Orangeburg, SC (WLTX) -- More frustration has led to leadership changes for South Carolina State University.
Two trustees stepped down from their positions saying the school's community deserves better than what the board is giving.
Walter Johnson, appointed to the board by Governor Nikki Haley, and Matthew Richardson, an at large member gave a joint letter of resignation to governor, Senate President Pro Tem John Courson and Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell.
The April 23 letter said "With great sadness we must resign as trustees of South Carolina State University because we no longer believe the board can reform itself or effectively govern. The university has no more time to waste, and we have exhausted our efforts."
Richardson also sent WLTX a copy of a March 8 letter he sent to the other board members. It outlined issues he was concerned about and offered suggestions to address his concerns.
"As you know, several trustees and administrators are reportedly under investigation for misconduct and self dealing; Some of the administrators have failed to comply with fundamental policies and procedures in the critical areas of finance, legal, procurement, and student affairs. Some of the administrators have failed to provide accurate and complete information to the board about the operations of the university and refused to cooperate with the board's internal audit," wrote Richardson.
S.C. State freshman Ralan Wardlaw is concerned about the school's troubles. He wants to make sure his degree will have value.
"With all the controversy going on with the trustees and the president and things like that it could give us a black eye as an institution and I know I don't want that," he said.
Freshman Whitney Weeks says she's focused on her education, not the school's problems -- at least for now.
"Even with all the teachers and everything that's going on I still feel like education is still more important than what's going on with the school if something happens then I can always get transferred," said Weeks.
Some students we spoke with on campus say they're still not clear on everything that's causing trouble at the school, but Orangeburg County Representative Jerry Govan, a Democrat and S.C. State alum, says he's got an idea about what's causing some of the problems the school has seen over the years.
"What we see happening over the years is the emergence of cliques. I think these cliques have evolved on the board is one of the major reasons why there's so much disunity and also so much instability that leads to the high turnover rate of presidents," said Govan.
In addition to its president stepping down and the search for a new one, the school has also fired eight high ranking employees and is going through a criminal investigation.
Now two of the schools trustees have stepped down saying they don't believe the board can change or be effective.
Govan has introduced legislation that would end every trustee's term this year and allow the state to re-screen the members who still want to serve or look for new faces.
"We're hoping to tighten up on how we screen these candidates in insuring that the citizens the people that are most affected by this the students and the parents and the faculty and the staff are getting a quality representation on the board so they can in effect select a quality president that's gonna stay a while," said Govan.
As for Wardlaw, he just wants to see some changes.
"It looks bad and we need to do whatever we need to do to fix it," said Wardlaw.