Rebellious Faculty Protest Selection

of Confederate Partisan as

President of the College of Charleston

Faculty Senate votes ‘no confidence’ in board

(based on materials from the The Post and Courier , The Root and other sources)  Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell has been chosen by the Board of Trustees as the next President of the College of Charleston.  Although the board  selected McConnell out of more than 100 applicants, the Faculty Senate unanimously voted “no confidence” in the process of his selection.

Student and faculty of the College , staff and community members have expressed outrage that the board, under Tea Party Governor Nikki Haley, selected an irredentist  supporter of the Confederacy.  McConnell fought to keep the symbol of the secession flying on Statehouse grounds, where it still flies in front of the State House at the capital in Columbia.

What sort of people choose to live in a state like this? I read one poll where 75% of people there approve of Scott, the Tea Party Uncle Tom that Jim Demint chose as SC’s show black in the Senate!

A Tea Party Patriot who plays a confederate general in Civil War re-enactments, McConnell has few if any academic credentials.   What he does have are political connections, having served 30 years in the state Senate, 11 of them as Senate leader. In 2012 Gov. Halley’s selected  Lt. Governor resigned after being indicted and McConnell, as President of the State Senate, succeeded to the office.  Apparently McConnell and Halley are not friendly so she has blocked the Confederate General’s candidacy to succeed her.  For Halley, McConnell’s presidency is a convenient solution to an inconvenient problem for the Governor who may be running as the Republican candidate for Vice President in 2016.  A consultant for McConnell says “I very seriously doubt GOP leaders would factor in Glenn McConnell when deciding the best running mate to help … take the White House.”

The newly minted academic defends his behavior, saying that  “We shouldn’t forget about the ills of slavery, the mistakes of the past,”  He dismisses people offended by his behavior as critics “who never met me, they’ve never worked with me, they don’t even know me.”  Seemingly he is unaware that too few people encountering a powerful politician dressed this way are likely to tell the Emperor that the clothes he is wearing are transparent.

The Senate voted that the board had undermined  the integrity of the presidential search process, choosing a political candidate rather than someone selected by the search committee.  This impression was reinforced because board members made statements to the Legislature against academic freedom,  “We have a responsibility to speak up,” said German professor Morgan Koerner.  Physics professor Jon Hakkila said , “the board is supposed to be on our side”

The board tapped South Carolina Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell as the college’s next president.  The announcement was followed by a week of protests, including a student walkout on campus Friday.

Donors to The College of Charleston Foundation have threatened to resign or not contribute to McConnell’s salary.