USC President Bob Caslen Resigns After Plagiarizing Graduation Speech

The University of South Carolina President Bob Caslen resigned after admitting to plagiarizing part of a speech during a commencement ceremony this past weekend. In a letter submitted on Monday, Caslen said he was ‘truly sorry’ for sharing a well-known quote by Admiral William McRaven and not giving him credit. He said “I was searching for words about resilience in adversity and when they were transcribed into the speech, I failed to ensure its attribution. I take full responsibility for this oversight.” Caslen’s speech was almost identical to a speech by McRaven to the graduates at the University of Texas in 2014. McRaven’s speech has been viewed over 13 million times on Youtube.

At one point, Caslen even congratulated the graduates of the University of California instead of South Carolina then tried to cover it up joking “sorry about that, I owe you push ups.” Caslen is a retired Army Lieutenant General and former Superintendent and President of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he had been with the University of South Carolina for two years. His resignation will go into effect today.