Chris Horn: “The University of South Carolina has been around for a long time, chartered in 1801 and welcoming its first students in 1805.
“Along the way, Carolina has celebrated a few big birthdays: a centennial in the early 20th century, a sesquicentennial — 150 years — at the midcentury mark and a bicentennial extravaganza in 2001. We had an episode a couple of years ago titled ‘Happy birthday, USC’ that talked about what happened during each of those celebrations.
“This year, the institution is observing its quasquibicentennial. That doesn’t roll off the tongue very easily, but it’s the fancy word for a 225-year celebration.
“I’m Chris Horn, and today on Remembering the Days, I’m having a conversation with Evan Faulkenbury, my cohost on this podcast who also holds the title of university historian for USC. We’re going to review, briefly, how the university observed its past big birthdays, but we’re really going to zoom in on what’s happened on campus in the past 25 years. As you can imagine, a whole heck of a lot has happened, and we’re just going to try to hit the highlightes — sort of like USC’s greatest hits since 2001.
“I started the conversation with a question for Evan about the significance of Carolina’s centennial celebration in 1905.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “So in 1905, I remember for US — well, the thing is that it wasn’t USC in 1905, you know, it had a series of name changes — and so here at the campus in 1905, some folks, they used the occasion that we had been here for 100 years, offering classes since 1805 — chartered in 1801, but classes since 1805 — to kind of make the case for ‘we really need to be the University of South Carolina.’ So they used the centennial celebrations in 1905 on the Horseshoe and in the Rutledge Chapel and in the library to say, ‘We’ve been here for a century. It’s time for us to take the next step forward.’ So, sometimes these anniversaries can be kind of stepping stones. You look backwards, but you’re looking forwards at the same time.”
Chris Horn: “And just as a little footnote, that was actually the third time, 1906, when we became the University of South Carolina. You were alluding to that, how we kind of flip-flopped back and forth from South Carolina College, and we had that one weird name — we were the South Carolina College for mechanical and something.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “Kind of like an A&M school.”
Chris Horn: “Exactly, and then we had a sesquicentennial: 150 years. And I’m not sure what happened with that, except that the two Dan Hollis books, basically the history books of the University of South Carolina, were published by USC Press. And those are long out of print, but those essentially covered the first 150 years of the university’s existence. And then we had a big bicentennial that was culminated in 2001, and as part of that, there was a big capital campaign raising a lot of money for the university. The School of Business became the Darla Moore School of Business as the result of a major gift. And now here we are at USC 225. How do we talk about this? I mean, it was just 25 years ago.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “Just a quarter century.”
Chris Horn: “I remember I was turning 40 at that point. I’d been working here for a while. And then I got to thinking about how much how much has changed on campus since 2001. And I always kind of gravitate toward, you know, actual physical change, literal change on campus. And there’s a ton of that in terms of new buildings, which we can talk about. But we also have looked at how the university has changed just numbers-wise. I mean, how many students were here in 2001, which was what, it was like a little over 21,000. And now we’re approaching 40,000 students. I mean, could you imagine if a town in South Carolina, their population grew from 21,000 to nearly 40,000? Pretty major stuff. You think about how much infrastructure they would have to add to accommodate all those new residents.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “Yeah. 25 years. I wonder if, you know, go back in time, and if you had told people at USC in 2001 — yourself when you were here during that time — if you had said, ‘OK in 25 years we’ll be almost double student population.’ I think you'd be like, ‘How? And where are we going to put them? And how is that going to function?’ But of course, you know, we have new buildings, new accommodations, new ways to integrate students into campus life that are new and exciting — ways to make them feel not just numbers either, but I guess more like part of a growing and bigger community. So I don’t think it’s just about, not that you were saying this, but not just about growth, growth, growth and numbers, numbers, numbers, but I think it’s more that, you know, we’re South Carolina’s flagship university. A lot of people want to come here. They’re going to get a great education. So as many as can be comfortably accommodated, you know, let’s keep, let’s keep growing, let’s keep getting bigger and offering more and more. But you’re right that the numbers itself for enrollment are pretty wild. And then that translates to alumni. There’s way more alumni now across the world as well. So I think in 2001, it was a little over 200,000. And now, 25 years later, it’s about, it’s getting close to 350,000.”
Chris Horn: “Which is just crazy to think about. I mean, it’s hard to count all of those heads because those people are scattered all over the world. But those are pretty accurate numbers that the Alumni Association has put together, and they try to stay in touch with a lot of those people, at least the ones who are in the U.S., through Carolinian magazine, etc.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “Yeah, and they have all of these different clubs, you know, in different cities, you know, where they can have watch parties. And a growing alumni network, you know, means a bigger, more expansive community well beyond Columbia, well beyond South Carolina, as well. So that’s another way that I guess the university has gotten more global, in a way. That really started before 2001, but I think since then it’s become even more so.”
Chris Horn: “Yeah, one of the numbers that really surprised me because I used to pay a lot of attention to research funding — and part of my job, I wrote a lot of stories about that back in the day — and the fact that that number has essentially doubled in 25 years is just astounding to me that it’s reached that level.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “Absolutely. I think that before 2001, USC was growing rapidly, especially in the latter quarter of the 20th century, but was still — it hadn’t quite reached its potential, perhaps. I mean, it kind of saw like a large vision of what it could be. But I think that it was kind of growing out of kind of a self-inflicted, maybe, inferiority complex a little bit as well. Not that they — it — should’ve have had one in the first place, but just looking at neighbors around and saying like, ‘Why aren’t we this?,’ or ‘Why aren't we that?’
“But I think in the last 25 years, especially, the University of South Carolina became less comparing itself to others and more just focusing on what special attributes it has, and areas that it can grow, and unique areas that it can offer the world and its students and its graduates. And I think that then kind of sparked a real resurgence over the last 25 years, certainly in a couple of different programs that really have, have spiked to number one rankings. But it’s kind of the the old adage ‘a rising tide lifts all boats.’ So programs across the university have, have grown in influence. And I mean, how do you measure influence? That’s just, that’s one of those generic words, but it’s the number of degrees, it’s the number of industries and careers that our alumni are having, and it’s kind of the ways that the university is in driving economic growth in the state and beyond.”
Chris Horn: “That whole thing about inferiority complex goes way beyond the University of South Carolina. I think if we had Walter Edgar sitting in here with us, he could talk about how the whole state has, perhaps, struggled with that to some extent, certainly in the 20th century, you know, since the Civil War. We’ve seen that with athletics. I mean, it took a Lou Holtz and a Steve Spurrier to come along and kind of get us past that point. We haven’t ever quite reached the promised land of winning a national championship. Certainly, you compare the program today with where it was in 2001, and we’re just head and shoulders above, and we’re always wanting more. Well, of course we do. But we actually have tasted some of that success now. And I guess maybe it’s made us even thirstier.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “That’s what happens. Well, you’re right, early 90s, that’s when we joined the SEC. And for that first decade, or perhaps a little less, uh, you know, it was rough going, I think for the most part across most sports, but then kind of around that bicentennial 2001, you mentioned Lou Holtz. He was, he had arrived at that point. I think slowly the tide began to turn. So, you had done some number crunching, and I’ll quiz you. You know, how many national championships had USC won before 2001?”
Chris Horn: “As of 2001, we had not won any national championships in any sport.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “So yeah, zero national titles before 2001. But in the 25 years since we have 10. I wonder if our listeners can, can name them all: two in baseball, three in women’s basketball, four in equestrian — including just this past year — and one in women’s track. And that’s not even counting the many more SEC championships through tournaments or through regular seasons. Not only has the university’s athletics department as a whole found its footing, it’s really sprung forward in these last 25 years to where we’re not kind of the the new kid on the block getting punched down on from the SEC, but we’re more than holding our own.”
Chris Horn: “Let’s talk about my favorite subject, you know, the physical campus, how much it’s changed. If you think about buildings that have been torn down in the past 25 years, there was certainly the Honeycombs. The last of the Honeycombs came down to make way for the honors residence hall. Right. Part of McBryde Quadrangle was torn down to make way for the Hollings Library extension. We jumped Assembly Street in 1968 when the Carolina Coliseum was built. But then not a lot more happened in that westward push. But since 2001, the School of Music building, Arnold School of Public Health Research Center, Darla Moore School of Business, several other buildings — Discovery and Horizon. Discovery is a public health research building. Horizon is more science, engineering, chemistry.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “And the Colonial Life Arena. Right. Don’t forget that. Um, but that’s it. I mean, that’s some things just kind of get — like you, there’s some, there’s been so much it’s hard to keep track of. And you’re right: in 25 years, that portion of campus has really had to expand in order to include all the new students and all the new ways that programs and departments and colleges want to grow. Without that, we’d be pretty cramped.”
Chris Horn: “Campus Village, which I haven’t really checked out in person very much. I’ve driven past it, but I mean, it’s these four large buildings, and this is on the south side of campus.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “Near the softball team’s new stadium — which is also a new feature since 2001 — and the tennis complex, and the athletic offices and all that. It’s kind of fun to walk there. Like, if you start from the main campus — if you have some time — and you can walk across the new pedestrian bridge across Wheat Street, and then just keep going. And sometimes you can catch glimpses of Williams-Brice in the background, and you can just kind of keep heading that direction and seeing all the new stuff that’s been built up over there.”
Chris Horn: “What’s kind of cool as well: the number of buildings that are planned for major renovations. McKissick, which, depending on when you were here as a student, it might have been the library, or it might have just been a, you know, the building at the top of the Horseshoe that you didn’t go into very much because it was mainly a museum, and, you know, if you were a student, you weren’t maybe interested in that. But now it’s going to become a real hub of campus. They’re going to put classrooms in that building. They’re going to distribute some of the museum exhibits, both within that building and, I think, around campus. And there’s going to be more engagement with the city of Columbia. Russell House is going to be undergoing a major renovation. What else is getting renovated?”
Evan Faulkenbury: “Yeah, these are major projects. It’ll be exciting to see what happens. And Thomas Cooper Library is also planned for a renovation. There have been ideas about renovating the World War Memorial building right there on Pendleton and Sumter, which that could be really exciting because that’s such a wonderful, historic building right there. Of course, Williams-Brice is being renovated right now in a way. And there if you drive over, it’s — they’re working hard before the opening game.
“There have also been some other completed renovations, too, in the last 25 years. The South Caroliniana Library is one. I think that building, you know, historic for a lot of different reasons back to 1840, but had become, you know, it had had some significant issues. But now, if you haven’t, please go into South Caroliniana because it’s beautiful, it’s functional, and it’s such an important part of campus, and it’s now fully operational and provides such a great service to the state.
“In the past 25 years, the university has taken big steps to remember its past, not just in kind of a self-congratulatory way, but, like, real milestones and real significant matters that kind of help shape the university’s identity into the present and future. So you’re right about the desegregation monument and Greener in front of the library. And there have been other significant ones as well. There’s the desegregation garden over there near the Osborne Administration Building. Our sports legacy has been remembered in important ways, too. There’s the statue of A’ja Wilson and George Rogers. And then there have been a number of new programs that have come onto campus as well that maybe 25 years ago you would have said, ‘You know, the Anne Frank Center is going to expand from its center of operations in Amsterdam and going to have a presence on our campus,’ I think maybe people would be like, ‘Oh, what?’”
Chris Horn: “It’s still astounding to me that we have the only Anne Frank Center in North America here on this campus.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “They have so many students and young people and adults visit year-round and learn about Anne Frank and learn about the connections of that time period to the state of South Carolina. So that’s doing amazing work here. It’s getting more people who wouldn’t be at USC to step foot on campus and to kind of learn a bit more about the university’s history at the same time.”
Chris Horn: “So, if you’re a student of any era, say in the 20th century, it’s been more than 25 years since you graduated. There’s been a lot of student programming that we’ve launched: the First-Generation Center, Student Success Center, Career Center, Center for Civil Rights History and Research, Palmetto College, which now encompasses the other campuses around the state and a whole online degree apparatus that’s been very successful.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “Yeah, some of those programs you mentioned — the Civil Rights Center, Palmetto College, the first-gen center — I think, collectively, in the last 25 years, you know, some of these are more recent than others, but I think the university has taken steps to become more than just a place where you go to class and get a degree. You know, it has to be kind of a full range of experience that kind of prepares you for life and a career and matures you. And so I think over time, where folks here have noticed, ‘Hey, there’s a gap. Students who are first-generation, they really need like a stronger support network to kind of not just get through their college years, but to make connections and feel included and feel like they’re contributing at the same time,’ well, that’s now gone into play. So I think that the last 25 years has been a period where, where gaps have been noticed beyond just earning degrees and going to classes. The university has filled them in really significant ways. But you are also talking about, you know, we have all these new programs, but there’s also a couple of brag points I guess the university likes to talk about as well, that have hit number one on the Billboard charts — well maybe not the Billboard charts, but they’ve hit number one on some other charts. What are some of those?”
Chris Horn: “This really predates 2001, but the international business program has been highly ranked for a long time. And the business school has just really invested in that area more and more and more — no pun there: Moore School of Business — but the remarkable thing about that is we have maintained that number one ranking. To be this top-ranked program at a public university in the South is remarkable, and it really speak to the investment that was made early on and that continues to be made. And I know, nursing, I think their online master’s program has been ranked number one as well.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “And then there’s two other programs that the university has been really proud of these last 25 years: the Honors College and first-year experience. And so I think both of those kind of play into the kind of culture that USC has been trying to build over these last 25 years. But as far as public universities nationwide, our Honors College keeps getting that number one ranking. And then back in the 1970s, so this is going further back, but the university essentially invented what it was for the importance of having a first-year experience, kind of like a set program to really nurture that environment. And that’s only gotten better and better. Of course there’s University 101. But then more in general, that first-year experience has also been ranked very highly — number one over the years. So just another testament to how Carolina has become more than just a place to get that degree.”
Chris Horn: “Trying to look at this in kind of a historical perspective — because this is a history podcast — it makes you wonder, in another 25 years, what will the university add? I mean, we always feel like we’re at the pinnacle of development, you know, as civilization or as people or whatever, as an institution, how could we possibly get any better? Well, yeah, we still want to win that football championship, but how could we get any better? And yet, it’s going to happen. I mean, in 25 years there’s going to be other programs that people will be like, ‘Well, gosh, why didn’t we think of this sooner?’”
Evan Faulkenbury: “I believe that there is a time capsule buried on the Horseshoe, kind of in front of McKissick Museum.”
Chris Horn: “That’s right! We did an episode on that.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “I believe that one is to be opened in 2051, which would be the 250th anniversary of the university. So what will be uncovered in there? I don’t know. And what new buildings and programs will be on campus? I don’t, I don’t know. And how many more championships will we have won? I’m going to hope for quite a few there. While I breathe, I hope.”
• • •
Chris Horn: “So Evan, that was kind of a rambling take on the last 25 years of USC history. And I’m sure there’s things we forgot, and actually one thing just occurred to me. We were mentioning buildings that are under construction or soon will be, and we forgot to mention the School of Medicine building that's being built in the BullStreet district.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “We’ve had the medical complex over on Garners Ferry — shared with the VA hospital complex — for a long, long time. But this will be our own and should have a lot of benefit for the state.”
Chris Horn: “So I’m guessing that for USC’s 250th anniversary, probably there will be a new history book coming out to help celebrate that. But you’ve got a history of the university that’s coming out either at the end of next year or early in 2028. Tell me just a little bit about that.”
Evan Faulkenbury: “Well, the book is going to be with USC Press. It’s going to be a concise history of the university. It’ll also have a lot of images and photographs and paintings with it as well, to make it a really visual history as well.”
Chris Horn: “So that’s either the end of next year or the beginning of 2028. Much sooner than that — two weeks from now, in fact — we’re going to have another episode of Remembering the Days, and in that episode, we’re going back 60 years to the final year of University High School. Some people may not know that we had a high school that was on campus for nearly 35 years. So this will be the story of the high school, how it came to be, and you’ll hear some voices from students who were there. That’s next on Remembering the Days.”