USC mega-donor Lou Kennedy criticizes ‘shenanigans’ after leaving presidential search

By Lou Kennedy’s count, she has donated close to $40 million to her alma mater, the University of South Carolina.

When USC made the bold decision to return to in-person classes in 2020 — a plan that relied on rapid COVID-19 testing — Kennedy’s company, Nephron Pharmaceuticals, donated a highly-specialized robot that allowed USC to process tests 24/7.

Once USC students graduate, Nephron is often happy to hire them. Half the company’s employees come from South Carolina universities, according to Nephron’s website.

But after all the generosity and collaboration, Kennedy is fed up.

Earlier this week, Kennedy officially left USC’s Presidential Search Committee, where she served as a non-voting advisory member.

The breaking point happened while the search committee was in Atlanta interviewing candidates when board of trustees chair Dorn Smith “pointed his finger over and over to my face and said ‘you don’t get a vote Lou, you’re just here as a courtesy.’ And he repeated it a couple times, out loud in a raised voice,” Kennedy told The State.

“It sounded to me, the way Dorn was commenting, they already had the fix in,” Kennedy said. “I don’t want my name attached to that. I worked hard on this. I read over 80 or more (resumes). I did the research. The other committee members did the research. But when you’ve got a chairman yelling at the third-largest donor ‘you’re just a courtesy here, your vote doesn’t count,’ … that’s just wrong. Not only is it impolite, it’s just wrong.”

Smith’s comment was made after Kennedy said she “wanted to deliver as diverse a slate of candidates from the full committee to the board as possible,” she said through a spokesman.

Smith had apologized for the comment, which Kennedy says was made Thursday, according to a letter Kennedy sent to the search commission.

The State has reached out to Smith.

Kennedy’s public departure from the search committee is bad news for USC’s efforts to improve donor relations, which officials admitted was a “mess” earlier this year after failing to reach out to the university’s largest-ever Darla Moore when Moore’s mother died.

“I won’t be writing any checks as long as these shenanigans are in place,” Kennedy said. “And you can count on the same from my friend Darla (Moore). We’ve talked about it.”

USC’s search committee said in a statement through USC spokesman Jeff Stensland that the university appreciates Kennedy’s contributions.

“Lou Kennedy is a devoted and loyal alumna of our university, and we regret that she has resigned from the Presidential Search Committee. The university appreciates her steadfast support of our mission.”

The search committee is in the process of narrowing down potential presidential finalists, the committee’s statement said. Though board members not on the search committee are unaware of the names or backgrounds of candidates, the statement said the board “will have the opportunity to speak with several candidates soon.”

USC’s full board of trustees, which had not been scheduled to meet this month, will meet following several committee meetings Monday. The agenda for that meeting has not been released, so it’s unclear whether the presidential search will come up.

While Smith leads the board of trustees, Trustee Thad Westbrook is chairing the presidential search committee. Despite her displeasure with Smith, Kennedy told The State she was happy with Westbrook’s leadership of the search committee.

“He’s trying his dead-level best,” Kennedy said of Westbrook, noting the search committee includes students, faculty, staff, board members and more. “We were so excited about the slate of candidates and to end the day on that...nasty note, was such a deflation to me. I pray that even by doing this it will lend some credibility to what Thad has been trying to do in the process.”

When USC selected a president in 2019, the school faced criticism for a search committee critics say lacked diversity and for finalists that included no women and only one person of color. In the 2021 presidential search, USC has improved diversity on ts search committee and, according to Kennedy, has plenty of diverse candidates to choose from.

She described the candidate pool as “Robust, beautiful, red and yellow, black and white.”

“We did our job. We took it seriously and we gave a platter, a plethora of diversity to them,” Kennedy said of the search committee.

Despite recent changes to USC board policy following the controversial 2019 presidential selection, the university still needs to structure how its board is run and who is on it, Kennedy said.

“I think we need fresh faces, fresh voices, fresh ideas,” Kennedy said. “The status quo continues to fail. My school deserves better.”