The Plainsman Press - South Plains College

Regents Approve Fine Arts Renovation,

Jacob Tucker, feature editor

Expansion and a drop in enrollment were among the many topics of discussion during the February meeting of the South Plains College Board of Regents.

David Jones, vice president for student affairs, informed the Regents that SPC lost a little more than 400 students between the fall and spring semesters. This was a slight drop of 4.5 percent.

Jones also informed the Board that SPC was not the only college to suffer these kinds of losses. Student retention in community colleges all around the state varied from losses of 1 percent to some as large as 20 percent.

According to Jones, the dip in SPC is enrollment was due to the college’s relationship with Texas Tech University and the Gateway Program. TTU has now opened what they call the Pathway Program involving many other community colleges around the state. This new program caused the university to drop a few of the classes that they offered through the Gateway Program with SPC.

Another reason for the decline in enrollment, according to Jones, is the rise in the unemployment rate in Hockley County. The rate has climbed to 39 percent in the past year. Now students are finding it easier to get jobs that pay very well. Jones feels confident that we will get some, if not all, of these working students back into our system.

“The drop in enrollment really had little effect on the Levelland campus,” said Dr. Kelvin Sharp, president of South Plains College. “The only places that took a big hit were our off-campus learning facilities.”

Jones also said he believes that Internet courses have a large affect on the decrease in enrollment. Because of the high gas prices, some students are finding it more convenient and cheaper to learn on-line.

In the President’s Report, Dr. Sharp divided his news into two separate parts. The first section of the presentation focused on six areas beneficial to the general expansion of the college.

The top four projects on the list were proposed additions to the Fine Arts Building, the Communications Building, the Technical Arts Building, and the construction of a new classroom building.

“I think that these four are the main areas that we have heard about over the past two years,” said Sharp. “These areas could not be looked at until our other projects were completed.”

With the completion of the Creative Arts addition and the new parking lot, Sharp believes that the college can take on a new project.

The Technical Arts Building is in need of severe renovation. Additions are needed in the nursing area of the building. According to Darrell Grimes, vice president for academic affairs, the nursing program is already crowded with new students. More space is a must for this department.

The Communications Department has also seen a growth in students during the past few years, and more room is also a must for this area.

“We are in desperate need of more room here,” said John Sparks, departmental chairperson and professor of journalism. “In some of my classes we have people on the floor, so the extra space would be great.”

If the new classroom building is constructed, according to Sharp, it would decongest the majority of the parking in front of the Administration Building by relocating the social and behavioral science classes. The new room from the empty classes in the Administration Building would eventually be used to extend the Business Office and others in the building that are in dire need of space.

“In order to maintain a big student body, we need to offer more activities for students,” said Sharp.

This is where the last two ideas come into play, including new housing on the campus.

“We currently have dorms that are outdated by about 30 years,” said Dr. Sharp. “I think in order to help attract more students, the college should modernize its dormitories.”

The added space would relieve some of the crowding that the college currently has in its residence halls.

These new residence halls could also come into play with Dr. Sharp’s final idea, a softball/baseball complex. According to Dr. Sharp, SPC is the only college in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference that does not have a baseball or softball team.

“I believe that this would draw in about 150 plus students,” said Dr. Sharp. “We would have to have the dorms to accommodate these new students.”

These two new additions would then have a domino effect on the college. With the arrival of more students, the college would have to possibly expand the cafeteria and the bookstore.

“These six plans for expansion would be great to get done all at once, but we just don’t have the money for that,” said Dr. Sharp. “I estimate that these things will get done over a period of 10 years.”

The main question is, ‘What to do first?’ Sharp has proposed the new addition to the Fine Arts Building to the Board. The Board approved Dr. Sharp’s proposal of the addition to the building. Dr. Sharp also showed the Board the layout and a schematic of what the new addition would look like.

“What we are trying to do is make more room for the art classes and for some of the music classes,” said Dr. Sharp.

The front of the building will be connected into one giant foyer, and will also serve as protection for the mural on the front of the building. The new addition will also include a gallery for the Post art collection that will be refurbished.

“The only negative thing that will come out of this project is that it is possible that we will lose about 25 or more parking spaces in front of the building,” said Dr. Sharp.

The group designing the plans for the building is BGR, an architectural firm in Lubbock. The college has previously worked with this firm during the development of the Creative Arts Building.

Coda Stephenson, a representative of BGR, has told the college that the new addition would cost the college about $2.2 million total. He also told Sharp that construction on the building would have to be split into two different sections. This will allow students and faculty to still use the building as each side is being constructed.

“The Fine Arts Building is one of the facilities here on campus that needs the most work,” said Dr. Sharp. “But when we decided to do all of these additions, we didn’t measure them by the importance of the department. I see all of our departments as equal in achievements and prestige.”

The Board also discussed faculty evaluations from the fall semester and looked over SPC’s tax report.