The University of South Carolina (USC, UofSC, SC, South Carolina, or Carolina) is a public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, it is the flagship of the University of South Carolina System and the largest university in the state by enrollment. Its main campus is on over in downtown Columbia, close to the South Carolina State House. The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities with Highest Research Activity". It houses the largest collection of Robert Burns and Scottish literature materials outside Scotland and the world's largest Ernest Hemingway collection.
History
Foundation and early history
The university was founded as South Carolina College on December 19, 1801, by an act of the South Carolina General Assembly initiated by Governor John Drayton in an effort to promote harmony between the Lowcountry and the Backcountry. On January 10, 1805, having an initial enrollment of nine students, the college commenced classes with a traditional classical curriculum. The first president was the Baptist minister and theologian Reverend Jonathan Maxcy. He was an alumnus of Brown University, with an honorary degree from Harvard University. Before coming to the college, Maxcy had served as the second president of Brown and the third president of Union College. Maxcy's tenure lasted from 1804 through 1820.
When South Carolina College opened its doors in 1805, the building now known as Rutledge College was the only building on campus. Located one block southeast of the State Capitol, it served as an administrative office, academic building, residence hall, and chapel. However, the master plan for the original campus called for a total of eleven buildings, all facing a large lush gathering area. In 1807, the original President's House was the next building to be erected. The building now known as DeSaussure College followed shortly thereafter, and the remaining eight buildings were constructed over the next several decades. When completed, all eleven buildings formed a U-shape open to Sumter Street. This modified quadrangle became known as the Horseshoe.
As with other southern universities in the antebellum period, the most important organizations for students were the two literary societies, the Clariosophic Society and the Euphradian Society. These two societies, which arose from a split in an earlier literary society known as the Philomathic, grew to encapsulate the majority of the student body from the 1820s onward.
The college became a symbol of the South in the postbellum period as its graduates were on the forefront of secession from the Union. With the generous support of the General Assembly, South Carolina College acquired a reputation as the leading institution of the South and attracted several noteworthy scholars, including Francis Lieber, Thomas Cooper, and Joseph LeConte.
Slavery and slave labor played a fundamental role in the foundation and construction of the University of South Carolina. Many of the primary buildings in the central heart of campus, known today as the horseshoe, were built not only by slave labor but also of slave-made brick. Slave labor played a large role in the maintenance operational duties of early campus activities. This includes maintenance, cleaning of student tenements and faculty duplexes, and the preparation of meals.
Civil War There were 72 students at the college in January 1862 and the college functioned until a call by the Confederate government for South Carolina to fill its quota of 18,000 soldiers. A system of conscription began on March 20 for all men between the ages of 18 and 45, but many students volunteered. With the depletion of students, professors issued a notice that the college would open to those under 18 years old. Nine students showed up for class.
Reconstruction The University Act of 1869 during the Reconstruction era reorganized the university and provided it with generous financial support. An amendment was added to the act by W. J. Whipper, a black representative from Beaufort, that would prevent racial discrimination from the admissions policy of the university. The legislature further proved its seriousness towards racial equality by electing two black trustees, Benjamin A. Boseman (misspelled as "Bozeman" in the bill) and Francis Lewis Cardozo, to the governing board of the university on March 9, 1869. A normal school was established by the legislature on the campus of the university as well as a preparatory school for black students, since most former slaves were ill-prepared for academic work. In addition, to encourage enrollment by blacks, tuition and other fees were abolished. On October 7, 1873, Henry E. Hayne, the Secretary of State of South Carolina, became the first black student when he registered for the fall session in the medical college of the university. Many white students and faculty left the school in protest, and Hayne's registration became national news. Two years later, the majority of students at the university were black, and enrolled students included Richard T. Greener, T. McCants Stewart, William D. Crum, William Sinclair, and Alonzo Townsend. Opponents of desegregation labeled the university as "the radical university," blaming its changes on being occupied by outsiders with radical ideas. This period of desegregation lasted for four years.
Post-Reconstruction (Jim Crow era) When Reconstruction ended in 1877, South Carolina's legislature became all-white again. That year, South Carolina state leaders closed the university. It was reopened in 1880 as a white only agricultural college. Greener, the university's first black professor, had to leave.
In 1893, South Carolina's legislature required that the university let women enroll, although the university did not yet allow women to live on campus. Frances Guignard Gibbes was admitted in 1895, and Mattie Jean Adams became the first female graduate in 1898. By the 1920s, women made up a quarter of the student body, and in 1924, they were allowed to live in campus dormitories. In the spring of 1924, Irene Dillard Elliott became the first dean of women at USC. Along with being a dean, Elliot worked as a full-time English professor. During this time, she strived to smooth over the transition USC took to become coeducational.
Civil rights era Black students did not return to the University of South Carolina until 1963, when Henrie Monteith, Robert Anderson, and James Solomon enrolled. The university was one of the last large public universities to desegregate. Students who integrated the university feared violence and were excluded from many aspects of social life and extra-curriculars. On campus, the integration process proceeded peacefully, just not supportively. Monteith became the university's first post-Reconstruction black graduate and first black female graduate in 1965.
Previous institution names
Chartered as South Carolina College on December 19, 1801Green, Edwin Luther. History of the University of South Carolina. The State Co., 1916, pp. 11, https://archive.org/details/historyofunivers00greerich/page/11/mode/2up. Chartered as the University of South Carolina on January 10, 1866Green, Edwin Luther. History of the University of South Carolina. The State Co., 1916, pp. 84, 87(line 14), 88, 94, https://archive.org/details/historyofunivers00greerich/page/87/mode/2up.Green, Edwin Luther. “Chapter VII. The University of South Carolina, 1865–1873.” History of the University of South Carolina. The State Co., 1916 Chartered as South Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanics on October 3, 1880Green, Edwin Luther. History of the University of South Carolina. The State Co., 1916, pp. 99–100, https://archive.org/details/historyofunivers00greerich/page/99/mode/2up. Chartered as South Carolina College in 1882 Chartered as the University of South Carolina on May 9, 1888 Chartered as South Carolina College on April 21, 1890 Chartered as the University of South Carolina on February 17, 1906
Campus
The Horseshoe is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and most of its buildings reflect the federal style of architecture in vogue in the early days of the nation. Among them is the South Caroliniana Library, which was designed by Robert Mills and is the first freestanding academic library in the United States.
Over the years the 11 original buildings on the Horseshoe survived a fire, an earthquake, and the Civil War, but in 1939 McKissick Museum replaced the original President's House. The President's House would eventually return to the Horseshoe after extensive remodeling of one of its original buildings, which was dedicated as such in 1952.
During the 20th century: the campus began to spread out dramatically from the Horseshoe. Today it includes the student union, 24 residence halls, numerous academic buildings, Longstreet Theatre, the Koger Center for the Arts, the Carolina Coliseum, the Colonial Life Arena, Carolina Stadium, and various facilities for Olympic sports. (Williams-Brice Stadium is located approximately one mile off campus.) Recent additions to the campus are the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center, the Greek Village, the Green Quad, the Honors Residence Hall, the Public Health Research Center, the Graduate Columbia hotel, the Colonial Life Arena and Carolina Stadium. In 2017, a new School of Law building opened on Senate Street, and the Darla Moore School of Business opened its new home at the corner of Assembly and Greene in 2014.
The "Carolina Cab" offers students free rides from Five Points to their homes within of campus on weekends.
Academics
Colleges and schools McCausland College of Arts and Sciences Darla Moore School of Business College of Education Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing Graduate School College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management College of Information and Communications Joseph F. Rice School of Law School of Medicine–Columbia School of Medicine–Greenville School of Music College of Nursing College of Pharmacy Arnold School of Public Health College of Social Work South Carolina Honors College
Undergraduate admissions
Undergraduate admissions are classified as more selective. For the freshman enrollment of 2022, half the class had SAT scores between 1150 and 1360, or ACT scores between 26 and 31.
South Carolina Honors College Founded in 1978, the South Carolina Honors College offers support to academically gifted undergraduate students. After gaining acceptance to the University of South Carolina, students must apply separately to the Honors College and demonstrate significant academic achievement. In 2019, entering freshmen had an average weighted GPA of 4.71 and a midrange SAT score (critical reading and math) of 1460–1530.
Rankings
National Program Rankings Program Ranking Biological Sciences 159 Business 62 Chemistry 88 Clinical Psychology 80 Computer Science 111 Criminology 22 Earth Sciences 90 Economics 83 Education 78 Engineering 102 English 85 Fine Arts 152 Health Care Management 39 History 63 Law 96 Library Science & Information Studies 18 Mathematics 86 Medical Schools-Primary Care 90 Medical Schools-Research 91 Nursing-Anesthesia 65 Pharmacy 40 Physical Therapy 42 Physics 119 Political Science 72 Psychology 112 Public Affairs 101 Public Health 23 Rehabilitation Counseling 47 Social Work 51 Sociology 75 Speech-Language Pathology 25 Statistics 74
Research The University of South Carolina is classified as a research institution of "very high research activity". The university was awarded $309 million in sponsored awards during the 2024 fiscal year, a 27 percent increase in research funding from the previous year.