COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Lawmakers are weighing whether to vote out the only 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 Wednesday 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.
Professor Richard Chait of Harvard’s Graduate School of Education says the lack of minorities leading the state’s flagship university could affect its ability to recruit black graduate students and faculty.
