Senators join call to remove SC State’s leadership

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s most powerful legislator has joined a growing number of people who say the leadership of financially troubled South Carolina State University needs to go.

A proposal introduced Thursday by Senate President Pro Tem Hugh Leatherman would replace the school’s entire board with a temporary one appointed by him and other lawmakers. Co-sponsors include two senators who graduated from South Carolina’s only public historically black college.

The new board would decide whether to fire embattled President Thomas Elzey.

The proposal signals that senators are ready to take drastic action to make the university financially solvent.

The House Ways and Means Committee advanced a similar idea earlier this week. U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn and his wife also called for the leadership’s ousting in a letter provided to reporters.