MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1998 Regular Session

To: Universities and Colleges; Appropriations

By: Senator(s) Gollott, Hewes, Woodfield, Gordon, Cuevas, Moffatt, Lee, Robertson

Senate Bill 2764

(As Passed the Senate)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 37-102-3, 37-102-7 AND 37-102-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING TO DESIGNATE THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST BRANCH CAMPUS AS AN ENHANCED DEGREE-GRANTING BRANCH CAMPUS WITH FULL APPROVAL TO OFFER UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE COURSES AS MAY BE REQUIRED FOR COMPLETION OF THE UNIVERSITY'S BACHELOR'S DEGREE PROGRAMS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 37-102-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-102-3. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning shall not permit its universities to offer courses for college credit at the lower undergraduate level at an off-campus site unless approved by the State Board for Community and Junior Colleges. The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, hereafter referred to as the board, may designate the existing degree-granting university branch campus of the University of Southern Mississippi serving the Mississippi Gulf Coast counties as an enhanced degree-granting university branch campus with full approval to add such lower undergraduate level freshman and sophomore courses as may be required for completion of the university's bachelor's degree programs provided that:

(a) The University of Southern Mississippi branch campus shall have registered an opening head-count enrollment of at least one thousand four hundred (1,400) students in upper level and graduate credit courses at the opening of each of the previous three (3) fall terms.

(b) The implementation plan for the addition of new lower undergraduate level courses, programs and credits at said University of Southern Mississippi branch campus shall provide for a limitation on the enrollment of freshmen and sophomores in the new lower undergraduate level freshman and sophomore courses and programs in recognition of the existing community and junior college system. With due consideration to the continued well-being of existing community and junior college campuses within a 40-mile radius of the university branch campus, the board may allow enhanced degree-granting university campuses to admit seven hundred fifty (750) freshmen per year. The board may allow new freshman admissions in excess of seven hundred fifty (750) per year at the university branch campuses subject to review and possible veto by the State Board for Community and Junior Colleges. A veto by the State Board for Community and Junior Colleges of enhanced degree-granting university branch campus new freshman admissions beyond seven hundred fifty (750) per year is authorized, but not required, whenever a credible third-party professional community needs study shows that new freshman enrollments in excess of seven hundred fifty (750) per year at the university branch campus would have a substantial destructive effect on existing junior college campuses within a 40-mile radius of the university branch campus.

(c) The political subdivision or the people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast counties served by the university branch campus shall have assisted in developing or enhancing facilities for the university branch-campus site.

(2) In no instance shall the board permit the University of Southern Mississippi to offer lower undergraduate level courses or programs at its Gulf Coast branch campus unless each of the above stipulations have been met.

SECTION 2. Section 37-102-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-102-7. The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning shall submit to the Legislature budget requests with off-campus and branch-campus programs being an identified part of the total general support budget request for universities by being a separate item within the budget request of the respective university which offers the program. Said budget request shall include (a) a statement of all actual or estimated receipts and disbursements for such off-campus or branch-campus programs; (b) a comparison of the estimated state expenditure per full-time equivalent student studying at the off-campus site or branch campus as compared to the estimated state expenditure per full-time equivalent student studying at the parent university's main campus; and (c) such other information as may be required by the Legislative Budget Office. It is the intent of the Legislature that the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning and the State Board for Community and Junior Colleges shall allocate to branch campuses owning substantial land and buildings state funds adequate to maintain those buildings in addition to such instructional funds as shall be necessary to provide branch campus students a quality of instruction equal to that available on the parent university or college campus.

SECTION 3. Section 37-102-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-102-11. The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning may permit extracurricular items such as dormitories, gymnasiums * * * and such related items to be constructed for use by off-campus sites of universities for undergraduate physical education and recreation as may be needed for their approved courses of instruction or as may meet the demonstrated needs of the urban communities they serve. No university branch-campus or off-campus site of a university shall be permitted to develop or implement intercollegiate sports programs or teams which duplicate intercollegiate sports programs or teams on the parent university campus.

SECTION 4. All new programs authorized under this Senate Bill No. 2764 shall be subject to the availability of funds specifically appropriated therefor by the Legislature during the 1998 Regular Session or any subsequent session. It is the intent of the Legislature that this act shall be codified but that no amendment to a code section or repeal of a code section enacted by this Senate Bill No. 2764 shall take effect until the Legislature has funded any new programs authorized hereunder by line item appropriation, said line item appropriation to be certified by the Legislative Budget Office to the Secretary of State.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1998.