Our campus is looking about as good as Gov. Nikki Haley’s relationship with Darla Moore — not very good at all.
You know things are bad when the consulting firm tells us that in order to bring USC to a “satisfactory” level of maintenance, we would need $560 million. You know things are even worse than you had expected when the director of the facilities department tells us that if we spend around $15 million on maintenance each year, we might have a satisfactory-level university in 130 years.
Here’s our advice.
First, our existing funds should be spent primarily on what is immediately needed, such as patching the four holes in the roof of the law school and not on things we don’t need, like USC Connect. Yes, funds would have to be shifted in order to take care of these problems, and they should be shifted immediately.
Second, the money we currently have should be used to fix what’s breaking instead of building a plethora of new things.
We understand the university dreams big, and we understand there are many projects out there that could make our school a better place. We want these projects to happen. But no matter how impressive the Strom Thurmond and Fitness Center looks or how new the Honors Residence Hall is, beat-up buildings like Bates House and McBryde Quad still exist. Ignoring our problems won’t make them go away.
Last, if we can’t get enough money from the state or from the university stock, USC should raise funds privately to get money for maintenance. The funds we currently have aren’t nearly enough to fix the 26,000 maintenance requests, and USC needs to step it up quickly.
One hundred thirty years is a long time. If USC doesn’t start allocating its funds more wisely, our campus may never improve before the next ice age.