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Fayette may get its own university; county gets go-ahead to seek money for campus

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

Fayette County took a giant leap toward getting a four-year college campus to call its own this week.

In a meeting Monday with Dr. Thomas Harden, president of Clayton College & State University, local business leaders were told to “make it happen” and start the process of obtaining land suitable to build a branch campus in Fayette County.

“Dr. Harden told us now is the time to start putting something together to make this happen,” said Brian Cardoza, president of the Fayette County Development Authority who serves on a local task force that’s been studying the issue for a couple of years.

“We all left there knowing what we need to do now,” Cardoza said. “A tangible step can be made, and that first step is to identify some land.”

But a college or university won’t necessarily be a free gift, handed to Fayette County, Cardoza warned.

It will be up to the community at large to come up with the minimum 25 to 50 acres of land needed before construction can begin.

While no specific sites have been identified, Cardoza said the logical place for the school is somewhere along the Ga. Highway 54 corridor near Piedmont Fayette Hospital, halfway between Fayetteville and Peachtree City.

Clayton State’s nursing degree program is well-respected and growing fast, Cardoza pointed out. Close proximity to the hospital might benefit both institutions.

Last week, Harden presented a proposal to the state Board of Regents to build a similar satellite campus near Locust Grove, in southern Henry County.

“Over in Locust Grove, it was community funding that made it happen,” Cardoza said. “And that’s the same thing that’s got to happen here.”

The regents are tentatively expected to rule on the Henry campus in March, but even so those plans won’t cloud the university’s vision in Fayette, said spokesman John Shiffert.

“Although establishing satellite centers is a very key part of Clayton State’s growth strategy, and our mandate to serve our communities, it is apples and oranges to compare our efforts in Fayette and Henry counties at this point,” he said.

“The desired end result, though, is the same - better service to these communities and more access to affordable higher education for more people,” Shiffert said.

At the start of the spring semester last month, Clayton State set an all-time record enrollment of more than 5,900, well on its way to reaching 7,000 enrollment by 2007.

But the campus wedged between Morrow and Lake City near Southlake Mall in Clayton County is nearly built-out, which is why school officials are looking throughout the Southern Crescent to expand.

Though student housing is available, Clayton State remains largely a commuter school. As traffic has worsened in recent years, fewer and fewer Fayette students seem willing to make the drive.

“The goal has always been for CCSU to have a campus all its own here in Fayette County, and today’s meeting went a long way in moving closer to that,” said Cardoza.

Since fall 2003, CCSU has offered core academic classes two nights a week at the Peachtree City Tennis Center.

That site is doing so well, Clayton State plans to expand it to four nights a week next fall, said Mannie Hall, director of academic outreach for CCSU.

College officials are also in negotiation with the Fayette County Board of Education to hold classes at the LaFayette Education Center in Fayetteville.

Of course, Clayton State eventually wants all of its Fayette operations consolidated in a central campus, Hall said.

“Ultimately, a permanent facility in Fayette County would provide an economic boost to the county, contribute to community development, and attract future growth,” Hall said.

And the local leadership, including Cardoza and others, is in a good position to make that happen, Hall said.

“In my view, their leadership over the next months will generate traction on this initiative and yield results,” Hall said.