STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE: The Citadel is in compliance with Comprehensive Standard R7.

RATIONALE FOR JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE:

For the purposes of this statement of rationale, adequate physical facilities are those that are sufficient in size, in kind, and in quality to meet the requirements of the governmental agencies and professional organizations that certify or accredit The Citadel's educational programs, and by extension, the programs and activities that support or parallel the educational programs. Practically speaking, the college's physical facilities must also be adequate in the sense that they are comfortable and attractive enough to allow the institution to compete successfully for students, faculty, and staff in a highly competitive educational market.

That The Citadel is successfully operating its educational, athletic, student affairs, and student support programs is demonstrated in the discussions in Core Requirement 6, Core Requirement 7, Core Requirement 9, Core Requirement 10, and Comprehensive Standard P9. That these programs, including their facilities, meet the requirements of the appropriate state and federal oversight agencies, as well as the high standards of national professional organizations, is shown in the narratives supporting Comprehensive Standard P10, Comprehensive Standard P14, and Comprehensive Standard R6. And that they are sufficient to attract and retain highly qualified faculty, staff, and students is shown in the discussions in Core Requirement 8, Comprehensive Standard M9, Comprehensive Standard P27, and Comprehensive Standard P30. Therefore, The Citadel "operates and maintains physical facilities, both on and off campus, that are adequate to serve the needs of the institution's educational programs, support services, and mission-related activities."

However, even though this bottom-line argument is sufficient to support the case for compliance, it does not seem entirely consistent with the spirit of the compliance audit; for it does little to help The Citadel identify opportunities for improvement in the way it builds, updates, and maintains its facilities. And although routine maintenance procedures are discussed in Comprehensive Standard R4 as a function of the college's control over its physical resources, the institution's larger construction and maintenance issues — including large-scale building needs, plans, and projects as well as deferred maintenance and plans to meet them — are addressed nowhere else in the compliance audit. For these reasons, the remainder of this statement of rationale will focus on the way The Citadel is approaching its long-term requirements for updating and maintaining its buildings. It will present (1) a descriptive overview of the institution's buildings, (2) an inventory of major building projects that have addressed facility needs during the past decade, (3) a summary of the long-range plan for continuing to meet those needs, and (4) a discussion of deferred maintenance and of the college's plan to address it.

Descriptive Overview of Facilities

The 200-acre campus is located about a mile from the historic district of Charleston, SC, on the east bank of the Ashley River. (See map [Reference 1].) With one exception, all of The Citadel's athletic, educational, and support programs are housed on (or within a quarter mile of) this site; the exception is a recreational beach facility (Reference 2) located on Isle of Palms, sixteen miles away. These sites contain seventy-five separate structures, listed on an inventory published online by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. [See Reference 3. Note: Regrettably, the user must first click on the "move left" arrow in the lower left corner of the linked worksheet, then click on the "Teaching Universities" tab that will appear at the bottom of the worksheet, and, finally, drag the scroll bar all the way to the left.]

According to the Vice President for Facilities and Engineering, the campus buildings contain a total of approximately 1.5 million gross square feet of assignable floor space utilized in the following ways:

Major Building Projects, 1993-2003

Plans for Capital Improvements, 2003-2010

Requirements for replacement, expansion, and renovation are prioritized and funded in accordance with the goals established in The Citadel's Strategic Plan 2002-2012 (Reference 4); however, external agency studies, accreditation requirements, environmental and health agency inspections, existing space utilization, available funding, and existing building condition analyses are also considered in the prioritization. Generally, these priorities are as follows:

• Priority 1: Instruction, Library, Research, Infrastructure
• Priority 2: Academic Support
• Priority 3: Student Support
• Priority 4: Institutional Support

The Citadel's Comprehensive Permanent Improvement Plan (CPIP) (Reference 5), which is submitted and approved by The Citadel's Board of Visitors and the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, provides a detailed summary of permanent improvements projected and proposed for the next five years. The purpose of the CPIP is to provide a continuation of the orderly and systematic replacement, renovation, and/or restoration of facilities and/or building components that have, by and large, reached or exceeded their effective service life. The plan provides for the highest priority initiatives being accomplished first, while attempting to cause the least disruption of educational processes. Design concepts, equipment, materials, as well as procedures that maximize efficiency and effectiveness, promote energy savings, and facilitate ease of maintenance, are employed to the greatest extent possible.

The following projects are currently in various stages of planning.

Deferred Maintenance

Maintenance and repair projects that cannot be funded from within available budgets are placed on the deferred maintenance schedule, which is summarized in the Comprehensive Permanent Improvement Plan (Reference 5). The projects are prioritized locally and are funded as resources and manpower are available. Senior college administrators recommend the priority of deferred maintenance projects to the President. The major considerations for making facility repairs include providing a weather-tight building envelope, ensuring that all utility systems are operational, and ensuring that mechanical systems are providing suitable indoor air quality. Particular attention is devoted to optimizing the efficiency and effectiveness of heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and electrical systems. Projects and equipment that increase energy efficiency are evaluated and funded to the extent possible.

The Citadel's total deferred maintenance is estimated to be approximately $30.5 million. Roofs, mechanical systems, and building envelopes continue to constitute the bulk of the deferred maintenance requirements.

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