South Carolina prof loses breach of employment contract case

A tenured professor at Erskine College in Due West claimed the institution breached its employment contract with him as set forth in the faculty manual. The trial court overruled the jury verdict in the professor’s favor, but the South Carolina Court of Appeals reinstated it. A sharply divided South Carolina Supreme Court, however, recently agreed with the trial court and decided the college hadn’t breached the contract.

Contract or no contract?

William Crenshaw, the professor, claimed Erskine violated the faculty manual provisions titled "Termination of Tenured Faculty Appointments." In the complaint, he alleged the "relationship thus became an ongoing contract between [him] and . . . Erskine College governed by The College Faculty Handbook."

At trial, Erskine refused to concede the faculty manual is a contract. The college stood its ground until it was forced to concede the point during oral argument. As a matter of law, the court decided the college’s manual is indeed a contract with its tenured professors.

What faculty manual says

Erskine’s faculty manual sets forth certain expectations and standards for tenured faculty members to follow. It also provides the grounds or cause for a termination and a process by which the college may discharge a faculty member. In addition, the manual contains a procedure for tenured faculty members to follow to contest a termination, which includes: