Faculty,students, and USC alumni voice concerns about presidential search

COLUMBIA,SC (WOLO)- Faculty at the University of South Carolina are fighting to stop a potential vote on Friday for the next university President.

A Gamecocks for Integrity rally was held on Wednesday in hopes to prevent the board of trustees meeting from meeting.

“We view this as a crisis on the edge, and we want to prevent it from being a crisis,” Bethany Bell, a professor at USC said.

Some faculty, students, and community leaders say they’re fed up with the way the board of trustees is going about finding a new university president.

“We’re here because of the embarrassment that has come out of the search process,” Bell said.

Bell help create Gamecocks 4 Integrity, which is new movement aimed to give students and staff a voice.

“We have to have student voices that have a vote on the board of trustees,” attorney Bakari Sellers said.

“‘Our faculty and staff deserve better than this,” USC grad, Jennifer Clyburn Reid said.

Today the group hosted a rally with a clear message, cancel Fridays vote.

“If they make a huge mistake on Friday and chose to go forward illegally and improperly, we’re going to keep fighting right along side each and every one of you,” Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said.

If the board does vote, it could have an impact on the university’s accreditation.

“If we were to get sanctioned, we could lose federal funding, students couldn’t get financial aid, we could be kicked out the NCAA,” Bell said.

“It’s a nightmare for a lot of students right now,” USC student, Alexander Kroll said.

If the board decides to go through with the vote on Friday, Gamecocks 4 Integrity says they plan on holding walkouts and protest when the school year starts.