Ex-president sues S.C. State; Clark seeks $1.8 million

Columbia attorney Donald Gist, who is representing Clark, questions how the S.C. State board and the SCSU Foundation board can “work a guy for four years” and pay him half of what was agreed upon in his contract.

“We have engaged in a number of efforts to resolve this matter, but the Foundation has been unresponsive in rendering payments to James Clark,” Gist said.

Clark is seeking a total of $1,770,136 in damages. That includes $570,136 for breach of contract and failure to render outstanding payments for salary, plus $1.2 million in punitive damages.

In his court filings, Clark claims the money is being withheld with “malicious intent” and simply because S.C. State Chair Rodney Jenkins and former S.C. State National Alumni Association president John Funny “did not like him (Clark).”

Clark’s also suing Jenkins and Funny.

S.C. State spokesman Sam Watson said university officials “cannot comment on current or pending litigation.”

Jenkins declined comment on the allegations.

Funny said by phone, “I have not reviewed that claim as of yet.

“I can’t comment on anything in pending litigation.”

Clark was named S.C. State’s 12th president in 2016.

His court filings claim his initial contract stipulated his salary would include state funds and additional compensation through non-state funds held by the university’s Foundation.

The state portion of the contract was $195,000, which Clark received. He says he was also supposed to receive $195,000 in non-state funds handled by the Foundation.

Fringe benefits brought the total compensation for Clark up to $446,550.

Clark claims the Foundation was to manage the non-state salary supplement and additional compensation and “at no time did the (university) assert (Clark) would not be paid in this manner.”

He also claims the, “SCSU Board and defendant (SCSU) Foundation knowingly sought to destroy the annual compensation package by allowing the Foundation to fail to honor its duty to pay (Clark).”

The SCSU Foundation and the board of trustees allegedly, “abdicated their responsibility in assuring (Clark’s) contracts for compensation would be honored and sought to cause (Clark’s) termination though withholding (Clark’s) overdue payments, and by further withholding (Clark’s) corresponding new compensation package, as consistent with the previous … salary and supplement.”

Clark’s court filings claim that in May 2020, the board of trustees held a vote to renew Clark’s agreement for an additional two years but that Funny “viscously assailed” Clark’s job performance and that Funny “with the approval of the Foundation Board in his official capacity, in fact, encouraged the diversion of donations earmarked for the President’s salary.”

The university’s Board of Trustees extended Clark’s employment for an additional two years with an option to renew for an additional two years, with the Foundation money as part of the contract, his filings claim.

A new board came on board in September 2020 with Jenkins as the new chair.

The court filings claim there was an effort by the new board of trustees, led by Jenkins and Funny, to “block funding to the Foundation in efforts to force (Clark) into resigning.”

Clark’s lawsuits allege both Jenkins and Funny attempted to undermine him with falsehoods and unverified allegations about his job performance.

Six months after the renewal of the contract, another employment agreement was presented to Clark. He claims the agreement did not include the originally agreed upon supplemental agreement with the Foundation-managed, non-state funds.

A week later, trustees met about Clark’s employment.

Clark’s filings allege he signed an employment agreement in November 2020 with the S.C. State board with the understanding that a “memorandum of understanding” was in place that the non-state funding portion of his contract would be forthcoming.

The contract included a two-year term with an option to extend for an additional two years based on Clark’s meeting performance benchmarks that align with the university’s strategic plan, the filings claim.

In July 2021, the same board of trustees voted 10-3 to remove Clark as president.

Retired U.S. Army Col. Alexander Conyers was tapped to serve as acting president at that time. Conyers was then named interim president and has since been named the university’s 13th president.

Clark claims the S.C. State board and Foundation board acted in bad faith, did not carry out their contractual obligations and that the funds that were supposed to go to Clark’s salary were diverted to other activities of the Foundation.

Clark is the second S.C. State president represented by Gist. He also represented Dr. George Cooper.