At its quarterly meeting today, the Board of Trustees of Coastal Carolina University approved the purchase of 19.5 acres of land adjoining the campus in Conway as a site for future student housing. The cost of the site, known as the Elvington property, is $3.3 million. The site will accommodate residence halls that can house approximately 1,270 students. The purchase of the property must be reviewed and approved by the CCU Student Housing Foundation.

The board also granted authority to the President to take all actions, including making all necessary budget adjustments, relating to Coastal Carolina University's athletic conference alignment, including but not limited to withdrawing from its current conference and accepting an invitation to join a new conference.

The board approved a bond resolution for the issuance and sale of a series of refunding revenue bonds in an amount not to exceed $6,750,000. The purpose of the refunding is to realize an anticipated savings of approximately $1.1 million in interest expense on a previous bond issue. The proposal must be reviewed and approved by the S.C. Joint Bond Review Committee.

The board approved new fee structures for many lab courses. While fees were added or increased for several labs, fees for some other labs were decreased, with the result that no new costs will be incurred.

The board approved a motion to expand the tuition reduction partnership arrangement that the University offers to school districts for CCU’s Master of Education degree in Learning and Teaching and for its Online Teaching certificate program. The new plan offers state school districts outside the immediate Grand Strand region a 30 percent tuition reduction to participate in CCU’s programs. The measure will allow CCU to compete with other state institutions that offer tuition reduction for M.Ed. programs.

In addition to the renewal of several ongoing property leases, the board approved a lease with Horry County Schools for a two-acre site on campus to construct a building to house the Scholars Academy. The project fulfills a previous agreement that part of the penny tax would be used to fund a joint-use facility for CCU and Horry County Schools. The building will be owned by Horry County Schools, which will lease the land from CCU for $1 per year with an initial term of 50 years. The building design will be approved by Coastal Carolina University.

The board voted to name the campus’ Wall Auditorium in honor of James J. Johnson, an honorary founder and trustee emeritus of the University.

The board also approved the promotion of faculty member Steve Bailey from associate professor to professor of music.