The following is a careful transcription of remarks made by Winthrop University Board of Trustees member Jane LaRoche in the Gold Room of the DiGiorgio Campus Center on Jan. 31 prior to the board voting to officially hire George Hynd as interim president of the university. It is worth mentioning that minor edits have been made to the transcript for clarity and to account for words that are unclear on the recording, all of which are noted. Furthermore, some parts of the recording are unclear due to repeated interruptions by Board of Trustees Chairman Glenn McCall and the ensuing crosstalk. The Johnsonian feels that it is important to archive these remarks and to make them available to those who wish to read a moving and impassioned statement of dissent regarding the hiring of Hynd in the wake of the announcement of Winthrop President Dan Mahony’s departure from the university. LaRoche was met with an extended round of applause following the conclusion of her remarks by many observers who were seated around the room.
“First off, this is not easy for me, and second of all, I want every board member to know how much you mean to me [crosstalk]. I care about each and every one of you, but I feel I have to speak with what I [unclear]. This is the third time I’ve said this: this is a huge mistake. I feel we’ve had a huge mistake losing our [unclear] president Dan Mahony. I think he did everything right. He did everything he came here to do. He set the strategic plan for 2025, and he met two of those in 2019. He loves Winthrop. He loves the people in the Rock Hill community. He loves the faculty, staff and adores the students. His wife adores the students and is very passionate about the students, particularly the students whose families have never had a chance. To accolade her, she started the Winthrop Women’s Coalition, [which] has brought great [unclear] to this community, this institution. Dan was not treated fairly, causing him to have to look elsewhere for a job, and you all know what I’m talking about. He didn’t want to leave. I think the students need to know he did not want to leave Winthrop. He adores them. I spoke with one of my friends of whom I have utmost respect. He served under six presidents, and he said Dan is the best one he’s served under by far. As for the contract, the contract lacks transparency, and it lacks fairness. This plan was not set into motion two weeks ago. It was set into motion over a year ago. My opinion started with the [unclear] not this past June, but also the June before that. [Mahony] doesn’t meet, he exceeds. He’s a ten. He is summa cum laude with honors. He’s not a diamond in the rough — he’s a diamond. He’s not the cat meow — he’s the lion’s roar in a quiet way. I have to accolade. You have to let me speak [in response to interruption by McCall]. You have to let me speak. The second lack of transparency was our faculty rep was not allowed in the meeting between the two graduations. He asked to be there. He said he would be very supportive to us and promised to let us know how the faculty felt, so not only did we cut off the faculty rep, we cut off the [unclear] of every faculty member. Imani [Belton, student body president] has a right to be here. They don’t have a vote but they sure deserve to be represented by our students and our faculty. [That] is what this university is all about. Third, this decision was not made by the full board. It was made by the executive board — all of them I adore, every one of them — but, it was not made by the full board, and I resent that. Jim Rex was one of the candidates, and he also meets the criteria to be president here. He was never given a chance to come to the university with the full board as Hynd was. He came before the full board and interviewed, and the other candidates were not. Jim Rex loves Winthrop and knows Winthrop. He would never let his political position hurt this university or take over his leadership. He’s trying to pull the Democratic and the Republican parties together so they can actually do something for this great nation of ours and keep us undivided, with liberty and justice for everyone. You have to let me speak [in response to McCall saying that LaRoche was speaking about ‘items’ that were discussed in ‘executive session’ which under ‘state law’ cannot be discussed publicly, according to McCall]. Well I need [crosstalk]. These items [crosstalk] that people outside know [crosstalk]. I would praise some of the people that — I fear this man is going to be a hatchet man. I feel that some of the wonderful vice presidents and deans of the school — [College of Business Administration Dean P.N.] Saksena is a pistol. The athletic director has brought up beautiful ideas [regarding Winthrop becoming] one of the first [universities with] esports, and he has found ways with [Executive Director of University Events] Neal Miller to rent out our coliseum and rent out our [Olde Stone House] and bring much money into Winthrop. Our enrollment person has a very thankless job, but he, along with Dan and his staff and committee members, actually got enrollment up at a time when the whole nation is done with enrollment, and we don’t have a football team — he still got it up. I want to talk about advancement. He’s come up with wonderful ideas [crosstalk] you’ve got to let me talk [in response to another interruption by McCall]. You’ve got to let me talk. I would like to let you know for these reasons I am going to vote no [crosstalk] other members have [unclear] sadness with the loss of our president will stand with me. I hope other board members will come across and stand with me. I would like Jim Rex to be our president. If he can’t be our president, I would like our provost [Adrienne McCormick] — who’s proven her leadership in just two years — to be our acting president [crosstalk] a proper search, take the proper amount of time to make this search fair, transparent and take the time we need to get the right president.”
Photo: Anna Sharpe/ The Johnsonian
