COLUMBIA, S.C. ―Winthrop University fired its president after less than a year, saying she violated the Rock Hill college’s nepotism policy by hiring her husband, lied to trustees and was rude, hostile and demeaning to faculty, her own staff and school leaders.
Jamie Comstock Williamson wasn’t at the Board of Trustees meeting Thursday. But her lawyer wrote trustees a letter earlier this month denying all the allegations, saying trustees knew her husband was getting a part-time job with Winthrop and saying trustees became disillusioned with Williamson because she was direct and did not feed their egos.
The board’s vote to terminate Williamson’s five-year contract likely isn’t the end of the problems. The letter from Williamson’s lawyer threatened to sue unless a deal was reached about her firing.
Williamson was making almost $300,000 a year–$169,970 from the state and $130,000 from the Winthrop University Foundation. She had been executive director of the American Council on Education for almost a year when she was hired and spent five years before that as vice president for academic affairs at Butler University in Indiana.
A clash of personalities appeared to factor heavily into the conflict between trustees and Williamson. No trustees spoke about the decision during the vote. Board Chairwoman Kathy Bigham instead read a statement after Williamson was fired and Provost Debra Boyd was named acting president.
“Candor and trust between the president and the board are crucial for this university, and any university, to thrive. And once candor and trust are irretrievably broken, decisions must be made to chart a different course,” Bigham said.
The letter outlining reasons trustees wanted to fire Williamson included the nepotism charge and statements that she lied and provided misleading information. But it also contained a personal allegation.
