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New information is coming out about how Jamie Comstock Williamson, who was last week fired as president of Winthrop University, played a role in the hiring of her husband to a part-time position in government and external relations. The hiring of her husband appears to be one issue in the dismissal. When reports about her husband's work for the university first surfaced, Williamson said that her chief of staff had hired him. That's crucial because South Carolina's anti-nepotism law would have barred Williamson from doing the hiring, even though her husband had relevant qualifications.
On Sunday, The Rock Hill Herald reported on emails it obtained through open records requests that showed Williamson, very shortly after being hired, sent her chief of staff a memo urging her husband's hiring. “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,” Williamson wrote, of her husband. The email also said that his salary should be "low enough not to attract critics."
A lawyer for Williamson declined to comment on the emails.
