Winthrop’s former attorney sues school, says trustees defied law and term limits
Former Winthrop University General Counsel Christopher “Todd” Hagins has filed a lawsuit alleging the school’s board of trustees repeatedly broke South Carolina’s open meetings law by holding secret votes on public spending, contracts and tuition and failing to disclose basic records to the public.
The complaint, filed Sept. 7 in York County, alleges 27 violations of the state Freedom of Information Act and two violations of the university’s bylaws. Hagins, who also served as secretary to the board until his termination in September 2024, told The Herald the case is about transparency at a public institution that serves thousands of students and receives taxpayer funding.
“They’re not there for the aggregation of power. They’re not there to build buildings. They’re not there to pick a baseball schedule,” Hagins said of the board members’ roles. “They are there ultimately to educate people, and to create an environment where that education can occur… I think they’ve lost focus.”
Among the most notable allegations is that Winthrop’s leaders served beyond the six-year term limits written into the university’s own bylaws. Hagins claims actions taken under their leadership — from tenure votes to multimillion-dollar budgets — may be invalid if the chair and vice chair were not lawfully in office.
Hagins worked as general counsel for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, an assistant U.S. attorney, and worked in higher education before joining Winthrop in 2023. Hagins said he raised internal concerns about compliance and governance before he was fired last year.
Winthrop provided a statement to The Herald where it denied all allegations made in the lawsuit and said it’s hired an outside attorney to “vigorously defend the lawsuit.”
“Because this matter involves active litigation, Winthrop will not respond with any details related to its defense, other than to state that it has followed the same FOIA process and procedures that were in place under its former General Counsel’s leadership and practices,” the university said in a statement.
Alleged pattern of closed-door decisions
According to the lawsuit, trustees repeatedly entered executive session — a tool state law permits only for limited reasons — and then used the closed meetings to debate and approve actions that should have been public.
One example is a two-day retreat in February. The complaint alleges trustees listed nearly the entire agenda as an executive session, then voted on several resolutions and heard presentations from outside consultants and the commissioner of Winthrop’s athletic conference. Those items, Hagins argues, had no lawful basis to be hidden from the public.
“I just can’t fathom what in the world the athletic commissioner has given a presentation (on) for over an hour that would fall under the executive session,” Hagins said. “I mean, it’s just unfathomable that that occurred.”
The complaint also cites a December 2024 meeting, when trustees allegedly considered major financial items, including tuition, fees and a bond resolution without proper notice. Afterwards, the lawsuit alleges, the board did not publish minutes from the finance committee meeting. Hagins said parents were later “shocked” by new course fees despite public claims of tuition reductions.
At that meeting, trustees approved a shift to a tiered tuition model, a change that lowered costs for most full-time students while leaving part-time students paying slightly more, according to a university news release.
The lawsuit further alleges the university failed to publish minutes for key committee meetings. Records for an October 2024 finance committee never appeared online, it states. That left the public without a record of deliberations on tuition, fee and bond measures, as well as other spending decisions, according to the complaint.
Alleged violation of term limits
Another focus of the complaint is the tenure of the board’s top officers. Hagins alleges that former Chair Glenn McCall, who died in July, and Vice Chair Kathy Bigham exceeded the six-year limit in Winthrop’s bylaws by serving into a seventh year.
Hagins said the board has amended its bylaws in other ways over the years but never changed the six-year cap
“I would say the most serious of all of the allegations is the chair and vice chair violating their term limits, and that is because if they do that, everything that (the) Board of Trustees has done is suspect over the last year,” Hagins said.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the board’s June 2025 officer elections void. It also seeks an injunction blocking any actions tied to those disputed votes and requiring new leadership elections. Hagins said he raised concerns about the term-limit violations internally but was ignored.
Retaliation and discrimination complaints
The FOIA case is not the first legal challenge facing Winthrop. Separate complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accuse university leaders of allowing racial discrimination and retaliating against employees who reported it, the Herald previously reported.
In her complaint, longtime employee Amy Bailey alleges that Tammie Phillips, now secretary to the board, repeatedly used racial slurs, creating what she described as an “uncomfortable” environment. Hagins said he resisted efforts by university leaders to shift Bailey’s job responsibilities while her complaint was still under investigation, calling it a textbook example of retaliation. He contends that his refusal led to his firing.
Hagins and Bailey each filed EEOC complaints in 2024. Hagins said Bailey’s case is under active investigation, while his is at the mediation stage. Both complaints, the Herald previously reported, involve allegations against President Edward Serna, Vice President for Human Resources Lisa Cowart and Phillips.
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
