College presidents on corporate boards can draw schools into controversy. It happened at Clemson.

College presidents on corporate boards can draw schools into controversy. It happened at Clemson.

Clemson University President James Clements (Photo courtesy of Clemson University)Clemson University’s soon-to-retire president, Jim Clements, stands out as the only South Carolina public college president to sit on a corporate board. The chief executive of the Upstate college, until recently, sat on the board of two publicly traded companies: a homebuilding firm and a bank. He’s been on the board of Greenville-based United Community Banks since…