Tommy Cofield donated a few thousand to Nikki Haley for governor. Moore was the first woman to grace the cover of Fortune magazine and was named one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business. Cofield was selected as an All-State High School golfer and won a short story award while a student at USC. Want to truly have college students' best interests in mind, Gov. Haley?
Pick one or the other: Restore funding to colleges and universities in South Carolina, or leave our most philanthropic private donors alone. If you hadn't already upset enough people with your acting chops earlier in the week, you've managed to do it this time. Thanks for all of your hard work.
— Taylor Cain, fourth-year history student
I am outraged Darla Moore has been replaced on USC's board. While most of the press involving her replacement has dealt with her financial contributions to the university (which I am so thankful for), I know her leadership and guidance have been equally, if not more important, than her financial support. I am truly saddened to hear she will no longer be a guiding force and a voice of reason on the board at our university. My involvement with the Palmetto Institute (one of the numerous charitable organizations she founded) over the past two years has shown me how supremely committed she is to the improvement of this state, and I think it is an absolute travesty she will no longer be a member of the board of the flagship university. I know this will not bring Moore down, and she will continue to do wonderful things for this state, but I am truly worried about the impact her replacement with have on the university. I can only hope the support shown by the student body will cause Gov. Nikki Haley to rethink and abate her terrible decision.
— Patrick Morris, fourth-year business student
To say that I hate a person — really, truly hate a person — takes a lot of gusto from someone. Somehow, in the short term Gov. Nikki Haley has been in office, I have gone from general dislike to obscene hatred.
First, she starts making the cuts in art education, then she decides, in her infinite wisdom, to take the freshest set of eyes off USC's board of trustees. Then, she replaces her with a stooge who donated the most amount of money to her campaign.
That $9,000 will never, ever equal the $70 million and more that Moore has donated to this school and others around the state. Moore seems very intent in making not only USC but all of South Carolina a beacon for business.
This may not cause Moore to completely pull all of her funding from USC — she might not even pull a penny back — but the callous way this was handled and the lapdog appointed will hopefully reverberate when Haley tries for a reelection.
Dumb decisions beget dumb decisions. I hate to see where this could go. I hope, for the sake of South Carolina and USC, that Moore continues to feel this is where she is welcome. The shrewd, idiotic act of one does not reflect the mindset of others.
Have fun while you can in the mansion, Gov. Haley. You hopefully get to stay in it just this one term.
— Daniel Johnson, fourth-year economics student
Congratulations, Gov. Nikki Haley. You and former Gov. Mark Sanford are running a race for the prestigious title of "South Carolina's dumbest governor." Your removal of Darla Moore appalls me, and I'm not a business student.
Moore's reach at this university extended well beyond the walls of the BA Building. She accumulated much of her wealth on Wall Street and in turn acquired plenty of Wall Street friends who have donated to this university as well.
How dare you remove her for somebody who has only benefited your personal agendas? I won't even start on the fact that you're a graduate of that other school. You seem hellbent on destroying USC as an institution. Once a tiger, always a tiger. I don't blame you, though, Haley. I blame the people of South Carolina. With that said, allow me to congratulate my fellow South Carolinians for placing her in office. Come on, people. It is time to stop voting for candidates just because they lean Republican or Democrat. Learn the issues. Learn what a candidate stands for. If we educate ourselves, people like Alvin Greene and Haley will never even consider running for governor.
— Darrius Daniels, third-year geography student
Can someone please explain to me, because I guess earning my degree at USC and being an invested member of the Carolina community doesn't qualify me to have an understanding or explanation thereof, how Gov. Nikki Haley has any sense of entitlement to remove Darla Moore from USC's Board of Trustees?
Who did Darla Moore enrage enough to lose her spot as an invested benefactor? I want to say it doesn't make sense, but it being South Carolina, it makes all the sense in the world to cast out a person who has done so much for this university (academics, innovation, recruitment, training, expansion, recognition) to a person tied to the university only locally.
How utterly absurd and embarrassing. We are our business, and Moore is responsible for that.
The one positive thing I've seen as a former editor and current invested alumna is that the students — the Gamecock nation — care and are enraged. Maybe now we can, since some choose not to, show what this university is really about and who we rally behind. We support investment, we support our community, we support our supporters. It's time for our leaders to do the same.
— Amanda Davis, former editor-in-chief of The Daily Gamecock
This is a bad decision by Gov. Nikki Haley. I really cannot believe she would end Darla Moore's term on the board of trustees.
Moore is the most influential business person in this University's history. In case Haley happened to notice, the state of South Carolina has dramatically decreased funding for state schools over the past 25 years, yet Moore has donated over $70 million to USC.
In addition, Moore has donated $10 million to Clemson. She obviously displays a great interest in educating the future leaders from the state of South Carolina.
No disrespect to her new board of trustee appointment, but no person has raised the profile of this university as much as Moore. Her business prowess and financial commitment speak volumes to how much she cares about this university.
I am very disappointed Haley would remove Moore from the board of trustees because she exemplifies everything a Carolina alumna should represent. Haley made an uninformed decision that could severely impact Carolina's future. I hope Haley will make a better decision when she considers new board of trustee appointments in the future.
— Michael Ruiz, fourth-year business student
I am very disappointed in the removal of Darla Moore. I question whose set of eyes needs to be replaced.
It seems to me Gov. Nikki Haley has a lot of questions that need to be answered — not only with why she really removed Moore — but how much money Haley really made last year and reported on her taxes.
— Jean Taylor
It's nice to see Gov. Nikki Haley trying to flex her iron fist at higher education by replacing Darla Moore.
It's just one of the recent ways she has shown that she is breaking campaign promises. She is hiring people in positions who contributed to her campaign, creating new government positions and trying to gain as much power as possible by circumventing the House and Senate.
But, hey, on the bright side you can donate to her campaign and maybe get a cool new job.
— Tim Krupp
I am appalled by Gov. Nikki Haley's decision to remove Darla Moore from the board of trustees.
I am disgusted by her rationale and baffled by the audacity in suggesting her campaign contributor can do more for the betterment of the school than Moore. I am now officially ticked off at every person who voted for Haley (if I wasn't already before), and I hope I don't cross paths with someone who supports this most recent decision any time soon.
I encourage every Gamecock to speak loudly in opposition of this decision and every decision she makes that hurts our school and South Carolina's Higher Education System as a whole from here on out. This is ridiculous. I want better for my school and my state.
— Joni Elizabeth Dickerson, second-year law student
As founder of the Facebook group "Students for the Reinstatement of Miss Darla Moore," which has garnered the support of over a thousand students, I wonder in angst when Gov. Nikki Haley will acknowledge our disappointment in her decision.
As our first Indian governor, we the students, some of whom labored on the campaign trail with Haley, believed she would understand the need for diversity more than most. Now there is a single woman and a single African-American on the board, and they are one in the same. How are Tommy Cofield's experiences different from the 20 other upper-class white men currently residing on the board that dictates the future of the University of South Carolina? Will questions regarding Cofield's qualifications be answered?
And what opportunities do students have to encourage the reinstatement of Moore on the board? We write with faith in the government that our concerns are not falling on deaf ears and that Haley will rectify the situation. These are questions we want and need answered. Please provide some explanation for this seemingly politically driven act.
— Martha Susan Morris
The Political Palmetto, Founder