Fired minority affairs director sues Ohio State

COLUMBUS – A minority affairs director fired from Ohio State University after 11 months on the job sued the university yesterday, claiming he should have been paid for all of the years remaining on his five-year contract.

Timothy Knowles, who earned $125,000 a year, was paid for an additional 13 months after he was fired July 31. But he wants compensation for the remaining three years on his contract, a total of $375,000.

Knowles was hired to help the state’s largest university increase diversity among students and faculty and improve services to minority students. He was selected after a two-year search for a new director.

Students had accused Ohio State of not paying enough attention to minority concerns and criticized the school for letting the top post in the Office of Minority Affairs remain vacant for too long.

The lawsuit was filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. Reginald Cooke, Knowles’ attorney, said his client probably would consider accepting reinstatement if it was offered.

Lesley Deaderick, an Ohio State spokeswoman, said Ohio State’s policy is not to discuss pending litigation.

"As we stated last July when Dr. Knowles was terminated, a thorough review of his performance led us to believe that a change in leadership was necessary in the Office of Minority Affairs," Ohio State said in a short statement.

The school reviewed his performance after workers in the minority affairs office complained about Knowles’ management style.

Provost Ed Ray said at the time that "the message that came back was pretty uniform – that he basically wasn’t working very well with people, that there were morale issues and issues of trust."

But Cooke said Knowles was fired because he was trying to remove ineffective people in his office. Cooke would not identify those people.

Knowles began to reassign duties and responsibilities when he was hired, which might have angered office workers, Cooke said. The attorney said the changes were needed because people overseeing the office’s budget and retention and recruitment didn’t have experience in those areas.

Ohio State officials had said they would correct personnel problems before Knowles took over the job but never did, Cooke said.