USC reopens president search after campus backlash over former West Point leader
COLUMBIA — After outrage from students and faculty over the search for a new president, the University of South Carolina board of trustees decided against choosing any of their four finalists Friday and reopened the hunt for a new campus leader.
Dozens of protesters chanting, “We want answers,” came to USC’s Alumni Center in downtown Columbia where trustees deliberated for much of the afternoon after interviewing the finalists earlier Friday. Some faculty members talked about a walkout if the front runner, a former West Point superintendent, was picked.
After the decision was announced, the activists cheered outside the boardroom and chanted, “This is what democracy looks like.”
Protesters were upset that the favorite for the job, retired Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, lacked the experience and personal skills to lead a flagship state university. This came after the school failed to name a female among the presidential finalists.
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