Retired Major General Clifford Stanley has been engaged in informal discussions with South Carolina State University trustees about becoming the university's 10th president.
While declining to directly comment on the situation, Stanley said Friday through his secretary Susan Ponwith that no formal discussions have taken place between him and the board.
"They've been very informal," Ponwith said of the talks.
SCSU Board Chairman Maurice Washington said it is hard to say if any board members have approached Stanley about the position. Washington said he has not contacted Stanley himself, but stated Stanley is the kind of candidate that SCSU would like to attract.
"I would love to have him interested," Washington said.
The retired Marine Corps general is a 1969 graduate of S.C. State College and holds a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University. He is president of Scholarship America, a Minnesota-based company that helps prospective college students receive financial aid and support.
He was among the finalists for the president's position at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette in December, although someone else was ultimately selected. Stanley previously served as executive vice president at the University of Pennsylvania.
Stanley serves as vice chairman of the SCSU Foundation Board of Directors.
Earlier this week, SCSU trustees selected 15 people to serve on the university's presidential search committee. Trustees removed former president Dr. Andrew Hugine last month, placing him on administrative leave until his last day, which was Friday.
SCSU trustee Charles Williams said Washington mentioned Stanley as possible candidate some time before trustees decided not to renew Hugine's contract.
State Rep. Jerry Govan, an SCSU alumnus, said he and other lawmakers first heard rumors back in August that Stanley was going to be SCSU's next president.
Washington said that he and trustee Col. John Bowden, who resigned from the SCSU board Friday to protest Hugine's removal, had a conversation about Stanley in the presence of Williams late last year. Washington said Bowden expressed admiration for Stanley during the conversation, but there was no discussion of making Stanley SCSU's next president.
Washington said he met Stanley once a year ago and even seemed to have trouble recalling the general's name during a phone interview Friday, accidently referring to Stanley once as "Charles Austin," the Columbia city manager. He said that he saw Stanley at the national alumni convention in Orangeburg last year, but did not get a chance to speak to him.
Washington said trustees' conversations with Stanley do not circumvent the presidential search process.
Meanwhile, Williams questioned why the university is spending money on a national search firm when trustees are already talking to Stanley.
"I imagine Stanley's already got the job," said Williams, who also plans to resign from the board once the General Assembly convenes next week. Williams was one of three trustees who voted against the decision not to renew Hugine's contract and has indicated strong support for the former president several times.
In addition to the 15-member presidential search committee, the board tapped the Washington D.C. firm Academic Search to assist in the presidential selection process.
Washington said the firm will use several avenues to gather a pool of applicants, including seeking recommendations from the search committee and trustees. He said it is trustees' obligation to assist in identifying qualified candidates and therefore it is not inappropriate to contact possible candidates.
State Sen. John Matthews, also an alumnus, disagreed, saying that such an action would be inappropriate.
State Rep. Leon Howard, named to the SCSU presidential search committee earlier this week, does not believe such discussions are inappropriate unless the board convened officially on the matter.
Howard recalled a personal experience when he served as chairman of the Richland School District 1 board. He said when the district was looking for a new superintendent, people called him and suggested potential candidates.
Washington said that Stanley was suggested as a possible interim president to the board by a group called the Wrighten Law Society. That group advocates the return of a law school to SCSU's campus.
T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached by e-mail at ltant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-534-1060. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.