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prevent them from succeeding, he brought the same energy to students and faculty at SCSU. He found those leadership traits were transferable. “Whether a soldier or a student, they wanted to finish what they started, they wanted to make their parents proud, they wanted the best living conditions. I had to look at practices and policies that were preventing students from achieving their very best. And looking at ways to mitigate those kinds of things,” Conyers said. His work paid off. In 2019 there were 371 students in the freshman class. This past year the freshman class was
more than 1,200. In three years, he has been able to increase the overall student population by 1,000 students. While boosting enrollment, President Conyers has been able to secure over $150 Million in state appropriations for new building and renovations that will transform the landscape of the campus. “We have had a 25% increase in alumni giving over the past two years. For the past three years that I’ve been here each May when we have reunion weekend, we have raised over a million dollars each night. It has become a million-dollar weekend for the past three years which is the first time that has ever happened,” said Conyers.
He’s looking forward to the University’s first ever Capital campaign – to increase their endowment – in the next few years. S.C. State University has produced 17 College Presidents, including Morehouse College, Alcorn State University, Kentucky State University, and Paine College. And SCSU has educated Black royalty like Dr. Benjamin E. Mays who served as the president of Morehouse for many years and served as a personal mentor to Dr. M.L. King Jr. He performed M.L.King Jr.and Coretta Scott King’s marriage and performed the eulogy at King’s funeral.
The School has graduated a Supreme Court Justice for the South Carolina Supreme Court, Justice Donald Beatty and the one and only Congressional influencer James Clyburn. “Students and family still see the value in an HBCU – they know that if given similar opportunities and resources that a student from SCSU can compete with any student in the world,” said Conyers. For HBCU presidents to stay on top, Conyers says: “Keep the main thing the main thing – taking care of those students, fighting for those students and being willing to challenge anything that’s considered a barrier to their success.”
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