pizza with students and hosting a public punch-and-cookies reception.

Pastides, who took over when Sorensen retired in August, told university officials he would pass on a fancy affair as the university ponders how to handle $36.9 million in budget cuts.

"A lot of plans had already been made, but as we got deeper into the recession, I just knew that symbols matter," Pastides said Thursday at student-run festivities in his honor. "And even though people said, Oh, we can get private donors to pay for it, I said, you just have to think of the symbolism of it."

In 2002, Sorensen's investiture celebrations included a dinner for 250 at the university's sparkling new fitness and wellness center. The price tag for that event, including invitations, music and photography, came to about $35,000, an amount the university says was covered by state funds.

Pastides — who served the university for 10 years in a variety of roles, most recently as executive director of the school's research foundation — has taken a different tack for his official celebrations. The public is invited to a ceremony on Friday, to be followed by an informal reception, funded entirely by private money and donations. On Thursday, hundreds of students gathered on the university's campus for "Pastides Palooza," a pizza party paid for exclusively with student activities funds.

"I know that it was the pizza that drew them here," Pastides said. But he said students approached him and said they were happy to have him as their new president. "I feel good about that."

The university is just one of many state institutions working to come up with a plan to handle budget cuts. Last month, state lawmakers cropped a total of $488 million from the state's $7 billion spending plan for 2008-09, including a $123 million cut to public universities and technical colleges. Those cuts averaged just under 15 percent per school, much of that coming from payrolls and research.

Officials at the University of South Carolina have said they expect to have a plan by early December on how to handle their share of those cuts — $36.9 million — but there are no plans yet for mandatory, systemwide furloughs.

"We're looking to preserve as many jobs as possible," Pastides said. "There's no doubt that we're reshaping the university. It'll be a leaner place now."

In Charleston, the Medical University of South Carolina has said it's limiting new hires and not filling vacant positions, but further decisions on making up nearly $17 million in cuts have yet to be made. Clemson University has announced that all employees must take five days of unpaid leave by June 30 to help pay for $25 million in cuts there.

Winthrop University will charge students a $50 fee for the spring semester and increase some class sizes. And the state's technical college system is eliminating 22 positions from its Columbia office, with 16 people losing their jobs and six vacancies being eliminated.

Pastides' background raising money for the university may help him steer USC's leaner finances. Arriving in 1998 as dean of the public health department, Pastides rose to become a critical deputy to Sorensen, helping develop the university's vision to become a hub for research. Since taking over as executive director of the school's research foundation in 2003, research funding at USC has increased every year, rising $54 million last year to $185 million.

For now, the university will celebrate its new president's official arrival — albeit with less glitz than in years past.

"It will be a regal affair — not by virtue of what it costs, but regal by the pomp and circumstance that a 207-year-old university knows how to do," Pastides said.