S.C. State president support falters

Orangeburg -- South Carolina State University's Faculty Senate has given President George Cooper and his administration a vote of "no confidence."

The group voted 19-3 with one abstention on its stance on the matter at a meeting Thursday. Faculty Senate members are elected by their respective departments.

Thomas Cassidy, an English professor and vice president of the Faculty Senate, sent a document containing the reasons for the vote to members of the university's board of trustees on Thursday evening.

The Faculty Senate outlined what it thinks are Cooper's shortcomings. They include his failure to:

--Provide and implement a compelling vision for the university.

--Adhere to shared governance by refusing to communicate with the elected representatives of the faculty.

--Uphold policy and to properly oversee the financial status, including the cash flow, of the university, as found by the outside financial consulting firm Elliott Davis.

The document also states that Cooper has "ignored public scrutiny regarding the University's financial status and has provided no answers or embarrassing answers to the public particularly, regarding the James E. Clyburn Transportation Center."

The document includes a closing appeal from the Faculty Senate that the no-confidence vote "warrants immediate attention and action."

Columbia attorney Donald Gist, who said he is Cooper's personal attorney and does not represent the university, said, "Dr. Cooper takes the position that the Faculty Senate does not reflect the full faculty at South

Carolina State University."

Cooper has had discussions with some deans and faculty members who told him they had no input in the vote, Gist said.

The Faculty Senate is a small group of employees who have grievances, and some of them have threatened lawsuits against the university, Gist said.

It's a "dissatisfied group that has an agenda against the university administration," he said. And its role is advisory. "It's not a governing body."

Jonathan Pinson, chairman of the university's board of trustees, in a prepared statement Friday said, "The majority of the Board of Trustees' members do not feel that the action is representative of the entire faculty and supports the president and his administration. Thus, the majority of the Board of Trustees' members continue to express confidence in the president and his administration."

This is not the first time the university's Faculty Senate weighed in on Cooper's leadership. The university's board in June voted not to renew Cooper's contract, effectively firing him. The Faculty Senate released a position statement supporting the board's actions.

But only two weeks after letting Cooper go, the terms of two board members expired and two new members took their places. The newly configured board rehired Cooper.

Board member Maurice Washington, who was among the members who voted in June not to extend Cooper's contract, said, "I have not heard from the chairman on this matter and the board has not met. But if nearly half the board and the faculty are concerned about the president's performance, I think serious dialogue should take place between the board, the president and the leadership of the Faculty Senate."

Willie Legette, a political science professor and member of the Faculty Senate, said, "People were at the point where something needed to be done. We want to prevent it from getting any worse."

Legette, also president of S.C. State's chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said that some members of the faculty have been dissatisfied with Cooper's leadership since the fall of 2009. But the Faculty Senate chose not to take immediate action because it wanted to give Cooper more time. It also didn't want to take a public no-confidence vote if most members of the faculty didn't support such an action, he said.

"We know it's a big step," Legette said.