Longtime South Carolina State University trustee Charles Williams says he will resign because of the board's decision to not renew President Dr. Andrew Hugine's contract.

Williams said Thursday that S.C. State is in "dire trouble" if the current board remains intact. He believes the board did not act in the best interest of the university by firing Hugine.

"There is no way in hell that they are doing it in the best interest of SCSU," Williams said.

Williams becomes the second trustee to announce his resignation since the board voted to end Hugine's tenure during a Tuesday conference call. Col. John Bowden said he would leave the board on the last day of Hugine's presidency, Jan. 4, 2008. Hugine is on administrative leave.

Williams said he will wait for the General Assembly to convene in January to formally submit his resignation. He said he's waiting so lawmakers can elect his replacement, instead of having the governor appoint one.

Williams said fellow board members are micromanaging the school and do not use good judgement in making decisions.

"I can't work with them. They are out of control," Williams said.

Trustees cited two evaluations as the basis for not renewing Hugine's contract. Williams said the primary reason he's leaving the board is because it ousted Hugine without cause and that the evaluations were not nearly sufficient to ju.jpgy the board's action.

"He hasn't done anything to be fired over. To alienate the alumni, students, Congressman (Jim) Clyburn and state legislators has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen," he said.

Williams said he believed the purpose of Tuesday's special meeting was to remedy an agreement that would have peacefully severed ties between Hugine and the university. The agreement, drafted by Hugine's attorney, stipulated Hugine would announce his resignation by Dec. 15 and, in turn, the board would allow him to serve until his contract expired in June.

When the meeting went into executive session, Williams said that trustee Lumus Byrd immediately made a motion to oust Hugine. Then board chairman Maurice Washington said that such a motion was the only way to alleviate the pressure the board was under in regard to Hugine's future with the university, Williams said.

Williams said he told the board that would be like lighting a bomb fuse. He believes that some trustees possibly met before the meeting Tuesday to discuss getting rid of Hugine.

"I ended up at the second meeting. It was a done deal before the second meeting," he said. "I was born at night, but I wasn't born last night."

He said S.C. State might have trouble finding a new president because of the way the board handled the Hugine situation. Williams also believes the future of the university is at risk if alumni and the

General Assembly do not hold the board accountable.

Williams said that Washington and other trustees could have talked freely about Hugine's future during a board meeting last week because the board was not yet bound to its agreement with Hugine. That is contrary to what Washington said Wednesday, when he said board members couldn't speak last week because the agreement with Hugine required both sides to remain silent on the issue.

Williams has the longest tenure of any member of the S.C. State board, serving since 1986, according the university's Web site.

T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached by e-mail at ltant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-534-1060. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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