WHEREAS, the State of South Carolina by law has conferred on the Winthrop University
Board of Trustees "all the power necessary for the accomplishment of the trust committed
to it, viz.: the establishment, conduct and maintenance of a firstclass institution
of higher education," and has authorized the Board to act "as the progress of the
times may require;" and
WHEREAS, the Winthrop University Board of Trustees spent its February 2010 three-day
retreat by reviewing a wide array of emerging social, technical and economic trends
that signify an on-going transformation in the needs and expectations of 21st century
students and other public higher education stakeholders; and
WHEREAS, Winthrop University is in the midst of preparing for a Spring 2011 visit
by a team from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) for purposes
of re-affirmation of institutional accreditation; and
WHEREAS, SACS standards for re-affirmation of institutional accreditation now include
the required development of a Quality Enhancement Plan around which significant attention
will be directed by the University for a period of five years (2011-2016) to achieve
meaningful, mission-driven enhancement of student learning across the institution
by deepening global awareness and broadening opportunities for global exploration
within the Winthrop experience; and
WHEREAS, each and all of the above elements will affect significantly the overall
context within which the Winthrop University campus community must carry out it its
responsibilities in an age of shifting expectations, declining public-sector provision
of resources and related challenges to organizational capacities; and
WHEREAS, it is in the interest of each institution of higher learning from time to
time to add to its "constant conversation" an introspective and reflective stock-taking
of its nature and character, mission, structure and manner of meeting its obligations
to the future while keeping faith with long-standing core values;
THEREFORE, LET IT BE RESOLVED that the Winthrop University Board of Trustees recommends
and authorizes that President Anthony DiGiorgio over the following 12-15 months conduct
a campus-wide process to review the implications of these shifting conditions on Winthrop
University and produce recommendations for balancing mission and resources with expectations,
while fulfilling the statutory requirement that Winthrop be a "first-class institution
of higher education," offering programs, features and instruction "as the progress
of the times may require."
April 16, 2010
