SC lawmakers vote to keep lone black trustee on University of South Carolina board

SC keeps lone black trustee on university board

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina will retain its only black member of its board of trustees.

State lawmakers voted 80-77 on Wednesday to keep trustee Leah Moody on the school’s governing board. The attorney and graduate of the University of South Carolina law school said she’s proven herself during an interim stint on the board that started last summer.

Black lawmakers were worried Moody would lose the seat to Alton Hyatt, a white pharmacist. They caused an uproar last month when they said members of the black community were telling University of South Carolina recruits to question committing to the school because of its lack of nonwhite trustees.

No recruit changed their mind about playing for the Gamecocks.

Moody’s term ends in 2012.