COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has angered Black legislators by replacing the only Black member on the Medical University of South Carolina board with a White man.
Some Black legislators said Wednesday that Haley doesn’t care about diversity. She is South Carolina’s first female and first minority governor as an Indian-American.
Earlier this month, the governor replaced Dr. Paula Orr, a Black woman, with dentist Harold Jablon of Columbia, who earned a doctorate degree from MUSC’s dental school in 1971. The move left only White men on the medical school’s 14-member board.
Orr, owner of Charleston Women’s Wellness Center, had been the governor’s designee since July 2003.
“Dr. Jablon has extensive ties to MUSC and an incredible record of military service, leadership and professional achievement for which he has been widely recognized, and the governor couldn’t be more excited for him to get to work on MUSC’s board,” said Haley’s spokesman Rob Godfrey.
Haley can fill two spots on the MUSC board. Orr’s is a non-voting position. The term of the governor’s other appointment expires in June.
Sen. Yancey McGill, D-Kingstree, said he and other Democratic senators asked Haley to appoint Jablon, an MUSC fundraiser who sought the position. Jablon tried to get legislators to elect him to the board a year ago.
