Letter to editor: Does Billy K’s re-branding of USCB make sense?
Letter to editor
Does Billy K’s USCB re-branding make sense?
The mayor of Beaufort seemingly dropped a bombshell when he suggested that The University of South Carolina eliminate “Beaufort” from its designation of the two campuses in Beaufort County. Since he asked for input and feedback here goes:
- Yes, re-brand USCB (south campus)to USC LowCountry
This is now clearly the main campus with its student housing, many buildings, campus activities and room for expansion
Originally the “Beaufort” was used because the only campus was in the city of Beaufort. Although the main campus is in Beaufort County (barely), it more importantly provides undergraduate education to many nearby counties in South Carolina
The LowCountry designation is more descriptive to out-of-state students and provides a clear differentiation from other campuses and other universities.
- Yes, re-brand USCB (north campus) to USC LowCountry, Beaufort College of Studio Art and Design
The “college” branding has an appropriate feel to it given this campus’ narrow educational focus, small physical size and its local urban setting.
Colleges are frequently within a University both in the US and UK.
- If other focused disciplines are added or enhanced in the future:
USC LowCountry, Beaufort College of Marine and Environmental Sciences
USC LowCountry, Beaufort College of Military Excellence
So what seemed like certain heresy at first glance turns out to be another forward thinking sonic push from our mayor, who always seems to delight in challenging us on our flight into the future.
Dennis Tavernetti
St. Helena Island SC
Related posts:
- Bomb threat closes USCB campuses
- Mayor Keyserling throws weight behind USCB name change
- USCB appoints Dr. Harvey Varnet Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
- USCB sets direction for Beaufort Performing Arts Center
- Letter to editor: Thank you, Mack Cook, for helping to make a better Beaufort
Comments
8 Responses to “Letter to editor: Does Billy K’s re-branding of USCB make sense?”
Susan, your comment of making the south campus a private university makes no sense, nor does maintaining the north campus on its own, as both would surely fail.
The reason the south campus was built was to grow and increase USC’s abililty to bring a 4 year university to our region of the state.
The North campus was not really capable of ever reaching critical mass, and still would not be with the south campus private…and as a private school fees would have to go up 2-3 times, hardly helpful in educating the college age childern in SC.
The soon to be ex govenor’s apparent idea in dumping the outlying campuses was to save money, not to educate our graduating high school childern with the cost effective public education they need to be successful in the future. Not every student can acheive the grades and test scores necessary to get in to the main campus at Columbia.
I don’t think we should return to only education for the elite that was available in Beaufort, when Beaufort College was founded in 1795.
Lastly, I do not know Chancellor Upshaw, but I do not think the south campus was driven by her ego, but instead a real desire to increase the opprotunity for
students to be able to attend a good 4 year university in our region of the state. It is new, attractive, inviting and functional, but hardly a palace. The student body growth of 10% a year since its opening speaks for one aspect of that strategy’s success.
If in fact the north campus is “practically abandoned” it is because the south campus does a much better job of fulling the student and educational needs than the North campus ever can.
Please read elsewhere the current strategy for the North Campus, as the University attempts to make it viable. Its continued exsistence will depend on the support and success of the strategy by students, parents, and the community.
I am a 5th generation native of Beaufort, and I have rarely heard our area referred to as ‘Sea Islands”….NATIVES reserve that terminology for the islands off the coast of Georgia, mostly. This is the Low Country. period!
Editor’s comment:
Counting my grandchildren, we are 5th generation Beaufortonians too, and we have always referred to our area as the Sea Islands. In fact, I wrote a book called Beautiful Beaufort By The Sea that explains the reason why this area has always been called the Sea Islands.
If you read the history books, especially the history of the Civil War in our area, you will see that the people who lived here then, as well as the Federal forces that invaded and occupied our area, always called this the Sea Islands, not the Lowcountry. The reason is that until railroad and automobile bridges, the only way to get here was by boat to these islands by the sea.
Also, please remember Sea Island cotton, the cash crop that farmers on our Sea Islands developed in the late 1700s and early 1800s that made them the richest people in the United States before the Civil War. The Beaufort/Hilton Head area developed Sea Island cotton, named after our Sea Islands. Their wealth is why we have so many ante-bellum mansions in Beaufort today.
The Lowcountry has a different meaning altogether. It encompasses all of the coastal land, including especially the mainland, ranging from just below Myrtle Beach to the Georgia line. In the old days South Carolina was considered divided into three regions: the Lowcountry, the Sand Hills, and the Uplands. The Sea Islands are a part of the Lowcountry.
The reason people now think of the area around Brunswick, Georgia, as the Sea Islands is because millions of dollars were spent by resort developers in that area during the 20th century, which included renaming an island down there as Sea Island, Georgia.
Don’t be deceived by clever marketing. We live in the real Sea Islands.
Hey Ethal, I raise your 5 to my 14, and we’ve always called this area Sea Islands.
I thought the one in Southern Beaufort County was USC-Bluffton like those radio ads proclaim.
I like USCB North Campus and USCB South Campus.
Simple enough for most people to understand!
Maybe he’s thinking USC-Keyserling!
Referring to USCB as USC Low Country seems a bit odd to me since it could be absolutely anywhere in the Low Country. . . USC Beaufort has always been referred to as USCB and everyone knows to what you are referring when using those initials. USCB North and USCB South are all that is really necessary (same County) and anyone interested in attending either/both of these will certainly “get it” when they visit. It is not complicated and I do not understand why our Mayor is trying to completely redo Beaufort. . . . from the parking meters, to buildings we cannot afford, to F35Bs which have not been tested for noise levels, and now even the name of the University of South Carolina, which happens to be in Beaufort County! Who would know with the new name where it is?
While USCB is changing its name, why not let Upshaw and her board make the south campus a private institution. That is what the governor suggested a couple years ago. Beaufort could reclaim the north campus (it is practically abandoned) retain the USCB name and USC affiliation, use the $4 million in state and local appropriations to re-build the small liberal arts college that existed before south campus was built and probably bring tuition back down to what it was when Upshaw began her ego-inspired palace.