Former Winthrop University president ordered email evidence of nepotism destroyed

Former Winthrop University President Jamie Comstock Williamson had her husband hired at her school.

She made the hiring suggestion via email before her inauguration; when questioned by university trustees, she told a campus technology staff member to purge the emails.

Recently-fired Winthrop University (WU) President Jamie Comstock Williamson instigated her husband’s hiring at the university—an act the university's trustees said violated the state's nepotism law and led to her termination—then tried to have the incriminating emails destroyed.

Just weeks after her selection as WU’s new president and months before her presidency began, Williamson was already making suggestions via email in regards to the university hiring her husband, Larry.

When trustees brought up concerns about Larry's position at WU, Williamson claimed it was not her idea and that her husband was hired by her chief of staff.

The recently recovered emails suggest a different story.

“In your role as chief of staff, I want to work with you to create a new temporary (I think that is the correct word) staff position for Larry,” reads one email written by Williamson. She explained that his salary should be “low enough not to attract critics.”

After WU trustees started to question Williamson on her husband’s employment, she told a campus technology staff member to purge the emails.

Winthrop is currently headed by Provost Debra Boyd, who is acting as interim president.

Via The Herald.

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