Meanwhile at The Citadel

[JABIII]

Amid Confederate flag, other controversy, Citadel’s board member Price quits top post
BY JOHN MONK
SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 05:00 AM

COLUMBIA, SC
Amid a tangle of controversies, Columbia area businessman Fred Price Jr. has resigned from the prestigious position of chairman of The Citadel’s Board of Visitors.

Price, 67, announced he would step down as chairman after meeting in an executive session Wednesday afternoon with a joint legislative panel that screens candidates for boards of South Carolina’s public colleges and universities, said Sen. John Scott, D-Richland, a member of the panel.

“In the executive session, we allowed Fred to speak,” Scott said. But citing the confidentiality of the executive session, Scott did not reveal details.

Afterwards, Price — who was seeking a third six-year term on the Board of Visitors — announced he would step down from the position as board chair but would remain a board member until his current term expires at the end of December.

“Today I reluctantly withdrew my name for consideration to serve another term on The Citadel’s Board of Visitors from the College and University Trustee Screening Commission,” Price said in a statement released by the military college. Price thanked the Citadel and said he was proud of the college for its achievements, including its being recognized as a top college by U.S. News & World Report, its graduation rate, its increased minority enrollment and alumni accomplishments

Price did not mention any controversies, which include a push by State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Georgetown, to retaliate against Price for his efforts to overturn a Citadel tradition of keeping cadets in the same company in their first two years, according to the Charleston Post and Courier.

Another controversy concerned Price’s Board of Visitors vote in 2015, after the massacre of nine African American parishioners in a Charleston church, to keep the Confederate flag prominently displayed in The Citadel’s Summerall Chapel.

Flying the Confederate flag in public places has long been controversial in South Carolina.

But it became even more controversial after Dylann Roof, a white supremacist, killed the nine Black church goers at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel church, not far from The Citadel’s campus. Before being arrested by the FBI, Roof posted photos online of himself posing with the slave state military banner and made it clear that he worshipped the flag. Within several weeks of the killings, the S.C. Legislature voted to remove the flag from its prominent place in front of the State House.

But a week after the killings, on June 23, 2015, in a meeting of the Board of Visitors, Price was one of just three board members to vote against removing the Confederate flag from Summerall Chapel, according to Citadel minutes of that meeting. The motion to remove the flag, which had been offered by board member Stanley Myers — a Columbia lawyer, who is African American, a Citadel graduate and a former star college quarterback — passed 9-3.

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Myers, who is still a board member, declined comment when reached Thursday evening, saying he was not at Thursday’s meeting.

The Confederate flag remains in the Summerall Chapel. State Attorney General Alan Wilson has issued an opinion saying that The Citadel removing the flag from the chapel would be a violation of the State Heritage Act.

The Confederate flag became an issue about Price several months ago after 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe, a Citadel graduate, wrote a letter published in the Charleston Post and Courier complaining about the continued presence of the banner in the Summerall Chapel.

“It became a topic of conversation after my letter,” Pascoe told The State on Wednesday. “Graduates started reaching out to me and that’s how I learned how people voted on whether to remove the flag. The flag needs to come down. It’s a stain on an otherwise fantastic institution.”

Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, said Wednesday he had learned only recently about Price’s 2015 vote to keep the Confederate flag up after the Mother Emanuel church killings.


And that vote would have caused him definitely to vote against Price if he had run for reelection to the Citadel board, Rutherford said.

“The Citadel has a bright future, and that future should not include Fred Price,” Rutherford, the S.C. House minority leader, told The State. “Fred Price was still tied to the past at a school that is trying to move forward.”

Price, a member of The Citadel Class of 1975, has been a member of the Board of Visitors since 2007, when he was elected by the Citadel Alumni Association. In 2013, he was elected to his current term by the Legislature. That term began in 2014 and will last through December of this year.

Price has a “notable history of business accomplishments and community leadership. He is president of the company started more than 50 years ago by his father, with his son and daughter representing the third generation of the family involved in the growing Ace Glass Company enterprise,” The Citadel’s website says.

Price is also chief executive officer of the Blyco Glass Company in Columbia and has served as chair on the boards of the South Carolina Better Business Bureau, Hammond School, and the Carolina Children’s Home, as well as board member positions for Baptist Hospital Foundation and Palmetto Health Alliance, The Citadel website says.


In his statement, Price said, “I want to thank every member of our Board and our greater Citadel family who supported and contributed to our college’s superb record of success for the past 12 years.”

Highlights of those years, said Price, include the Citadel’s being recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the #1 public college in the South for the 9th consecutive year and a recent study by Georgetown University that Citadel graduates earn the highest salaries after graduation and some of the highest employment rates of any comprehensive institution in the state. Also, noted Price, The Citadel’s four-year graduation rate of 66% is the highest in the state of South Carolina; the national four-year graduation-rate average for public institutions is 37%.

“Serving as Board Chair for The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, has been one of the great privileges of my life, and I will continue to support our college as we all move forward together. Go Dogs!” said Price.

The Citadel, with some 2,300 cadets, is a publicly-supported military college that was founded in 1842 and is part of South Carolina’s history. Many of its graduates are prominent in the state’s political, legal and business arenas.

[Rabbitman09]

People are sick and tired of all the caving to political correctness and having no regard to tradition and history. Allowing major changes to the daily life of students at the institution with zero regard to alumni concerns and this is what happens.

[Sportin' Woodies]

That mean old flag should be put in jail for killing those 9 people

[Black Bart]

He's history for refusing to...wait for it...


erase history.

[Elcid_Fowler]

This has nothing to do with the flag. That is just the media inserting it into this story. This runs much deeper and has much more to do with the BOV not asserting more input on the plan for how the school should be run and letting the recent leadership, started with Rosa, do whatever they please without any push back. Price is a good guy and a great advocate for the school, it just seems the Chair position may not have been for him.

[Black Bart]

Yeah, there's always more to the story.

And I played with Stanley. Don't know his politics, but he's one of the sharpest guys I've ever known.

[Rabbitman09]

Yeah, there's always more to the story.

And I played with Stanley. Don't know his politics, but he's one of the sharpest guys I've ever known.

I’m sure Stanley is a great guy but as an athlete, he doesn’t understand views from a non athlete standpoint. He supports the shuffle because athlete cadets have their sports team to call home. They practice, eat, and hang together. He doesn’t understand the importance of the company culture to the non athletes. Heck a lot of the black athletes when I was there joined off campus fraternities. Everyone wants something to call home.

None of this would would have happened and everyone would be getting along nicely if the Board had sprung to action to either modify of replace the mess hall so the Corp could continue family style mess. Blowing that off and eliminating family style mess is not acceptable. Allowing the execution of company culture by instituting the sophomore shuffle is unacceptable. The board is only concerned about their perks and raising money. Expanding the student base and implementing policies to try to keep every student enrolled is their only concern. Not acceptable at a historic military school with deep tradition. Blowing off alumni concerns and suggestions in the internet/social media age no longer works.

[Maggie Glover]

I’m sure Stanley is a great guy but as an athlete, he doesn’t understand views from a non athlete standpoint. He supports the shuffle because athlete cadets have their sports team to call home. They practice, eat, and hang together. He doesn’t understand the importance of the company culture to the non athletes. Heck a lot of the black athletes when I was there joined off campus fraternities. Everyone wants something to call home.

None of this would would have happened and everyone would be getting along nicely if the Board had sprung to action to either modify of replace the mess hall so the Corp could continue family style mess. Blowing that off and eliminating family style mess is not acceptable. .

So when did they eliminate family-style mess? Was this recently as a result of COVID or another bow to relaxing knob pressure. Life at The Citadel does not begin until your sergeant turns a glass of tea upside down on the table.

Regardless, I am uncomfortable with lawmakers bullying/interfering with higher-ed. MG

[Rabbitman09]

So when did they eliminate family-style mess? Was this recently as a result of COVID or another bow to relaxing knob pressure. Life at The Citadel does not begin until your sergeant turns a glass of tea upside down on the table.

Regardless, I am uncomfortable with lawmakers bullying/interfering with higher-ed. MG

Apparently they haven’t been doing family style mess for 4 or 5 years. That’s none of the meals. Breakfast, lunch, or supper. All speed line, aka cafeteria line. Apparently the mess hall is too small for the whole Corp to be in there at one time per some fire marshal so instead of working to fix the problem, they just eliminated family style mess and now you go and come as you please. Family style mess was one of the most fundamental activities to cadet life. Poof...gone. Now cadet company culture...Poof...gone. Someone had to take the heat for this nonsense and unfortunately it was the board chair. People say he’s a good guy but he never stood up against any of this. He just rode along with the flow.

[buckpro]

Apparently they haven’t been doing family style mess for 4 or 5 years. That’s none of the meals. Breakfast, lunch, or supper. All speed line, aka cafeteria line. Apparently the mess hall is too small for the whole Corp to be in there at one time per some fire marshal so instead of working to fix the problem, they just eliminated family style mess and now you go and come as you please. Family style mess was one of the most fundamental activities to cadet life. Poof...gone. Now cadet company culture...Poof...gone. Someone had to take the heat for this nonsense and unfortunately it was the board chair. People say he’s a good guy but he never stood up against any of this. He just rode along with the flow.

Know a kid pretty well that's a sophomore, every time we talk i hear of something else that complete destroys company culture and traditions, they unfortunately been successful at doing so. Didn't know about family style mess done away with, damn that brings back memories, nothing like having to eat all the meatloof and chug pink lemonade until you puked on the run back to stevens.

[Black Bart]

I’m sure Stanley is a great guy but as an athlete, he doesn’t understand views from a non athlete standpoint. He supports the shuffle because athlete cadets have their sports team to call home. They practice, eat, and hang together. He doesn’t understand the importance of the company culture to the non athletes. Heck a lot of the black athletes when I was there joined off campus fraternities. Everyone wants something to call home.

None of this would would have happened and everyone would be getting along nicely if the Board had sprung to action to either modify of replace the mess hall so the Corp could continue family style mess. Blowing that off and eliminating family style mess is not acceptable. Allowing the execution of company culture by instituting the sophomore shuffle is unacceptable. The board is only concerned about their perks and raising money. Expanding the student base and implementing policies to try to keep every student enrolled is their only concern. Not acceptable at a historic military school with deep tradition. Blowing off alumni concerns and suggestions in the internet/social media age no longer works.

Climpsin, Ole Miss and several other schools would probably disagree with you. And Stanley's an alum too, so his concerns are as valid as anyone else's, even if we don't agree with some or all of them.

And Stanley was either a company commander or on Regimental Staff. He was also a multiple Gold Star recipient and Army contract, which included a tour in the Middle East. Oh, and then he went to law school after that and is now a partner in his firm. He was far from a Corps Squad slacker. His athletic achievements, while impressive, may be the least impressive of his accomplishments.

[Rabbitman09]

Climpsin, Ole Miss and several other schools would probably disagree with you. And Stanley's an alum too, so his concerns are as valid as anyone else's, even if we don't agree with some or all of them.

And Stanley was either a company commander or on Regimental Staff. He was also a multiple Gold Star recipient and Army contract, which included a tour in the Middle East. Oh, and then he went to law school after that and is now a partner in his firm. He was far from a Corps Squad slacker. His athletic achievements, while impressive, may be the least impressive of his accomplishments.

Oh your not telling me anything i didn’t know. Stanley is highly accomplished and a distinguished alumni and I am proud to be in the long grey line with him. I was just giving my view on why he may not see the importance of company culture as others do. By being an athlete, he can affiliate himself as a football player and relate to the football team. Non-athlete cadets don’t have an identity like “football team member”. They get their identity by the company which they were assigned and lived in through their time at the school. Stanley is an outstanding man and accomplished alumni. I have nothing to negative to say about him at all. I’m just trying to explain my perception of why he might be for the sophomore shuffle where the majority of alumni aren’t.

[ScoobieMcDoobie]

Oh your not telling me anything i didn’t know. Stanley is highly accomplished and a distinguished alumni and I am proud to be in the long grey line with him. I was just giving my view on why he may not see the importance of company culture as others do. By being an athlete, he can affiliate himself as a football player and relate to the football team. Non-athlete cadets don’t have an identity like “football team member”. They get their identity by the company which they were assigned and lived in through their time at the school. Stanley is an outstanding man and accomplished alumni. I have nothing to negative to say about him at all. I’m just trying to explain my perception of why he might be for the sophomore shuffle where the majority of alumni aren’t.

Seeing them shuffle the sophomores was a pretty big disappointment to see.
Jenkins Hall's efforts to make all the companies identical and abolish any sort of individual company tradition seems like a pretty big nail in the coffin of the school we used to know. I won't be surprised at all if they see a huge drop in Alumni donations in the coming years.

[Tigerbdog]

Oh your not telling me anything i didn’t know. Stanley is highly accomplished and a distinguished alumni and I am proud to be in the long grey line with him. I was just giving my view on why he may not see the importance of company culture as others do. By being an athlete, he can affiliate himself as a football player and relate to the football team. Non-athlete cadets don’t have an identity like “football team member”. They get their identity by the company which they were assigned and lived in through their time at the school. Stanley is an outstanding man and accomplished alumni. I have nothing to negative to say about him at all. I’m just trying to explain my perception of why he might be for the sophomore shuffle where the majority of alumni aren’t.

I would argue Stanley knows more and has a greater appreciation of culture because of his experience as an athlete and veteran who was deployed. Culture is everything in those environments. And as already mentioned, he took an active role as a cadet instead of just doing the necessary stuff in order to get to graduation. I'm sure he had his reasons for voting for the changes, but his lack of understanding of company culture was not one of them.

[Southernduck]

Wow Rabbit had more intellect thought in that one post than the previous 1,316 combined.

[SCswampCAT]

Wow Rabbit had more intellect thought in that one post than the previous 1,316 combined.

He plays most of y'all like a fiddle.

[Black Bart]

Oh your not telling me anything i didn’t know. Stanley is highly accomplished and a distinguished alumni and I am proud to be in the long grey line with him. I was just giving my view on why he may not see the importance of company culture as others do. By being an athlete, he can affiliate himself as a football player and relate to the football team. Non-athlete cadets don’t have an identity like “football team member”. They get their identity by the company which they were assigned and lived in through their time at the school. Stanley is an outstanding man and accomplished alumni. I have nothing to negative to say about him at all. I’m just trying to explain my perception of why he might be for the sophomore shuffle where the majority of alumni aren’t.

Fair enough. And as much as it pains me to say, I'm pretty sure I agree with your original post.

He plays most of y'all like a fiddle.

I've been thinking the same thing for a while now. Crazy ain't the the same as stupid. To quote my man R. Lee Ermey, "(Rabbit) may be silly and ignorant, but he's got guts. And guts is enough."

[Air Raid]

Anything Todd Rutherford makes a decision on is questionable at best.

[smitch320]

Anything Todd Rutherford makes a decision on is questionable at best.

What a piece of shit that guy is.

[Elcid_Fowler]

I think he is still a good guy Rabbit. I just don't think he's the best for the BOV and Chair role. He's flimsy on hard issues. The two you mention plus the big one I've noticed over the years is Public Relations with the media. Take a hard stance and stop caving just because there is attention. If change needs to occur, great but don't change b/c its the easier of the two options. I think this repeated pattern is the downfall. I do think there is more behind it though...