Letter of Support and Confidence for President Alex Conyers

To the Board of Trustees, South Carolina State University, and the University Community:

We, the undersigned alumni and members of the South Carolina State University community, write to express our unwavering support and confidence in President Alex Conyers, his leadership team, and the strategic direction of South Carolina State University.  We believe it is important to provide factual context regarding the University’s current position and to address statements that may create an inaccurate impression of the institution’s financial health, operational stability, and leadership.

Factual Context/Potential Motive Behind Letter

South Carolina State University is financially strong, operationally engaged, and moving forward with a clear strategic vision. Over the past four years, the University has successfully completed more than ten audits, on schedule and without material deficiencies. This record reflects the strength of the University’s financial management, internal controls, compliance efforts, and administrative leadership.  Equally important, the University’s employees remain fully engaged in advancing the institution’s mission. Employees have continued to receive their compensation without interruption, and the University continues to execute its academic, operational, and strategic responsibilities.

We also recognize that the University is undertaking a number of difficult but necessary strategic decisions, including evaluating academic programs based on enrollment, degree completion, demand, financial sustainability, and the long-term needs of our students and the institution. Such evaluations are a normal and necessary component of responsible university governance and should not be misconstrued as evidence of institutional failure.  Ironically, the signatory of the faculty senate letter teaches in a department and major which is under review for low student success outcomes (including but not limited to extremely low student graduates in the last five years).  

True Leadership

President Conyers has demonstrated a level of bold, decisive, and forward-looking leadership that is necessary to position South Carolina State University for long-term institutional strength and national prominence. Under his leadership, the University is advancing the largest capital improvement program in its history, with more than $250 million in capital projects designed to modernize the campus, improve the student experience, strengthen institutional infrastructure, and create an environment capable of supporting the University’s next generation of students.

This unprecedented investment represents far more than buildings and physical improvements. It represents a commitment to the future of South Carolina State University.

Equally important, President Conyers has demonstrated the courage to address areas of the University that have too often been protected from meaningful examination and accountability. Institutional transformation cannot be limited to bricks and mortar. A world-class physical campus must be matched by a strong academic culture, effective programs, student-centered services, measurable outcomes, and an unwavering commitment to student success.

For the first time in recent history, the University is taking a serious and comprehensive look at academic programs with persistently low graduation rates, weak student outcomes, declining demand, and other indicators of underperformance. This assessment is necessary and long overdue.

We strongly support the President’s efforts to reform the academic culture of the institution, strengthen academic accountability, and ensure that every academic program is aligned with the University’s mission and, most importantly, the educational needs and best interests of its students.

Academic programs should not exist simply because they have existed for decades. Every program must demonstrate its value, effectiveness, relevance, demand, and contribution to student success and the University’s mission. Where programs are performing well, they should be strengthened and supported. Where programs require improvement, they should be given clear expectations and measurable opportunities for improvement. Where programs consistently fail to meet reasonable standards, the University must have the courage to restructure, consolidate, or strategically phase them out.

The status quo cannot be the standard for institutional decision-making.

South Carolina State University has some of the finest academic programs, faculty, alumni, and students in the nation. We have a proud history and an extraordinary legacy. Protecting that legacy does not mean resisting change. It means having the courage to make the difficult decisions necessary to ensure that the institution remains strong for generations to come.

We recognize that meaningful reform will inevitably create discomfort. Individuals and organizational units that have become accustomed to existing practices may resist change. However, disagreement with reform does not make reform wrong. In fact, the resistance that often accompanies meaningful institutional change underscores why courageous leadership is necessary.

We cannot allow individual interests, organizational preferences, or a desire to preserve the status quo to supersede the long-term interests of South Carolina State University and its students.

To those who seek to obstruct reasonable, evidence-based reforms designed to improve student outcomes, strengthen academic programs, increase accountability, and position the University for sustainable growth, we respectfully but unequivocally disagree.

Our vote is for progress.
Our vote is for accountability.
Our vote is for student success.
Our vote is for institutional excellence.
Our vote is for the future of South Carolina State University.

Accordingly, where individuals or organizational units are actively resisting necessary reforms and placing the preservation of the status quo above the University’s long-term interests, we express a resounding vote of no confidence in those efforts and in the culture of resistance they represent.

We respectfully urge President Conyers to move forward with all deliberate speed in evaluating and reforming the academic arm of the University. This should include a comprehensive review of the University’s academic portfolio, with particular attention to programs demonstrating persistent underperformance, low graduation rates, limited enrollment demand, poor student outcomes, or insufficient alignment with institutional priorities.

Where the evidence warrants it, we support the strategic restructuring, consolidation, or phased elimination of non-performing academic programs, including those identified through the University’s established assessment process. Such decisions should be guided by objective data, appropriate faculty and stakeholder processes, accreditation requirements, and the University’s strategic plan—not by fear of change or the preservation of institutional arrangements that no longer adequately serve students.

At the same time, we believe successful programs must be aggressively supported and positioned for growth. South Carolina State University should invest its finite resources in academic programs and initiatives that demonstrate excellence, student demand, workforce relevance, research potential, and the capacity to elevate the University’s national reputation.

This is not an argument against faculty. It is an argument for a stronger academic enterprise.

We value the University’s faculty and recognize that faculty members are indispensable to the success of our students. However, accountability and academic freedom are not mutually exclusive. A strong university requires both. Faculty, administrators, staff, and leadership must share a common responsibility for student achievement and institutional excellence.

President Conyers should therefore be encouraged—not discouraged—to continue asking the difficult questions:

Are our students succeeding?
Are our academic programs producing graduates at acceptable rates?
Are our programs meeting the needs of today’s students and tomorrow’s workforce?
Are we investing our resources where they will have the greatest impact?
Are we holding every area of the institution accountable for measurable outcomes?
Are we preparing South Carolina State University to compete successfully with the nation’s leading institutions?
These are not unreasonable questions. They are essential questions.

The University’s strategic plan provides a framework for growth and transformation, but a strategic plan has little value if the institution lacks the courage to implement it. The President must have the authority, support, and institutional resolve necessary to execute that vision.

We therefore stand firmly behind President Alex Conyers and his leadership team as they undertake this important work.

We believe South Carolina State University is at an inflection point. The University has the opportunity to emerge stronger academically, financially, physically, and operationally. The capital investments underway provide an unprecedented foundation. The next step is to ensure that the University’s academic enterprise is equally strong.

We will not go backward.

We will not support a return to a culture in which difficult decisions are avoided because they are uncomfortable. We will not support protecting underperforming programs simply because change may be difficult. And we will not allow the legitimate interests of students and the long-term welfare of the University to be subordinated to the preservation of the status quo.

South Carolina State University deserves leadership willing to make difficult decisions. Its students deserve an academic environment that is rigorous, relevant, accountable, and committed to their success. Its alumni deserve an institution that honors its legacy while preparing aggressively for the future.

We believe Alex Conyers is the leader capable of doing exactly that.

His leadership requires courage. His reform agenda requires resolve. And the transformation of a historic institution requires persistence in the face of resistance.

We therefore offer President Conyers our strongest vote of confidence and unequivocal support as he continues to implement the University’s strategic vision, strengthen academic accountability, reform underperforming areas, and position South Carolina State University for sustained growth and national distinction.

The time for incrementalism has passed.

The time for bold leadership, meaningful accountability, academic excellence, and institutional transformation is now.

We stand with President Alex Conyers, his leadership team, and the students of South Carolina State University.

We choose progress over the status quo.
We choose accountability over complacency.
We choose student success over institutional convenience.
We choose excellence over mediocrity.
And we choose the future of South Carolina State University.

With unwavering support and confidence,

Alumni, Faculty, Staff, and Supporters of South Carolina State University