‘I think the students need to know: he did not want to leave Winthrop’

George Hynd has been confirmed as Winthrop University’s interim president by the school’s Board of Trustees with only one opposing vote. 

Prior to voting Hynd in as interim president, the board returned from executive session to vote on what Board of Trustees Chairman Glenn McCall said was “a resolution authorizing the sale of a property located on Cherry Road [in] Rock Hill, South Carolina known as the Coke Building by Winthrop University to Lancaster Land LLC.”

McCall requested to suspend the reading of the resolution and to take a vote on the sale which the board voted unanimously in favor of the sale.

Before the vote on Hynd’s hiring was taken, board member Jane LaRoche addressed the room and said the decision to make Hynd the interim president is a “huge mistake.” She said Winthrop President Dan Mahony had not been treated “fairly” which led to him seeking employment elsewhere. 

“[Mahony] loves Winthrop…he loves the faculty, staff and adores the students,” LaRoche said, adding that “he didn’t want to leave. I think the students need to know: he did not want to leave Winthrop. He adores them.”

LaRoche went on to say that she would prefer to see former Winthrop Dean of Education and former South Carolina Superintendent of Education Jim Rex be named as the university’s interim president and if not Rex then Winthrop Provost Adrienne McCormick, citing McCormick having “proven her leadership in just two years.”

Adolphus Belk Jr. is a professor in Winthrop’s political science department, the chair of the Faculty Conference and faculty representative to the Board of Trustees. In an interview with The Johnsonian following the conclusion of the meeting, Belk said given the meeting running longer than anticipated, there was “likely some spirited discussion” taking place.

“I think about the importance of dissent in a democratic society. Even when decisions are made by legislative bodies that reflect the will of the majority, the minority sometimes does not agree with those decisions and has the right to express those concerns,” Belk said.

Belk added that “the idea of having a dissenting opinion is something that is worth defending because there have been times where history has demonstrated that the dissenters raised really important, critical points that ought to have been considered. [LaRoche] gave an impassioned defense of a president that has enjoyed the support of the faculty and staff and was very popular with students.”

Shortly after the meeting, a press conference/formal announcement on the approval of Hynd as interim president was held in Dina’s Place. Hynd said that he appreciated the “opportunity to be [at Winthrop] as the interim president” and that he has been watching “from afar” what has been taking place at the university since 2010 which was when he moved to South Carolina to work for the College of Charleston.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to kind of continue the great things that I think President Mahony has accomplished,” Hynd said. “The Winthrop Plan has all the right elements that I can see, looking at the university. It’s a wonderful plan that engaged the community, it engaged the students, it engaged the faculty, it engaged basically everybody on campus and off-campus.”

Hynd said that he had “accomplishments” that he would like to make, one of which he said is to “make sure the initiatives that are currently underway do not lose momentum.”

Following the initial announcement as interim president, there were concerns on campus regarding tuition rates after several articles circulated among students, one of which detailed how Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan (where Hynd served as president) had raised tuition rates by 8.48 percent in 2015. The Detroit Free Press reported that a tuition hike of that size violated Michigan’s “state-imposed tuition cap” of 3.2 percent. 

The Johnsonian raised these concerns to Hynd during the press conference and he said that he had no plans of raising tuition at Winthrop. He elaborated on the tuition increase at Oakland University and defended the decision, laying out reasons as to why the increase was implemented. He said that in Michigan, every institution of higher education is a “ship in its own bottle.” He said that each institution has its own board of trustees and that there is “absolutely no state oversight.” He went on to say that any college or university in Michigan can “do whatever they want” in regards to raising or lowering tuition rates. 

He said that the tuition at Oakland University was “all-in” which meant that it did not charge the students fees, unlike the University of Michigan, for example. “The fact of the matter is, Oakland University had the second-to-lowest tuition in the entire state so yes, I did recommend to the board of trustees that we raise our tuition [8.5 percent] to generate essentially $12 million more a year,” Hynd said, adding that the money generated by the increase tuition “allowed” the school to begin the process of building a new residence hall as well as renovating the student center and putting money into scholarships.

“I look at that as one of our major accomplishments,” Hynd said.

Hynd said at the end of the press conference that he had interviewed for the position of Winthrop’s president in 2012 although he “withdrew from consideration” for the job, citing the timing not being right for his family. He said that he had a “good opportunity” to meet with the Board of Trustees and that he “really, really enjoyed that opportunity.”

After the press conference, Winthrop student body President Imani Belton told The Johnsonian that she was “not surprised” about the events that transpired during the board meeting following the end of the executive session.

“This has been a process that has been very exclusive of key Winthrop figures — the student representative, the faculty representative — and to know that it was not a full board decision, that was very disappointing to find out,” Belton said.

Despite the changes in leadership, Belk said that there is still work to continue at the university regardless of who is president.

“President Mahony is on his way out. Dr. Hynd is on his way in. For those of us that remain, we still have work to do to make Winthrop the best possible place that it can be for all the constituencies that it serves,” Belk said.

Photos: Anna Sharpe/ The Johnsonian