Retiring Benedict College president honored

Retiring Benedict College President Dr. David H. Swinton was honored.

Swinton, who has served as Benedict College’s president and CEO for 23 years, was given the keys to the City of Columbia and the Read Street extension was renamed in his honor.

Swinton, the longest serving president in the history of Benedict College, announced he was retiring in September 2016. His retirement will start June 30, the end of this fiscal year.

“When I came here, no one would walk down this street and really people were kind of afraid to walk out on their back gate. I wanted to change that to make it possible for people to feel truly that they are going to be as safe as you can be in modern urban America here,” Swinton told wach.com. “Now, we do have people walk here. They jog here and nobody seems intimated anymore and that’s good.”

Swinton is a New York University and Harvard University graduate who heads up the college of more than 3,100 students.

This story was originally published May 16, 2017 at 1:14 AM with the headline "Retiring Benedict College president honored."