Welcome to the University of South Carolina, Provost Gabel.
The news of the arrival of a new provost probably means little to most students since the vast majority of us have no idea what the person in that position even does. The office of the provost is, in essence, responsible for building and maintaining the academic integrity and reputation of our school. It's a position that affects all students, faculty and staff not only for their time at Carolina, but for years afterward; we all benefit from the name recognition and the credibility gained simply by associating with the university.
Provost Gabel inherits a school on the rise, as USC has been raking in the accolades for our scholarship. Based on her track record with innovation in the "other" Columbia (at the University of Missouri), we believe that she will be able to continue this progress and are excited to see what new projects and ideas Provost Gabel has in store. Even if those plans take years to come to fruition, we're confident that all Carolinians — past, present and future — will benefit from such a carefully selected and qualified provost.
We would be remiss, however, if we did not address the general correlation between "new" and "expensive." Given the current climate of constantly rising tuition costs in higher education, we would encourage provost Gabel and the university on the whole to keep in mind students' already strained wallets while developing new proposals and ways to fund them. Making a big splash with advanced initiatives won't help students if their waves drench us in more student loan debt.
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