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Coots: chaos, mayhem, upheaval is relentless with them...LOL
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Coots: chaos, mayhem, upheaval is relentless with them...LOL


Jul 11, 2019, 11:12 AM

https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/usc-campus-torn-again-over-president-search-as-board-vote/article_8a0d4c04-a334-11e9-bcc6-43145294455b.html


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Re: Coots: chaos, mayhem, upheaval is relentless with them...LOL


Jul 11, 2019, 12:22 PM

so the P&C closed the link. Wonder why? Wonder if the Coots fan base is skeered a West Point man might bring some order to that dumpster fire.

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Here's the article . . .


Jul 11, 2019, 12:44 PM

COLUMBIA — Many University of South Carolina students, faculty and alumni are upset again that the state’s largest college wants to hire a former West Point leader who they think is unqualified as its new president.

Trustees are expected to elect retired three-star Army Gen. Robert Caslen as the school’s president at a special meeting Friday, just two months after the board passed over the general and three other finalists and decided to reopen the search.

USC’s Faculty Senate is holding an emergency meeting Thursday where professors could condemn the board for scheduling a vote after Gov. Henry McMaster lobbied all of the trustees to reconsider Caslen. On Wednesday evening, students gathered for a campus forum complained about the vote taking place during the sparsely populated summer semester.


“It’s just unrealistic to think that this could ever fly with our university and that the students are going to have any support whatsoever of what goes on,” USC student Natalie Grube, 20, told a crowd of more than 60 students. “And I feel if we waited and did this the right way ... it may not be as hard a transition.”

Ken Baldwin, a retired journalist and media executive who has contributed more than $2 million to USC, said he might not give any more money to his alma mater if trustees hire Caslen, who lacks a traditional higher education background.

“He might be out of box, but he’s not out of the right box,” Baldwin said. “They’re trying to railroad the guy through. This makes no sense.”

This spring, campus factions were angered at first when USC’s presidential search committee failed to name a female finalist. But their ire turned to Caslen, the favorite as the only college president among finalists, because he does not have a doctorate degree and research background usually associated with major college presidents.

Foes raged against Caslen for comments he made during a public forum that they felt blamed binge drinking for sexual assault and suggested he did not know how a large public university works. Some on campus also did not like that he was a combat veteran who authored a major plan for the war on terror and was a finalist to become President Donald Trump’s national security adviser.

Public comments submitted about Caslen were overwhelmingly negative compared with the other finalists.

“The comments showed he didn’t connect with the campus communities,” said Mark Cooper, chair-elect of the USC Faculty Senate. “If he comes here, he is going to have to spend some time learning what kind of this place this is.”

University of South Carolina sophomore Riley Lankes said during a forum Wednesday that he believes students do not have enough access to the presidential search process.

Caslen, now working at the University of Central Florida, has support at the Statehouse where the USC president must work with lawmakers to win millions in funding. During his five years in charge of the U.S. Military Academy, Caslen launched a $425 million fundraising campaign and won $2 billion in new construction and repairs from Congress.

State Sen. Greg Gregory, a Lancaster Republican who sat on the USC board, said McMaster as the de facto chairman of the school’s board is within his authority to lobby for Caslen. Gregory expects Caslen would stay about five years to help raise money and control expenses, including debt that has doubled in a decade to $500 million with a massive construction spree.

“The general is the type of leaders the university needs,” Gregory said. “We need someone to come in and make tough decisions that will right the ship. The academics and deans aren’t going to, and the board is going to want to do it.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, considered the state’s most powerful lawmaker, said Caslen should get a chance to succeed like former Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell, who completed a successful stint leading the College of Charleston despite having no prior higher education experience. Caslen’s 43-year military career is an asset, including an ability to win federal contracts, the Florence Republican said.

“He’s been in tough positions and made tough decisions that I’m not sure you learn by getting a doctoral degree,” Leatherman said.

McMaster’s office did not have any comment Wednesday, and Caslen and USC board Chairman John von Lehe did not return calls.

The board reopened the search in April because of a contentious debate over Caslen, who drew protesters to the trustees meeting, several sources have told The Post and Courier. A slim majority of the board backed the general at the time, but trustees have preferred a unanimous vote in a show of support for a new president. No new search began while Caslen supporters worked to get him up for a vote.

Caslen is not expected be a unanimous choice on Friday.

Charles Williams, a trustee from Orangeburg, said he opposes Caslen because he lacks the qualifications and experience to run a large flagship state college. And he thinks McMaster, who could preside over the meeting Friday as allowed by state law, crossed a line.

“If this is not political influence, I don’t know what is,” Williams said.

Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin was among capital-area politicians who asked trustees to call off the Friday meeting and continue the search. He worried that the governor’s lobbying could hurt USC’s accreditation, which forbids political involvement in school management.

“An illegitimate process will only yield illegitimate results,” said Benjamin, a former USC student government president. “This cloud of haste and lack of transparency does disservice to everyone.”?

Several petitions are circulating online to protest McMaster’s involvement in the search and the board’s quick vote.

“Permitting the Board of Trustees to select a president without the input and sentiments of most of the students, faculty or staff is a move that would set the tone for that president’s tenure and the university’s overall approach,” reads a petition signed by dozens of graduates, including former student government President Taylor Wright, who served on the presidential search committee.

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Re: Coots: chaos, mayhem, upheaval is relentless with them...LOL


Jul 11, 2019, 12:51 PM

They are upset with this candidate because he said binge drinking leads to an increase in campus rapes, which is not only true of that crime but all crimes. At the end of the day when you are drunk you are much more likely to do stupid things. I guess they are looking for a candidate that is pro-binge drinking.

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Re: Coots: chaos, mayhem, upheaval is relentless with them...LOL


Jul 11, 2019, 12:53 PM

Hope they offer him the job....and then he declines.

I would have pulled my name from the hat long ago if I was him. They have treated him poorly. Why would you want to work at a place where a number of folks have vocally said they don't want you there? He certainly has other options.

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Re: Coots: chaos, mayhem, upheaval is relentless with them...LOL***


Jul 11, 2019, 2:02 PM



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Re: Coots: chaos, mayhem, upheaval is relentless with them...LOL


Jul 11, 2019, 2:06 PM [ in reply to Re: Coots: chaos, mayhem, upheaval is relentless with them...LOL ]

His best option is to stay in central Florida instead of leaving for central South Carolina.

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Re: Coots: chaos, mayhem, upheaval is relentless with them...LOL


Jul 11, 2019, 1:46 PM

I am a PhD and I don't buy the non-PhD part as I will point to President James Barker for that example. However, a terminal degree *should* be preferred. I am not following close enough to know about the qualifications. Has he been a provost?

However, not getting into cootlandia might be the best thing for him.

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Re: Coots: chaos, mayhem, upheaval is relentless with them...LOL


Jul 11, 2019, 1:55 PM

I'm surprised of the push back. Typically their glad to get a 3 star.

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From the Cooterville Gazette...Coots Getting Railroaded LOL


Jul 11, 2019, 2:10 PM

COLUMBIA — The University of the South Carolina board plans to vote for a new president at a meeting Friday that a trustee says violates state law.
Trustees are supposed to receive notice of the special meetings at least five days in advance. USC board member Charles Williams told The Post and Courier that he and other trustees received an email notice about the meeting Tuesday, just three days ahead of time.
Gov. Henry McMaster, who is the board’s chairman under state law, is expected to preside over the meeting Friday where trustees plan to approve retired Army Gen. Robert Caslen as USC’s new president.

“If (McMaster) goes ahead with the meeting, he would be breaking the law,” said Williams, an Orangeburg attorney.
Caslen’s hiring will be “null and void” if it wins board approval Friday, Williams said.
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said he called McMaster on Thursday to cancel the meeting because of the short notice given trustees.

Benjamin said the governor told him that meeting will still go on as planned at 10 a.m. Friday.
“By any clear reading of the law, this is an improperly called meeting,” said Benjamin, a graduate of USC’s law school. “This is highly disappointing.”

The governor’s office and USC did not have immediate responses Thursday.
McMaster’s involvement in the board meeting already has sent red flags to USC’s accreditor, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which bans political influence in school management.
The former West Point superintendent’s candidacy has torn the Columbia campus.
The USC Faculty Senate is holding an emergency meeting Thursday where it is expected to condemn the hastily called vote. Protests are planned at the board meeting Friday.

Caslen, 65, has been criticized for his lack of higher education experience, especially not having a doctorate degree, as well as comments that were taken to blame binge drinking for sexual assault. He also has ties to President Donald Trump, who considered naming Caslen as national security adviser.

Caslen and three other presidential finalists were passed over in April when the USC board voted to reopen the search during a meeting that drew dozens of protesters. Trustees appointed USC Upstate chancellor Brendan Kelley as interim president with Harris Pastides set to leave at the end of July.

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