ROCK HILL, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) Winthrop University’s Board of Trustees meeting in regards to personnel issues and finances.
Winthrop University’s Board of Trustees looking ahead to the upcoming school year and the future of the campus reviewing furlough plans for the upcoming year and passing a resolution that affirms schools commitment to freedom of speech.
“What we’re doing today is and I think all the speakers are talking on some concerns we have with Winthrop,” says Representative Ralph Norman. “Particularly two professors who have made some comments about different subjects. One, about of you that a fellow professor had where his views were banned from the Winthrop site.”
State leaders and several members of the community coming to the public forum to voice their concerns about action taken by Winthrop’s Provost, Dr. Adrienne McCormick, against Dr. Mark Herring after what she said were his controversial comments referring to COVID-19 as the Wuhan virus.
“Academic liberty and freedom of thought is under assault at Winthrop by virtue of the fact that Winthrop both censored and censured Mark Herring for speaking out about the subject matter in which he is familiar,” says South Carolina Senator Wes Climer. “And I think the answer to speech that someone finds objectionable is not censor and censure the answer is more and better speech, the answer is to be, the answer is refining ideas through argument and debate.”
Winthrop’s board also approving a furlough plan for the 2020-21 school year. Aiming to maintain employees benefits and avoiding layoffs.
Winthrop University’s Vice President of Finance & Business Affairs, Justin Oates says, “We felt like given the COVID experience we’re having — and hopefully it’s going to be a short term experience and not a long-term experience –obviously we don’t know that yet the nation and globe is still waiting to see how the COVID-19 plays out long-term.”
Winthrop is planning to furlough employees anywhere from 2 to 20 days based on salary and leaders expect these measures to save the university 3-million dollars.
In the video above, CN2’s Rachel Richardson is speaking with Winthrop’s leaders about the university’s plans moving forward.
