‘This is a huge mistake.’ Winthrop board member votes ‘no’ for interim president
Winthrop University has a new interim president. However, the board of trustees’ vote was not unanimous -- and one member made her disagreement clear.
The Winthrop board of trustees voted Friday to name George W. Hynd the interim president. That comes after current President Dan Mahony’s resignation last year. Hynd will serve from March 1, 2020 to June 30, 2022.
Jane LaRoche, elected to the board by the Winthrop Alumni Association, was the sole vote against approving Hynd. Twelve board members voted Friday, three were absent.
“This is a huge mistake. I feel we had a huge mistake losing our beloved president Dan Mahony,” she said during the board meeting. “I think he did everything right. He did everything he came here to do.”
LaRoche said she had said something similar to board members before Friday’s meeting.
LaRoche pointed to Mahony’s success in already meeting some of Winthrop’s goals as far in the future as 2025.
“Dan was not treated fairly, causing him to have to look elsewhere for a job. And you all know what I’m talking about,” LaRoche told the board.
Mahony, who has led Winthrop since 2015, has accepted the role of president in the Southern Illinois University System, which serves more than 28,000 students on multiple campuses throughout the state. He starts his new role on March 1, 2020.
Winthrop currently has about 5,864 students.
“I think the students need to know, (Mahony) did not want to leave Winthrop,” LaRoche said Friday.
“He loves Winthrop, he loves the Rock Hill community,” she said. “He loves the faculty and staff and he adores the students.”
In an interview with The Herald in late December, Mahony alluded to the fact that he still had plans for the state-supported university in Rock Hill, S.C.
“I don’t know if I was necessarily completely done but sometimes things turn out the way they turn out,” he said then.
LaRoche spoke emotionally, with occasional pauses, as she made her statement Friday.
“This is not easy for me,” she told the board. “I care about each and every one of you.”
LaRoche said Mahony received lower grades on his evaluations than she believes he deserved.
On June 22, 2017, the board of trustees conducted an annual evaluation of Mahony’s performance for the 2016-’17 school year and gave him a rating of ‘exceeds expectations,’ according to the resolution posted on Winthrop’s website. On June 23, 2017, the Winthrop board of trustees extended Mahony’s contract to June 30, 2019.
In June 2018, the board rated Mahony’s performance during the 2017-’18 school year as ‘meets expectations,’ according to a Winthrop board resolution. Mahony also received a ‘meets expectations’ on his evaluation in June 2019 for the 2018-’19 school year, according to the board meeting minutes.
“He doesn’t meet, he exceeds exceed,” LaRoche said Friday.
Winthrop board chair Glenn McCall told LaRoche Friday that she was speaking publicly about items that were discussed in executive session. He said it is against state law for her to do so.
Faculty at Friday’s meeting applauded LaRoche when she was finished speaking. Several people also came up and thanked her for speaking out.
Adolphus Belk, faculty representative on the board, said actions like LaRoche’s must be respected.
“There is a place for dissent in our democracy ... in our institutions,” Belk said. “Dissenters often raise issues about processes and practices that we must take seriously if we’re going to be fair and just.”
“We know for a fact that Dr. LaRoche loves Winthrop and always has. Many of us can love Winthrop, honor Winthrop but still have very different ideas about what ought to be done to advance the institution,” Belk said.
Faculty had questioned Mahony’s status before his resignation was announced.
Mahony mentioned during a Nov. 22 faculty conference that he was in his final year of his current contract, according to an e-mail Belk sent to the board of trustees on Dec. 2, 2019. Belk provided a copy of the e-mail to The Herald.
Belk said in the Dec. 2 e-mail: “The faculty conference held its last meeting on Friday, November 22. At that meeting, following a brief presentation from president Dan Mahony, a longtime faculty member inquired about the president’s status at Winthrop. At that time, president Mahony informed us that he is in the final year of his contract. Thus, I am sending this message to follow up on the resultant concerns expressed by the faculty pertaining to the status of an effective and well-respected president.”
Belk said in the e-mail that faculty wanted to know if Mahony would be staying at Winthrop.
Belk cited Mahony’s successes in meeting several goals laid out in Winthrop’s strategic plan, including increasing the six-year graduation rate and increasing diversity among faculty and staff. Belk also referenced Winthrop’s best overall ranking on the U.S. News and World Report. Belk also highlighted Mahony’s continued work on increasing student enrollment.
Mahony’s resignation was announced the following day.
“We’re certainly sad to see (Mahony) go,” Belk said Friday. “We think he accomplished good things here, guiding Winthrop through a difficult time following a short presidency and the difficulty of the great recession in 2008-2009.”
Belk said Winthrop’s faculty and staff will continue to focus on the future.
“We know no one stays forever. There were certainly some concerns about the circumstances of his departure but we are where we are,” Belk said. “Those of us on the faculty want to see Winthrop be the best possible place it can be to serve all the constituencies with which it is associated.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 5:16 PM.
