Former Univ. of S. Carolina president regrets taking job

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) —

Former University of South Carolina President Bob Caslen who resigned after less than two years in the wake of a plagiarism and misidentification controversy during a commencement speech called taking the job the biggest regret of his life in a newspaper interview.

As his problems grew in May, Caslen wrote in an email to a university vice president that he admired his perseverance staying at the university and in the state so long, according to emails obtained by the Post and Courier newspaper through a public records request.

“I can’t help but comment on this community and its hostility. By far the most hostile and destructive community I’ve ever been a part of. Not sure how anyone can stand being here," Caslen wrote.

The newspaper reviewed nearly 3,800 pages of Caslen's email and in an interview Thursday, the retired Army general who was superintendent of West Point and served nearly 43 years in the military told the paper he still felt that way nearly five months later.

“You have a good description of what I felt and what my wife felt,” Caslen said. “If I were a member of the South Carolina community, I would ask myself, ‘Why does a guy like him who’s been in all these different communities throughout his entire life, feel this way about our community?’

Trustees hired Caslen in July 2019 after a contentious search that initially saw him rejected with three other finalists and the board unanimously vote to reopen the president search, Critics said Caslen was inexperienced in running a large public university and knew nothing about the school.

Gov. Henry McMaster, an ex officio trustee, stepped in and asked board members to hire Caslen, even as the school's top two living donors asked for a ‘no’ vote because the process had become too...