CONWAY — Jim DeMint and Inez Tenenbaum agreed to disagree Monday with comments the man they hope to succeed has made about Bob Jones University.

U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, the Democrat who will retire in January, earlier this month referred to leaders of the private Greenville college — where interracial dating was banned until 2000 — as “jackasses.”

Republican DeMint, the Greenville congressman, said Hollings’ observation “was just a terrible thing ... I’ve never seen any hint of discrimination or bad feelings (at the school). They’re an asset to South Carolina.”

Democrat Tenenbaum, the state education superintendent, said she wasn’t familiar with Hollings’ remarks. “Bob Jones University has worked with us in terms of teacher education. We have worked very hard with them.”

— Aaron Gould Sheinin