S.C. State board member Pinson fourth trustee to resign in past year

Jonathan Pinson has resigned from South Carolina State University’s Board of Trustees, the fourth member to step down in less than a year.

University spokeswoman Ashley Elliott said Pinson announced Friday that he was leaving the board so he could spend more time with his family. Pinson previously served as the board’s chairman, but he stepped down from that position in February. He said at the time that he wanted to spend more time on his business, but he continued to serve as a trustee.

Walter Tobin, the current chairman of the board of the state’s only public historically black university, said two of the four board members who stepped down have been replaced. New to the board are Dennis Nielsen and Jackie Epps.

Two of the board’s 13 seats now remain open. Tobin wasn’t certain Wednesday when replacements would be selected.

Trustees Walter Johnson and Matthew Richardson resigned in April. In a joint resignation letter, they said they no longer believed the board could reform itself or effectively govern. The letter was written to Gov. Nikki Haley, S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell and John Courson, president pro-tem of the S.C. Senate.

Board member Lancelot Wright resigned in May.

The board members’ resignations came amid other severe problems at the Orangeburg university last year, including the firing of eight high-level employees; the resignation of the president; and an unspecified criminal investigation.

The nature and results of that investigation still have not been released.

Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491.