Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto (D-Orangeburg) made a similar pledge.
“Orangeburg wouldn’t be Orangeburg but for the Edisto River, but the Orangeburg that we know, the Orangeburg that we’ve lived in wouldn’t be Orangeburg but for South Carolina State University,” Hutto said. “It is the heart and the soul of this town that we call our county seat.
“There are needs, and this will be the first mountain that we climb – the mountain of Turner Hall,” he said. “But you know what the ancient Haitian proverb is — beyond the mountains, there are more mountains.
“Beyond this building, there are more buildings, and so this will be the beginning,” Hutto said.
In addition to the projects the General Assembly has
funded in recent years, the SC State administration has asked the state to allocate funds for a new library, a new convocation center, a new wellness center and the renovation of Nance Hall.
The final legislator on the program was Sen. Vernon Stephens (D-Bowman), a member of the SC State Class of 1980, who echoed Cobb-Hunter’s challenge to alumni to support the university financially.
“Bringing these facilities up to par is our responsibility – not only the General Assembly, but you, you, you and you,” Stephens said pointing to the audience.
Following Stephens was SCSU National Alumni Association President Hank Allen, who noted the importance for alumni to engage with not some but all lawmakers about their alma mater’s needs.
“When we continue to do those things, that’s going to help take our university to the next level,” Allen said.
The first phase of the project will include razing Azalea Hall and moving a small schoolhouse, both of which sit on the new building’s site. Following the new building’s completion, most if not all of Turner Hall will be demolished.
