COLUMBIA, S.C. – As legislators weigh whether to vote out the lone minority trustee at the University of South Carolina, an Associated Press analysis shows the school’s governing board is already less diverse than others in the Southeastern Conference.
Trustee Leah Moody, who is Black, was temporarily appointed to one of 17 voting posts when another Black trustee resigned. She is up for election to a partial term today and wants a full four-year term in 2012, but a lawmaker from her region is backing another candidate and supporters don’t think Moody has enough votes to win.
The lack of minorities leading the state’s flagship university could affect its ability to recruit black graduate students and faculty, notes Richard Chait, a research professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. Nearly 30 percent of the state’s population and 16 percent of the University of South Carolina student body is Black.
Some students also said a defeat for Moody would be cause for concern. Jeremy Stroud, 35, a history major who is White, said diversity on the board shouldn’t be left to a natural process.
“The status quo gets you what you have now,” he said. “You get more lily-whiteness.”
But Ken Baxter Jr., a Black 34-year-old political science major, said Moody should be re-elected because of her experience, not her race, and said he was worried about forcing the issue.
“The more we force things, the more separate we’ll always become,” he said.
