South
Students are rejecting elite colleges like Columbia and Yale to attend southern schools like Clemson: report
Prospective students are increasingly opting for colleges like Elon in North Carolina, Clemson in South Carolina and the University of Miami in Florida over elite northeastern schools.
For Jewish students, the rise of antisemitism and anti-Israel protests on campuses like Columbia have shown students like Scott Katz that choosing Elon was the right decision. Elon received an A grade from the Anti-Defamation League for its work to protect Jewish students from hate on campus.
“It was a big deal,” Katz told The Free Press of the environment on campus.
AOC CALLS COLUMBIA PROTESTS ‘PEACEFUL’, DESPITE RABBI WARNING JEWISH STUDENTS TO STAY HOME
Prospective students are increasingly opting for colleges like Elon in North Carolina, Clemson in South Carolina and the University of Miami in Florida over elite northeastern schools, according to a new report. (Getty Images)
“Even if I could’ve gotten into Harvard, I wouldn’t have gone,” Katz said. “I wanted a school that felt right for me, not someplace that we’re told we’re supposed to want to go.”
“Never before have we seen so much interest in colleges like Clemson, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina State,” assistant vice provost and executive director of undergraduate admissions at Georgia Tech, Rick Clark, told the outlet. “That’s just unprecedented.”
Other parents and students cited COVID-era lockdown policies as the reason that they started to more seriously consider southern schools.
“Kids up north were pretty unhappy during those Covid lockdown years,” a father of a prospective college student, Larry Glazer, said. “And colleges down south were offering something different. My son and his friends would look at TikTok and see all these college kids going to football games, throwing parties, living their lives. It has an impact.”
COLUMBIA JEWISH STUDENTS ‘NO LONGER FEEL SAFE,’ SAY ANTI-ISRAEL MOB CHASED THEM OFF CAMPUS
Yale University is one of many elite campuses rocked by anti-Israel protests. (Left: Photographer: Craig Warga/Bloomberg via Getty Images, Center: (Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images))
Some parents are also signaling doubt over the value of an Ivy League education.
Julie Ketover, a Yale graduate, said, “I don’t know that the value of an Ivy League education is the same as it used to be. People ask me all the time, ‘Would you do Yale again?’ I would. I loved it. But it used to mean something to go to a really, really good school. I think it means less today. I’m working with clients in organizations that are hiring, and it really doesn’t f—— matter to them where you went to college. You got your degree, and that’s enough.”
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Christopher Rim, the CEO of college consulting firm Command Education, told The Free Press that some students are giving up on going to elite schools entirely and are even interested in transferring to other institutions.
“One student we work with recently abandoned her yearslong dream of attending Columbia” due to antisemitism, Rim said. “We’ve also seen a number of Jewish students who are interested in transferring, especially from Columbia, Cornell, and Penn.”
HENDERSON COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — One person is dead after a late-night shooting at a park in Henderson County, authorities confirmed.
Deputies with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a shooting at Dana Park around 11:26 p.m. Monday, April 27. When they arrived, they found one victim who later died from their injuries.
Investigators said the shooting does not appear to be random, but there is no immediate threat to the public.
The case remains under active investigation as deputies work to determine what led up to the shooting. Officials said no additional information will be released at this time.
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OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Oklahoma lawyers will be providing free legal advice to the community to celebrate Law Day later this week.
The Oklahoma Bar Association says over 100 attorneys will be volunteering statewide for the event, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 1.
Most frequently asked questions are expected to be on topics of estate planning, landlord issues, bankruptcy, divorce, child custody, child visitation, Social Security, immigration, and small claims court.
To submit a question online, click here.
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You can also call during the event (405) 900-5299 or (918) 340-5297.
by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina’s “Republican” supermajority is plotting a massive – and massively expensive – expansion of government offices on the grounds of the S.C. State House.
The so-called capital complex expansion project – which is expected to take at least a decade to complete and consume potentially billions of dollars in public funds – is set to kick off via a $5 million appropriation in the proposed fiscal year 2026-2027 budget.
According to a budget amendment introduced last Thursday (April 23, 2026) by S.C. Senate president Thomas Alexander, this initial expense would go toward a “feasibility study” related to the construction of “up to two commercial buildings and associated facilities” on the grounds of the State House.
These two buildings “may include as tenants constitutional officers and state agencies,” per the text of Alexander’s amendment, although no specific offices or agencies were mentioned.
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The project – a collaborative effort of the S.C. Department of Administration (SCDOA) and the S.C. Retirement System Investment Commission (SCRSIC) – would be “considered an exercise of SCRSIC’s exclusive authority to invest and manage the retirement system’s assets,” per Alexander’s amendment.
In other words… lawmakers are borrowing against the state’s retirement fund to pay for this project.
“Any interest in any structure utilized to develop, construct and hold the asset would be treated as an asset of the retirement system group trust,” the amendment added, referring to the state’s $53.9 billion pension fund.
What could possibly go wrong, right?
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Guess we know now why “Republican” lawmakers approved one of the largest tax hikes in South Carolina history a decade ago… forcing Palmetto State taxpayers to subsidize a disproportionate share of this historically mismanaged fund.
“Republicans” also approved Alexander’s budget amendment – on a non-recorded voice vote.
According to our sources, the initial office building project is designed to address serious structural deficiencies at the Rembert C. Dennis building – a Brutalist structure which was built in 1952 for the state’s highway department and renovated in 1978 to match the aesthetic of several other new office buildings erected on the State House grounds.
Brutalism refers to a drab, post-World War II architectural style popularized in the former Soviet Union. It relied upon minimalist conceptualization, modernist design, monochrome structural facades, raw concrete slopes and sharp geometrical angles – all employed with the objective of expressing coldly efficient, egalitarian themes.
Fitting for the most left-of-center “Republican” government in America, right?
Brutalism has fallen out of favor in recent decades, however – mostly due to its links to socialist utopian ideology and its frequent depiction in depressing, dystopian films and television programs.
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Next to the Dennis building is the Marion Gressette building – another Brutalist structure which currently houses the offices of South Carolina’s forty-six state senators and their staff. Constructed in 1978, the building is undergoing a “multi-year renovation” that began last summer.
Two other Brutalist buildings constructed in the mid-1970s – the Solomon Blatt building and the Edgar Brown building – occupy the southern facade of the State House complex, which is comprised of four city blocks at the heart of downtown Columbia, S.C. The complex is framed by Gervais and Pendleton streets (to the north and south, respectively) and Sumter and Assembly streets (to the east and west, respectively).
The Blatt building currently houses the offices of the 124-member S.C. House of Representatives and their staff members, while the Brown building houses numerous state agencies including the S.C. Administrative Law Court (SCALC) and the office of S.C. secretary of state Mark Hammond.
According to our sources, lawmakers want to demolish the Dennis, Blatt, Brown and Gressette buildings – and replace them with “two new mega-structures” which would house select legislative and executive branch offices.
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In addition to these two “mega-structures,” office buildings for other state agencies would be included as part of the master plan – along with upgrades to the complex’s underground parking facility.
“No word on why these existing buildings, all constructed in the early 1970s (thus making them the newest buildings on the State House complex) are suddenly obsolete,” one source observed.
“But naming rights are up for grabs,” they added, hinting at one possible motivation for the project.
Given the reckless spending proclivities and rampant self-aggrandizement of South Carolina’s legislative branch of government, count on FITSNews to closely monitor this capitol complex expansion project as it begins taking shape – including this initial $5 million “feasibility” appropriation.
According to Alexander’s amendment, the study is being subsidized out of “excess debt service appropriations,” money which is typically routed toward paying down the state’s highest interest general obligation bonds. As the amendment was not part of the $42.6 billion spending plan passed by the S.C. House, it must be approved by that chamber prior to being sent to the desk of governor Henry McMaster for his review.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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