Tisdale Works to Keep Claflin University at the Top

Claflin University President, Dr. Henry N. Tisdale.When Dr. Henry N. Tisdale got the call two decades ago asking him to interview for the top job at his alma mater, Cla­flin University, he had already established his bona fides as a skilled administrator with a track record of getting things accomplished.

“One of the things I told the board when I interviewed for the position [was], ‘If you bring me back, please know [that] I will be about change,’” says Tisdale, who graduated from South Carolina’s oldest historically Black college and university in 1965 with a degree in mathematics. “I told them that I was not returning to maintain the status quo, but that I will be about change.”

Tisdale took the position in 1994 and quickly embarked on an ambitious undertaking to transform Cla­flin into a premier liberal arts institution in the Southeastern region of the United States.

But the same board that offered him the position was initially skeptical when Tisdale presented its members with his vision after his first year on the job. Tisdale’s plan for his beloved Cla­flin called for the need to raise academic standards, refurbish the campus and ensure that all of its programs were nationally accredited, while actively competing against other institutions across South Carolina—and indeed the nation—for the best of the best.

“That vision at that moment was surprising to some,” says Tisdale, as he sits at the head of a conference table in his office decorated with accolades.

“Honestly, there were some board members who questioned whether that vision might be too elitist and raised the question, ‘Are we trying to become elitist? What’s wrong with being good? Can we embarrass ourselves by being this out there? Do we have to reach so high?’”

When the back and forth ended, Tisdale had won the solid support of his board members, who embraced his new vision and committed themselves to working to transform Cla­flin into an HBCU success story.