The Qualities We Are Looking for in Furman's Next President
Furman needs an outsider and a defender of free speech.
Announcements:
Webinar tomorrow! — Join us at 4pm EST on July 16th for a webinar with Robert Shibley, special counsel and former executive director at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). The webinar will be hosted right here on our Substack platform and subscribers will have the chance to ask questions and participate in the discussion. See you there!
Welcome again to Ellison White — Ellison joins the FFSA as a student intern and contributor. Watch for her byline in upcoming posts.
Alumni survey underway — We’ve partnered with College Pulse to survey Furman alumni about their attitudes toward free speech, their views of President Davis, and much, much more. We are aiming to publish our findings in August.
Furman Trivia (America 250 edition):
Furman’s namesake, Richard Furman, was such an effective advocate for the patriot cause during the American Revolution that a famous British general put a £1,000 bounty on his head, forcing him to flee South Carolina until the war’s end. Who was the general?
A) General William Howe
B) General John Burgoyne
C) Lord Cornwallis
D) Banastre “The Butcher” Tarleton
*Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter!*
What We Want to See from Furman’s Next President:
In May, President Elizabeth Davis announced that she will step down at the end of the upcoming 2026–27 academic year. In that same announcement, Furman’s Board of Trustees pledged to “soon establish a presidential search committee, comprising trustees with representation from faculty, staff, students, and alumni,” and promised that “details about the search process and timeline” would “be shared with the Furman community in the coming weeks.”
Many weeks have since passed — nearly two months, in fact — and the Furman community has received no updates. We still are waiting on the transparency that we have repeatedly called for.
In the absence of clarity, rumors have rushed in to fill the void. Many people we’ve spoken to believe an internal candidate already has the inside track. Others have suggested that Furman may choose not to release the names of the people on the selection committee at all.
To be clear, all of this is mere speculation, and we’d rather not traffic in it. But as long as alumni are kept in the dark, rumors like these will keep circulating. That’s what silence and opacity produce.
Until we know more about the search process, the most constructive thing we can do is to offer a clear picture of the kind of president we believe that Furman needs. Below are seven qualities we’re looking for in Furman’s next president. We hope trustees, alumni, and everyone who cares about Furman’s future will measure the eventual candidates against them.
An outsider. Furman isn’t falling apart, but we’re not thriving either. The next president should be someone who is not associated with the current administration and can look at the challenge of making Furman thrive in a brutally competitive higher education market through fresh eyes.
Present and energetic. The next president should be more integrated into the daily life of campus. As our new contributor Ellison White argued in her recent piece, very few students ever got to know President Davis. That shouldn’t be the case with the next president.
A defender of open inquiry. Furman’s next leader must have a demonstrated record of protecting free speech and cultivating genuine intellectual diversity. For this same reason, any candidate with a record of ideological orthodoxy or supporting DEI should be eliminated from consideration immediately.
Someone who understands Furman’s inherent strengths. In the past, Furman has tried to mimic universities like Davidson and Duke. The next president should understand that Furman’s distinct value lies in what other schools can’t replicate: close relationships between Furman’s students and professors, a campus of unmatched beauty, and a home in Greenville, one of America’s most attractive cities.
A leader, not a manager. The next president must be willing to take more risks, set a clear and bold course for Furman’s third century, and see it through.
Nationally credible. The next president should be someone who has demonstrated administrative, academic, or business achievement at the highest levels of success. Their record should be impressive enough to attract the faculty, students, and donors that Furman is competing for.
Finally, Furman needs a consensus-builder. Not everyone in the Furman community agrees about the university’s future, its priorities, or its problems. But all of these groups deserve a real voice at the table. The next president must be capable of listening to each of them, weighing their competing concerns honestly, and forging a shared vision they can all invest in.
These are the qualities that we believe can help lead Furman into its third century, and we hope that the search committee will take them into account.
What qualities do you think are most important to see in Furman’s next president?
Trivia Answer:
C) Lord Cornwallis — After Charleston fell to the British in 1780, General Charles Cornwallis announced a £1,000 bounty for Furman's capture, forcing him to flee the state. Cornwallis was even said to have remarked that he "feared the prayers of the Godly youth more than the armies of Sumter and Marion."