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Employees detail anger of fired Winthrop president

ROCK HILL, S.C. — (AP) About a dozen employees say a fired president of Winthrop University yelled whenever she was angry and created a hostile work environment.

University trustees used the statements when they fired Jamie Comstock Williamson last month. The Herald of Rock Hill obtained the statements through a Freedom of Information Act request.

One employee said Williamson yelled as she was moving in her office because she didn't have enough file folders. Another employee took a $5,000 pay cut and moved to a different job on campus to get away from Williamson and her temper.

Williamson's lawyer says trustees never showed the statements to her. Attorney Bev Carroll says Williamson is ready to move on to mediation with the school over the remainder of her contract.

In one statement, an employee said Williamson was screaming at workers before she even officially started on July 1, 2013. As she moved in her office, the employee said she was angry because she only had 30 file folders and needed 100.

"The yelling and screaming went on for five minutes," the employee said in the statement.

The school said it removed all employee names from the statements to protect their privacy.

Williamson also threw something against the wall that day, the employee reported.

"I cried all the way to the car. Never have I been treated so disrespectfully by upper management," the employee wrote. "She was not even officially employed."

One employee said Williamson once grabbed her arm and pulled her into her office, saying she didn't want others to hear her scream. Another employee said Williamson couldn't get through a meeting about upcoming events without yelling that her schedule was too packed.

"During this particular meeting, she began crying and screaming, 'Do you people know what you are doing to me? Just look at all the things I have to do next week! How can I possibly do all of this stuff? I'm not even wearing underwear today, because I haven't even had time to do my laundry this week!'" the employee wrote.