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![handle is hein.sag/sagsc0023 and id is 1 raw text is: HENRY MCMASTER
ATTORNEY GENERAL
January 5, 2011
The Honorable John Courson
Senator, District No. 20
Post Office Box 142
Columbia, South Carolina 29202
Dear Senator Courson:
You seek an opinion from this Office, questioning what is the extent, if any, of the legal
authority of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education (CHE) to require its approval
of the USC School of Medicine's expansion of the existing medical school program in
Greenville to include first and second year medical students? More specifically, is USC legally
obligated to submit its plan for the School of Medicine expansion to the CHE for review and
approval in order to proceed with the project, or may the University move forward in Greenville
simply with a notification of change in program status to CHE?
In our opinion, CHE approval is not required in order to proceed with the project.
Instead, the University may move forward in Greenville with a notification to CHE of change in
program status.
Factual Back2round
In your letter, you set forth the factual background of the proposed USC project in
Greenville. Therein, you state the following, by way of background:
[i]n 1983, the University of South Carolina, through its School of Medicine, and
the Greenville Hospital System established an affiliation for the cooperative
pursuit of programs in undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical
education, for research, and for developing better systems of health care delivery
and community service. Beginning in 1991, and every year since then, students
of the USC School of Medicine have had the option to complete their required
third and fourth year elective opportunities at the Greenville Hospital System. In
recent years, the number of USC School of Medicine students completing their
third and fourth years of study in Greenville has grown to 45-50 annually.
REMBERT C. DENNIS BUILDING * PosT OFFICE Box 11549 * COLUMBIA, S.C. 29211-1549 * TELEPHONE: 803-734-3970 * FACSIMILE: 803-253-6283](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagsc0023&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)