The president of the University of South Carolina submitted his resignation Wednesday after admitting to plagiarizing part of a commencement speech and referring to the wrong school.
Robert Caslen’s resignation, which takes effect Thursday, followed an apology he issued Tuesday, acknowledging that he lifted from, but didn’t cite, a speech that Adm. William McRaven delivered in 2014 at the University of Texas.
During the May 7 speech, Caslen also mistakenly referred to the school as the “University of California.”
“During my remarks in our weekend commencement ceremonies, I shared a well-known quote from Admiral William McRaven and failed to cite him as its original author and speaker,” Caslen said in a statement Tuesday.
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Caslen also addressed referring to his university by the wrong name.
“I’m just reading through there, and I had a, I don’t know, a slip of the tongue that said, ‘University of California’ instead of ‘University of Carolina,’ of which I apologize, and I deeply regret,” Caslen told WIS. “But there is no excuse, I mean, you got to be on every single word, every single event.”
Bruh…this isn’t right…at all ? pic.twitter.com/TRjY4wlNCV
— Zach ? (@mngamecock) May 8, 2021
Caslen had offered to resign Tuesday, but his resignation was rejected by the university’s board of trustees, according to WIS.
“Trust is the most important ingredient of effective leadership, and when it is lost, it is nearly impossible to lead,” Caslen said in a letter to university students and staff Wednesday.
“I am sorry to those I have let down. I understand the responsibilities and higher standards of senior-level leadership,” he continued. “When those are not met, trust is lost.”
Caslen, a retired Army general who was formerly superintendent of West Point, took over as president at South Carolina on Aug. 1, 2019, making his tenure less than two years.
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Caslen’s predecessor, former university president Harris Pastides, will serve as interim president. Pastides was the school’s top administrator from August 2008 through July 2019.
