Former president fires back at SC State in new lawsuit

Former S.C. State University president Thomas Elzey says in a new legal complaint that the financially troubled school has paid him just part of his salary since trustees put him on paid leave last month.

Elzey updated his breach-of-contract lawsuit Tuesday against S.C. State, a day after the school’s board fired him as leader of the state’s only historically black public college.

S.C. State’s trustees have not said if they fired Elzey for cause, his new complaint says. If he’s fired without cause, Elzey is due more than $400,000 in state pay and unpaid vacation on his contract that ran through June 2017, according to a legislative report. Elzey’s new complaint says the former president is owed more, including a retirement supplement, worth $50,000 a year, and housing and car allowances.

Elzey said in his lawsuit that he had addressed trustees’ concerns that he could not attend a January board meeting on the same day as Gov. Nikki Haley’s inauguration. College presidents are asked to attend the event at the State House.

A letter sent to Elzey after he was placed on leave last month also refers to a “mid-term progress report.” But that report is not part of Elzey’s contract, his lawsuit said.

The president received a $50,000 bonus from the board last summer in his only formal performance review, the suit says.

Ken Childs, an attorney for the S.C. State board, had no comment Tuesday. S.C. State’s trustees are working to schedule a post-termination hearing with their former president, who spent less than two years on campus, he said.

S.C. State has a $17 million deficit and is fighting to keep its accreditation, placed on probation last year. Meanwhile, state lawmakers are trying to oust its board to get new leadership in place to turn around the 119-year-old school in Orangeburg.

This story was originally published March 17, 2015 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Former president fires back at SC State in new lawsuit."