Citing an increase in enrollment and antiquated buildings, Dr. Rick Young, President of East Mississippi Community College, Monday presented the school’s strategic plan for the Golden Triangle Campus at Mayhew to the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors. The 25-year plan, which would be implemented in three phases, calls for the building of a new $15 million student union building.
“EMCC has an annual impact of $35 million on this area,” Young said. “But the real impact is on human beings. We’ve shown that we can be productive. We have one of the best work-force training programs in the South. At our Mayhew campus, we are landlocked. We have a shortage of space and we can only build up. For us to grow, we have to have more space. We are your college. We can take it as high and as far as you allow us. We have about $5 million we can use toward this project. The state legislature did not give us any bond money this year. We will have to be creative in our financing.”
If funding is available, the student union could take two years to complete Young said.
Paul Miller, EMCC Vice President, said the proposed student union would be a multi-purpose building and it would have additional classroom space. Miller said overcrowded classrooms and EMCC’s role as a commuter college for a burgeoning student population are the driving factors in the expansion plans.
“We’ve exceeded 4,000 students at the Mayhew campus,” Miller said. “In the next 10 years, we feel our enrollment will be around 7,500. Our current student union was built when we had 350 students. We need a new anchor building for our campus. Students can’t even use our cafeteria because it is housing two nursing programs and our hotel and restaurant management program.”
Miller said the second phase of the plan would involve changing the traffic flow to move pedestrian traffic inward and automobile traffic toward the perimeter of the campus. Miller said a third stage may contain a plan for student housing.
“We are finally giving in to the fact that we may not remain a commuter campus,” said Miller. “We are looking at possibly implementing a housing plan. The fact that we are doing this in phases means we can jump around and make changes as needed.
At the conclusion of the presentation, District 1 Supervisor and board president Harry Sanders asked Young about rumors the school was once again looking to purchase the bankrupt Columbus Country Club.
EMCC board members discussed purchasing the club and its golf course in April 2011. After a 6-5-1 vote to pursue purchasing the club, board members then voted unanimously not to proceed with the purchase. Young on Monday told the board members the idea of purchasing the club was still a possibility.
“(The Columbus Country Club) has a 20,000-square-foot facility ready to go for our hotel and restaurant management program and for community and civic uses,” Young said. “We also have a golf team that could benefit from this facility. If we could get the property, we could move the hotel and restaurant program immediately. We have been approved for a turf management program and we could also have a collegiate tennis team. It would free up some space for our nursing program and it would buy us some time.”
Sanders said the board is in the process of preparing it Fiscal Year 2013 budget and the board would discuss budgeting additional funds for the college.
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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