I don't know if we'd be at 30 percent (S.C. residents as students) without the Palmetto and LIFE scholarships.

If we're successful, eventually these 80 students that will be involved in this program will give us a critical mass that will create discussions and engagement.

It´s important that students don´t keep paying the price for this for years to come, ... If we can help keep them on track in their education, then this will be a one-semester displacement for them.

All students have lessons in how to properly handle, store and dispose of the chemicals. They have to pass those lessons before they can even participate in a chemistry lab.

What I am opposed to is the perpetuation of immersion courses. We sometimes can undersell these qualified students. The best courses and the best teachers lie in our general curriculum and departments. The ELL is not something we permanently want to maintain students in.

The ultimate goal is trying to keep some of the brightest and best in the state, not only to go to college, but hopefully after that.