COLUMBIA — As far as the University of South Carolina is concerned, it can’t come down soon enough.
The Confederate flag which flies on the statehouse grounds, a mere three blocks from USC’s Horseshoe, has long been problematic for the Gamecocks due to the NCAA’s stance on its presence. On Monday, when Gov. Nikki Haley called for the flag to be removed following the shooting of nine church-goers at Emanuel AME in Charleston, the USC athletic department presented a unified front.
“It’s time to remove the flag. We are ONE!!” South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner wrote Monday in a Twitter post a few hours before Haley called for the flag to be removed.