USC trustees select Army general new president

COLUMBIA — University of South Carolina trustees have voted to hire a retired Army general as the school's president despite complaints from students, professors and donors.

The Board of Trustees voted 11-8 to hire Robert Caslen as president and pay him $600,000.

Several dozen protesters outside the boardroom shouted "Shame!" as Friday's board meeting ended.

Caslen was one of four finalists at the board's April meeting, but trustees decided to keep searching. Three months later, trustees called Friday's meeting and only considered the former West Point superintendent.

Professors said Caslen wasn't qualified because he didn't have a doctoral degree. Students say he didn't know enough about the school. Two of the university's biggest donors said the search was too political.

Caslen's supporters say his military experience will help the university move forward.

Earlier this month, Gov. Henry McMaster started calling trustees saying they owed Caslen a vote. Before trustees ordered the public out of their board room for the closed meeting, Chairman John von Lehe said the former superintendent at West Point had another job offer and they had to act now if they wanted him. He did not give specifics.

The sudden reopening of the search without finding new candidates has divided the campus. Student government, professors and even the school's top donor billionaire businesswoman Darla Moore all asked trustees to cancel Friday's vote.

Students silently protested outside the board room, many with signs suggesting McMaster's actions could threaten the university's accreditation.

Both the Student Government president and Faculty Senate Chairman spoke to trustees before the closed-door meeting, saying their groups would lose trust in the Board of Trustees if they went ahead and hired Caslen.

Professors said Caslen lacks qualifications, like a doctoral degree or research university experience, and the Faculty Senate unanimously approved a no confidence vote on Caslen last week. Students said Caslen did poorly when he visited Columbia to answer questions at a forum and interview for the job.

"This is not mob rule, but a normal part of an open search process," Faculty Senate Chairman Marco Valorta said.

Valorta was answering Republican lawmakers who criticized trustees, saying they let student and faculty protests influence their vote in the spring and calling the protesters "snowflakes." Caslen's supporters said he can provide a conservative influence to the university.

Valorta also asked trustees to take complaints about diversity seriously, saying the overwhelmingly majority white and male board needed to be careful they don't fall into the trap that "strong leaders must look like themselves."

Two weeks of protests and increasingly angry complaints over the search had a surprise ending Thursday when billionaire businesswoman Darla Moore sent a letter to von Lehe asking trustees to not vote. Moore is the school's biggest donor.

"Not one constituency of the university is in favor of the current process including the donors who are the lifeblood of the university's future," Moore wrote. "The process should be started over to find a qualified candidate without the current controversy. To do otherwise is to do irremediable damage to the university."