Hample to Receive $217,000 Severance

President Judy Hample will receive $217,000 in severance, according to an amended agreement between Hample and the Board of Visitors.
According to the agreement, the severance will be given to Hample as she “forever waives her rights to tenure on the University’s faculty, effective June 30, 2010.”

Hample will continue to receive her presidential base salary, which according to her original contract, is $330,000.  She will also continue to receive  benefits and will remain in Brompton until June 30, 2010.

This agreement, signed on March 7, was reached shortly after Hample’s resignation was announced in late February.  Board of Visitors Rector Nanalou Sauder said the amended agreement has been in discussion since Hample’s announcement.

Also included in the agreement, Hample must consult and obtain permission from the BOV “for all major personnel decisions, including the hiring and firing of senior administrators.”

“It’s the appropriate legal way to do it,” Sauder said of adding the amendment.

The agreement also included a nondisparagement clause,  which stated, “Dr. Hample agrees she will not engage in any conduct or communication that may impugn the reputation or integrity [of] the University, the Rector or the Board of Visitors or any of its members, or the University’s employees.”

According to Sauder, many of the items included in the agreement are “standard legal things.”

Another agreement reached by Hample and the BOV includes a mutual agreement that neither party will sue the other for any reason.
“It’s good protection for everybody, all parties concerned,” Sauder said.

While the BOV maintains that many of the agreements are standard procedure, several students were displeased regarding the severance.

“It seems a little excessive but I don’t really know the reasoning behind it,” junior Andrew Mullen said.  “She didn’t seem to be terribly involved in the university so it’s hard to have an opinion.”
Junior Latasha Lee had a similar perspective.

“I don’t see the whole purpose.  They should be doing something better with our tuition money,” Lee said.  “It’s ridiculous.”