Clinton College, a historically Black educational institution in Rock Hill, South Carolina, is encountering financial problems that have resulted in employees not being paid on the regular schedule. The Rock Hill Herald obtained emails from Clinton College President Pamela Richardson Wilks this spring that stated faculty and staff paychecks would be delayed. Another email from a college official on June 6 stated that the school’s medical insurance coverage was temporarily inactive. The email said the school would not be able to process claims after May 25.
The local newspaper reported the college is working on a five-year fundraising plan seeking support from alumni, religious organizations, and corporate partners. The college’s fundraising page can be found here.
In 1894, Presiding Elder Nero A. Crockett and Rev. W.M. Robinson founded Clinton Institute and named it for Bishop Isom Caleb Clinton, the Palmetto Conference presiding bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church at the time. In 1909, the renamed Clinton Normal and Industrial Institute was authorized to grant state teacher certificates. In 1994, the school charter was amended to create Clinton Junior College. In May 2013, the college was approved yo offer two bachelor’s degree programs and the educational institution’s name was chnaged to Clinton College.
According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Education, only 126 students were enrolled in the fall of 2024. Some 90 percent of the student body is African American and 62 percent are women.
