Troutman seeks to amend lawsuit against Clemson

By Cindy Landrum  

AUGUST 23, 2010 7:24 a.m. (0)

Less than a month after U.S. District Judge Matthew Perry dismissed a key claim in his lawsuit against Clemson University, former university board executive secretary Eugene Troutman has asked to amend his complaint.

In his proposed amendment, Troutman alleges Clemson officials engaged in a civil conspiracy against him.

Troutman alleges school officials falsely accused him of illegally removing his personal files and destroying electronic files from his university-issued laptop, claiming he had “wiped clean” more than 30,000 documents.

In addition, Troutman asked Perry to allow amendment of the lawsuit to name Clemson’s board in their individual capacities in his claim he was fired for speaking out in an attempt to “correct abuses of discretion, inadequate safeguards, improper practices, fiscal policy and breaches of duty.”

Troutman has said cuts in money the school received from the state did not justify the university’s tuition increases. He claimed the university’s board “hoarded” money from the increases to build an unrestricted reserve fund of about $80 million.

Clemson officials have said Troutman failed to establish and maintain effective working relationships with the board, faculty representatives and the administration.

Last month, Perry dismissed Troutman’s claim against Clemson that he was fired for exercising his First Amendment rights.

In his ruling, Perry ruled Clemson is an arm of the state and is immune from such lawsuits.

In court papers, Troutman said allowing the amended complaint “is in the furtherance of justice.”

A Clemson official called it desperate.

“We believe this is a desperate, last-ditch effort to keep alive a lawsuit that is totally without merit,” she said, adding the university will file a response to that effect within the next few weeks. “We continue to emphasize that these allegations are baseless, and we will continue to aggressively pursue our counter-claim and recover the public documents that were taken from us.”

In the amended complaint, Troutman said statements made by trustees Bill Amick and then-chairman Bill Hendrix have made him “virtually unemployable.”

He also said others who have left Clemson – including former presidents, vice presidents, deans, board secretaries and athletic coaches left with personal files, and in some cases, original documents.

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