{"id":42165,"date":"2026-05-07T11:27:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=42165"},"modified":"2026-05-08T10:41:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:41:54","slug":"magazine-letter-from-the-president-furman-endures-across-centuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/magazine-letter-from-the-president-furman-endures-across-centuries\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter From the President: Furman endures across centuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

On March 19, 2015,\u00a0as I was getting\u00a0ready to deliver\u00a0my\u00a0inauguration address, I stepped\u00a0into McAlister Auditorium, and\u00a0my\u00a0knees buckled.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As executive vice president\u00a0and provost at Baylor\u00a0University, delivering public\u00a0speeches to thousands of\u00a0people was a normal part of\u00a0my job, and I did so, mostly,\u00a0without\u00a0a hitch.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But at that moment, the\u00a0enormity of my new job hit\u00a0me. Every aspect of Furman\u00a0University, a\u00a0189-year-old\u00a0institution, was\u00a0my\u00a0responsibility. I was worried\u00a0less about implementing\u00a0changes and innovating the\u00a0curriculum as I was about\u00a0breaking what had been built.\u00a0With a cursory look at\u00a0our\u00a0beautiful campus, our excellent\u00a0faculty and staff and our stellar\u00a0students there\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0appear to\u00a0be a single blemish.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, as we celebrate\u00a0Furman\u2019s Bicentennial,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0worthwhile to remember that\u00a0our beautiful campus and\u00a0remarkable achievements\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0just sprout from the\u00a0ground in perfect form.\u00a0Remembering the hurdles\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0overcome helps us\u00a0appreciate our resilience in the\u00a0face of\u00a0current challenges. It\u00a0reminds us to stay true to\u00a0our\u00a0values and vision as\u00a0previous\u00a0generations of leaders have\u00a0done. It also gives us confidence\u00a0to try new things, aware that\u00a0the path to progress and\u00a0excellence\u00a0is rarely perfect.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The university\u2019s beginning\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0exactly auspicious.\u00a0Edgefield, South Carolina,\u00a0in 1826, was a small town of\u00a0300 people when the South\u00a0Carolina Baptist Convention\u00a0established\u00a0the Furman\u00a0Academy and Theological\u00a0Institution there. It had been\u00a0a lawless town, and duels on\u00a0the courthouse steps were\u00a0common. After three years the\u00a0campus\u00a0relocated\u00a0to Santee,\u00a0and again in 1837 to Winnsboro\u00a0before moving to Greenville in\u00a01851\u00a0as\u00a0Furman University.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One can imagine the\u00a0uncertainty and tenuous\u00a0nature of a Furman education\u00a0if the faculty and staff picked\u00a0up and moved every few\u00a0years.\u00a0But leaders remained\u00a0committed to their vision, and\u00a0in\u00a0Greenville\u00a0the university\u00a0found its footing on the banks\u00a0of the Reedy River. That\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0make it immune to hardship.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since\u00a0the beginning,\u00a0Furman struggled with\u00a0finances. In 1922, President William\u00a0Joseph McGlothlin proclaimed\u00a0that \u201cthe fundamental\u00a0difficulty\u00a0at Furman is the lack of\u00a0money\u201d and \u201cthe supreme need is\u00a0endowment.\u201d Debt skyrocketed\u00a0321% between 1925 and 1928,\u00a0and enrollment\u00a0dropped\u00a020%.\u00a0Faculty salaries were below\u00a0average\u00a0and arguments about\u00a0the cost of athletics\u00a0ensued.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Furman endured. In\u00a01924\u00a0the university became a\u00a0named beneficiary in James\u00a0B. Duke\u2019s indenture, receiving\u00a0an initial\u00a0amount of about $2\u00a0million. One hundred years\u00a0later, The Duke Endowment\u00a0continues to make\u00a0transformational\u00a0gifts to Furman,\u00a0allowing us to offer students\u00a0unique advantages.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1975, Moffett Kendrick,\u00a0the vice president of Development at the time, reported that\u00a0Furman\u2019s gift income had\u00a0fallen behind 74% from the\u00a0prior year. This June, we will\u00a0conclude the\u00a0Clearly\u00a0Furman\u00a0campaign. As of March 1, you\u00a0have committed more than\u00a0$490M, exceeding our historic\u00a0goal. Because of your support,\u00a0we believe this campaign\u00a0can and will\u00a0surpass more\u00a0than $500M, making it one\u00a0of the most successful ever\u00a0completed by a\u00a0liberal arts\u00a0institution.\u00a0During the course\u00a0of\u00a0the campaign, giving from\u00a0the Paladin community has\u00a0increased year over year –\u00a0from $20 million to more than\u00a0$50 million annually.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1992, after the split\u00a0from the South Carolina\u00a0Baptist Convention, students\u00a0transferred, others decided\u00a0not to enroll, and Furman\u00a0lost approximately $1 million\u00a0annually from the SCBC. By\u00a01994, then-President David\u00a0Shi said that \u201csignificant\u00a0retrenchment\u201d was necessary.\u00a0The setback was temporary.\u00a0Today, Furman is recognized\u00a0as one of the most innovative\u00a0universities in the country\u00a0with one of the best\u00a0first-year\u00a0experiences for students.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015, I found my footing\u00a0pretty quickly,\u00a0literally\u00a0and\u00a0metaphorically, and we set\u00a0about implementing difficult\u00a0but important initiatives, like\u00a0The Furman Advantage and\u00a0our\u00a0reckoning with slavery in the\u00a0\u201cSeeking Abraham\u201d project.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve\u00a0grown from a\u00a0small-town, startup, nomadic\u00a0academy into one of the best\u00a0liberal arts and sciences\u00a0universities in the country. We\u00a0will continue to move forward\u00a0and make challenging and\u00a0transformative\u00a0decisions. As\u00a0we improve our competitive\u00a0position in the higher\u00a0education landscape, we do\u00a0so confidently\u00a0knowing\u00a0that\u00a0Furman University is resilient\u00a0and strong, not\u00a0in spite of\u00a0our\u00a0challenges but because of them.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s to\u00a0our next century!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reflection on all Furman has accomplished requires a steady approach to what comes next. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":30870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,3404,1963,3526],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-bicentennial","category-furman-magazine","category-spring-2026"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42165"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42325,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42165\/revisions\/42325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}