Sen. John Drummond
Drummond Center Part Of Erskine's Gold Campaign
The Drummond Center for Statesmanship started as a concept and began taking shape with the inaugural meeting in 2001 of its founding board of 35 business and political leaders, six of them former governors. Dr. Jay West, vice president for institutional relations at Erskine College and executive director of the Drummond Center, now looks toward realizing the dream of a Drummond Center facility on the Erskine campus.
The eight-tiered $35.3 million “Gold Campaign,” through which Erskine hopes to raise money for endowed professorships, a campus master plan, scholarships and athletics, as well as facility improvements for the Erskine Building, Memorial Hall and the Seminary, also includes a campus facility for the Drummond Center.
The goal of the Drummond Center is to perpetuate statesmanship in South Carolina, while providing new professorships and a new political science major at Erskine. The center seeks to promote civil discourse in a non-partisan spirit for the betterment of South Carolina.
West said the idea for the center had its beginning during a Washington lunch with state Sen. John Drummond, D-Ninety Six, and U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond.
West was in Washington with Drummond working on another project and as they walked in to have lunch with Thurmond, the long-time senator said of Drummond, “There’s the other statesman from South Carolina.”
As West reflected on Drummond’s history, his bipartisanship and statesmanship, an idea was born. “From there, it’s taken off,” he said.
The Drummond Center is projected to receive $3.5 million from Gold Campaign proceeds for a facility and is one of several construction/renovations/campus improvements expected to be funded through the campaign. Program support for the center from the campaign is estimated at $1 million.
“I think we’ll have (the center) in the next three to four years,” West said.
He said solidifying the center’s programs is the first priority. “Republicans and Democrats are working together to offer deliberative forums on what’s best for South Carolina,” West said, noting that these efforts can help temper radical partisanship among state legislators.
“I’m a big believer in the process,” West said. “Government is not the enemy. We’ve downplayed the significance of government and used it as a whipping boy.”
Several programs have already been established by the Drummond Center. One is the Drummond Award, given this year to businessman Roger Milliken during a banquet in Columbia that featured “Meet the Press” moderator Tim Russert.
Next year’s award banquet will feature U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and will be in Columbia in February.
Another Drummond Center program is an orientation session for new legislators, in which a panel makes a presentation on the definition of statesmanship and how it plays out in the General Assembly. The panel also provides an example of how deliberation is conducted in a civil way, West said.
The Drummond Center is sponsoring a Public Policy Institute and National Issues Forum Thursday and Friday on the Erskine campus, with topics to include "Pathways to Prosperity: Choosing a Future for Your Community"; "Health Care"; and "Americans' Role in the World."
West said a “whole myriad of people” from the fields of education, chambers of commerce and development will participate in the conference.
The Drummond Center will benefit the college in a number of ways, West said.
He said the project gives Erskine visibility statewide while at the same time providing an instrument for the college to contribute to the state’s future.
West also said the Drummond Center’s programs and the political science major that will result will draw people to Erskine who might not have been attracted to the college otherwise.
