An open letter to the family of the University of South Carolina (UofSC),

Hello, I am Robert Caslen’s middle son Nick. I opted to pen an open letter to the faculty,
students, administrators, alumni, and other family of UofSC to give my very personal inside-the-
Caslen-family perspective on who Robert Caslen, Jr. is. Much of my reflections below may even
be news to my own family. My decision to write this rests on me alone; it was not directed by
my father, any politician, any member of the Board of Trustees, or anyone affiliated with UofSC.
My letter is not intended to discuss politics, the election/search process or my father’s
academic background. My intention is to provide an intimate glimpse into who I feel my father
is, and his role in raising me. Inherently my letter is biased because I am his son, and I
understand that. However, I encourage everyone to read this letter thoroughly with an open
mind so you can obtain an inside-the-Caslen-family perspective to help make an informed
decision on support or opposition of the new UofSC President. My apologies for the length.

I’ve had some experience with your campus and the people of the great state of South Carolina.
I am not that active on social media in fact just recently made a Twitter account. However, my
brothers Rob and Jeff have interacted with many of the UofSC family on social media. The
outreach of support to our family by many of UofSC is not surprising to me given my experience
with your community. I’ve spent time at your campus at the National Advocacy Center (NAC),
attending some of the most impressive training I’ve received in my career as a Federal law
enforcement officer. I’ve interacted with many people on your campus, all of whom have
impressed me. For example, I remember while attending training at the NAC, I was out to
dinner with members of your community. We witnessed a pregnant woman being hit by a car
that ran a red light, it was horrible. The quick reaction and care provided by a NAC employee
with medical training was inspiring. They even went back to the women’s place of employment
the next day to check up on her. South Carolinians care about one another.

So, who is my father? To me, he’s simply an amazing person who functions at a level that I only
hope to achieve one day. He loves his work and has always put 100% of himself into it. The
man never quits or goes less than 100% at all times. But, that high level of function comes at a
family cost. Growing up I remember my father was a hard worker, a man passionate about his
job fueled by love of country and making those around him better. As a result, he worked a
LOT! At times growing up I did not get to spend the amount of time with him that I wished I
could have. There were a lot of family dinners with just us three boys and mom. This is not just
because he was deployed, but because he was working so hard all the time. He sacrificed a lot
to get where he is. You’ll hear him discuss this in speeches often referring to us (my brothers,
mother and I) as “bill payers.” He’s right, we paid the bills of his time and attention so he could
get where he is. As a father I now understand why he worked so hard for our family.

When my father was Superintendent at West Point, the way he was able to easily connect with
the students was simply amazing. I spent five years being jealous of each and every student at
West Point I met who told me stories about my father. I was jealous of their relationship with
him. I wished I knew my father the way they did. I wished he knew me the way he knew them.
It reminded me of the bills we paid for his success, bills these students didn’t have to pay but
still got to reap the rewards of his attention and time. I was lucky enough to attend the 2017
Army/Navy game with my father and mother. I don’t think I got to spend 10 minutes with him
the whole weekend since he was torn in every different direction by donors, alumni, students,
etc. But, I cannot recall a time in my life when I’ve seen him more happy than I did at that
game, and part of me hated it because I couldn’t spend time with my father at that moment. All
because of his utter devotion to the students of West Point, and the mission at hand of
“Beating Navy”. Please, do not take this as me criticizing my father’s devotion and love of his
family, or whining about not having my father around growing up. Rather understand that I am
trying to get across that he is dedicated to those he leads despite the sacrifices he makes to do
so. There is no reason to think the students and faculty of UofSC will not get his utter devotion
and attention either. I love the relationship I have with him. And, since I promised personal
insight - I remember the times he would talk one-on-one with my wife about our struggles with
infertility. He tried extremely hard to understand what we were going through and encourage
us along the way. I love the work ethic I have which I know is a direct result of him. I love my
devotion to our country which I know is a direct result of him. Most importantly, the love I have
for my wife and son, and my drive to care for my family is a direct reflection of my father’s
example.

I spent a lot of time lobbying against my father getting a retirement job at nauseum. I wanted
him to stay retired and spend his days fishing off the beaches of Florida, smoking cigars and
sipping bourbon, cleaning his pool, and being “Papa” to his four grand-children, the newest
generation of “bill payers”. Maybe even get some of those proverbial bills repaid in a closer
bond between he and I. But, the man can’t sit still. It was exhausting to see him unemployed. I’ll
get those bills repaid one day, but for now it's the UofSC student’s turn to reap the rewards of
his time, attention, and most importantly his leadership. He has this indescribable calling to
help and mentor the youth of this country into functional leaders and members of public and
private service. And, for such a noble cause I give him 100% of my respect and support.

My father amassed several small jobs here and there since he retired from the Army, because
apparently trimming the trees at his house was just not enough mental stimulation. One of
which is mentoring US Olympic athletes pro-bono. He is available to these kids 24/7. When my
five year-old son was struggling in baseball, I asked my father to talk with him. I watched the
two of them talk via FaceTime. Somehow a pep-talk from Papa meant something different to
my son who now loves baseball! As if his ability to relate to my wife while experiencing
infertility wasn’t impressive enough, his ability to relate to even a five-year-old was striking.

I’ve seen some comments about fears my father plans to turn UofSC into a strict military
institution. These comments make me chuckle. Military fathers have a stereotype, and many
have earned it. My father has not. We never had push-up, sit-up, sand-bag lifts, or any physical
training punishments growing up, no obstacle courses in the backyard. He never sounded
reveille at 5:30 AM for a five-mile run. (Now if you are a Naval Academy exchange student, and
steal the “Beat Navy” signs from the Superintendent's house the week of the Army/Navy game,
that was a different story.) We weren’t beaten or screamed at by a strict authoritative father.
Sitting here reflecting on all the times I got in trouble as a kid, my memories were of him being
extremely thorough in his explanation of his disappointment in my behavior. As an adult, I have
merely one complaint about a punishment he gave me. Since I promised a personal view, I’ll
share it here...when I was an early teen, he took away one of my favorite video games because
he thought it had a bad influence on me. He thought this because a neighborhood kid accused
me of punching him at the school bus stop, which was not true. However, due to my flippant
teen-aged attitude about this situation, I can see why my father didn’t believe me now.

When I graduated high school, my father never pushed me to do anything. Not only did he
leave the decision to go college up to me, he never pushed which one. I attended Austin Peay
State University in Clarksville, TN. He never complained that it took me five years and three
summer school semesters to get through undergrad. He never pushed a military career down
my throat. The military was not for me and he didn’t care. In fact, he never pushed any career
path on me. I believe he would have been happy no matter what I decided to do for work. I
ended up choosing a career of public service which I am grateful to have. I love my job and the
impact it has on the security of the United States. I love that I can give back to the country that
gave so much to my family. The collateral privilege of it making him proud is just icing on the
cake.

I followed the news of the UofSC Presidential search in April 2019 closely. It made my father
sick to think people thought he was blaming sexual assault survivors for their assaults. He has
done so much work in the past to combat sexual assault not only in the US Army, but on college
campuses around the country while serving as the NCAA Chairman of the Board for sexual
assault prevention. I encourage people who understood my father’s comments as blaming
sexual assault survivors for their assaults to listen to his applogy from his press confrence on 22
July 2019. Also, I encourage you to read Lucas Daprile’s article from The State Newspaper
(https://www.thestate.com/news/local/education/article229799329.html) in which Lucas
mentioned my father’s US Congressional testimony. During that testimony my father said a root
cause of sexual assault was in fact “toxic masculinity”. My father defined that term in part as
“locker room talk”. I fully agree with my father on that. He understands that sexual assaults are
crimes, and it is the result of one person de-humanizing another. I expect my father to have
ZERO tolerance for sexual assault on campus and make it a safe welcoming place for all!

During my father’s student engagement interview/presentation in the April of 2019, my father

told our family the week prior he was planning to wear blue jeans to the event. Of course we all
lobbied him not to so as to appear professional. Why wear blue jeans to such an important job
interview you ask? He wanted to wear blue jeans because those presentations were during the
week of Denim Day. Lucas also discusses in his aforementioned article how my father allowed
the students at West Point to go out of uniform and wear denim in support of sexual assault
survivors on Denim Day at West Point. Mark my words, he’ll be in jeans on Denim Day every
year at UofSC. He will encourage all administrators, students and faculty to do the same. (For
more information on Denim day please see https://www.denimdayinfo.org/.)

I also saw concerns that my father was racist, homophobic, misogynistic, and Islamophobic. To
know him is to know those concerns just aren’t true. If you watch the way he treats people
you’ll see what I mean. I’ll offer these examples in the meantime: My father has a track record
of placing strong capable people in positions of power regardless of their gender, race, sexual
orientation or religion. For example, he appointed the first ever female Commandant of Cadets
and the first ever African-American female 1st Captain, both of which I’ve met and respect very
much. He made these appointments due to the leadership skills and competencies of these
amazing women, not just because they were women. I expect him to take the exact same
approach as he appoints diverse leaders at UofSC. Expect him to appoint competent, strong
leaders of all race, gender, sexual orientation and religion at UofSC. He received awards from
both the Jewish and Islamic student associations at West Point, awards which stand side by side
on his shelf. He recently received an award from Knights Out, an LGBT student organization at
West Point, for the work he did ensuring the LGBT community of West Point felt safe and
welcome on campus (https://twitter.com/USMAKnightsOut/status/1097555214524207111).

Most importantly, I want to share a very personal and intimate example that demonstrates my
father’s welcoming nature to opposing viewpoints, even my own. My father and I do not see
eye-to-eye on everything. My father, mother, and brothers are all Christians. I am not.
Personally, I struggle to believe a God even exists. And, if she or he does, whether mankind has
all the answers in any one religion. Nobody in this family pushes religious beliefs on anyone,
even each other. I’m sure my family does not care for my religious opinions, in fact I know they
don’t. But I am welcomed nonetheless. I’m not pressured by anyone to repent and fall in line,
especially by my father. He doesn’t force me to go to church with him when I visit, or encourage
me to raise my son to believe in any faith. He accepts me for who I am. I’ll do the same for my
son if he chooses to be religious. I will support my son no matter what he decides on religion.

I know my father has a big hole to fill with the retirement of Dr. Harris Pastides. I’d like to
congratulate Dr. Pastides on an impressive career and leaving an awesome legacy to my father.
Sir, I hope I get to meet you one day when I visit the campus. As loved as Dr. Pastides was by
the students of UofSC, my father was loved by the students at West Point. Those famous selfies
Dr. Pastides took with students, you’ll see the same of my father with students at West Point all
over social media. The mark of a University President who can successfully connect with the
students. You’ll find videos of him leading students in the West Point cheer dubbed ”The
Rocket” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEzhBz94fik, even a few of him teaching it to my
son in hidden corners of the internet), repelling off the face of the mess hall, or from the ceiling
of Ike Hall. The Army/Navy spirit videos are his best works of art (the play off the Snickers
commercials, it’s my favorite, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DldKtludvL8). His favorite
was to lead the Army football team onto the field riding a West Point themed Orange County
Chopper on Saturdays (https://twitter.com/DrunkOldGrad/status/920070173171896320). It’s
only a matter of time till someone at UofSC digs up the whole deer drowning story. Reach out
to any West Point grad since 1981 and they’ll tell you the story. Mark my words, he’ll
implement ice cream parties at the President’s house for any sports team or organization that
beats Clemson at anything. It’s going to happen (which apparently he’s already announced
before I had a chance to post this letter). He and my mother had these ice cream parties at
West Point and they were extremely popular amongst the students. I expect him to be just as
engaging with the students of UofSC as he was at West Point continuing the traditions your
school has built. I encourage you to catch him on his way to work, or going from building to
building and teach him your traditions. He’d rather learn them from the students of UofSC than
anyone else. Hint: he often walks everywhere instead of driving to make sure he engages with
students.

I completely understand the concerns by some that he will put too much focus on athletics and
not academics. However, if you take time to get to know him, you’ll find the same passion he
has for beating Clemson in sports, he mirrors in academic arenas ensuring UofSC outshines
every competing school, not just Clemson, in all aspects of academics, fund raising, research,
and most importantly in the prestige of the degree you will earn. Simply put, he strives for
excellence in everything he does. To him everything UofSC does; sports, research
breakthroughs, national academic and sport rankings, fundraising ability, etc. is a reflection on
UofSC as whole to whomever is watching. So please do not feel academics and research
programs are not important and will be alienated. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

For the graduate and undergraduate students - when he interacts with you he’s going to ask
you questions about your vision for UofSC. Be prepared, he’s actually going to listen to
respectful, honest engagement from you and jot it in that notebook he carries. So, I encourage
you to be blatantly honest with him. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard him talk with my
younger brother, a West Point grad, about interactions he had with students at West Point and
how he decided to make changes as a result of those interactions. Here’s an offer: I extend
myself to the students, faculty and alumni as a conduit for any recommendations or
engagement to him. If you want me to get a thought to him on how to better UofSC, feel free to
reach out to me with honest respectful engagement. I’ll pass it to him for you. You have my
word.

In closing, I encourage the faculty to engage with him directly as he has asked for. You will be
surprised how accepting of it he will be. Again, he’s not a rigid drill Sergeant. I understand there
was a faculty vote of no-confidence in him earlier this month. I’ve not discussed that with him.
However, I mention it because I expect that vote will only fuel his desire to engage, in time,
with each and every faculty member in each and every Department to ensure UofSC faculty is
getting what they need to be successful. I expect that faculty will be empowered more than
they think they will in decision making as a result of honest, direct engagement aimed at not
just trying to keep UofSC functioning as the top academic and research institution it is, but
making it better each and every day, semester and academic year. Never resting until UofSC is
#1 in everything it does. I encourage everyone, including him, to proactively work together.
Effective engagement must be a two way street. He cannot do it alone, nor can the faculty.
Keep him honest! If he’s not holding up his end of the bargain or doing his part, let him know.
Call him out on it! Heck, you can even reach out to me as I said before, and I’ll let him know for
you. Progress is only made when every team member from the President to the graduate
assistants and beyond, are on the proverbial boat rowing it in the right direction. The more
team members not on the boat rowing it forward, the slower the boat goes and the shorter the
distance it travels. This is true in every setting; military, academic, private sector business, even
law enforcement.
I’ll leave you with this sneak peek into his leadership style. Recently my father appeared on a
podcast called “The Leadership Podcast” where he outlined his style of leadership. Please listen
here: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-leadership-podcast/e/60239532?autoplay=true.

I understand my letter may mean nothing to some, but hopefully I was able to give that glimpse
I promised into how our family came to be where it is today, and my thoughts on who my
father is as both a father and a leader. I thank you for reading and wish the best of luck to
UofSC in all its endeavors. Feel free to stop any of us on campus and say hello, ask questions,
etc. when we come to visit. I am honored to be part of the UofSC family - Nick.