Swart is locked in a legal battle against East Carolina University because he believes ECU has failed to keep its contractual agreement with him.
He said Tuesday he did not think the lawsuit would prevent him from assuming the post at Ball State University.
"I don't see that as any effect at all," Swart said. "It certainly has not been a problem so far with my duties [at ECU]."
During his 17 months as provost, there were allegations made that Swart was implementing questionable hiring practices, including the hiring of former co-workers. Even though Swart said the university had an investigation in which it determined he had done nothing wrong, he ended up being removed from the provost position and placed into a faculty position.
"I spent over a year trying to get ECU to speak to me and to at least have a dialogue about what my issues were," Swart said. "I even paid out of my own pocket for mediators to try to talk to ECU, and they simply refused to talk to me on the grounds that they were the state, and they felt they could do anything they wanted to."
ECU gave Swart less than 36 hours to make a decision after they asked him to resign, Miller said. When he asked for more time, the university refused.
"It was a last recourse situation for him," Jeff Miller, Swart's attorney, said. "He exhausted every other effort before trying to resolve the contract issue through litigation."
John Durham, ECU spokesperson, said the university will defend itself vigorously but refused to comment any further on the case.
When Swart was employed as ECU's provost, Miller said there were terms of his employment that were agreed upon. However, he said contracts between universities and employees are "fairly loose documents."
"They're not what a lawyer would draft," Miller said. "They are what university administrators would draft, but it's clear he was entitled to all the benefits of other full-time employees at the university."
Miller said when ECU demoted Swart from provost to faculty member, he was supposed to receive certain "retreat rights," which are given to administrators who move down to faculty level positions.
If a senior administration official left his employment, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and returned to the faculty, that faculty member would receive nine-elevenths of his former administrative salary as his new faculty salary, Miller said. The reason for this rule is so people who are on a career path would be guaranteed a consistent level of compensation for their career path. This written policy has been consistent at ECU for the past 15 years, he said.
He said ECU violated Swart's contract by not providing Swart with those rights.
The amount Swart was asking for in the lawsuit is difficult to calculate, he said. It would equal the difference between what Swart is currently receiving as his salary and the nine-elevenths of his former salary that Swart says he is entitled to.
Included in the lawsuit is the $7,500 that Swart said he is supposed to receive from the university for his housing allowance. The allowance was to help Swart afford the cost of paying for his home in North Carolina and his home in Virginia, which he had not been able to sell yet, Miller said.
"This is a fairly straightforward case," Swart said. "I think it's so straightforward that there is no question we will win."
Miller said lawsuits between faculty and universities are not unusual, and most lawsuits are settled out of court.
"Whether a settlement occurs or not will depend on the university position," Miller said. "I think it is always a lawyer's hope that you can resolve cases without going to court, but we are prepared to go to court to resolve this."
Swart told the provost search committee that he was involved in a lawsuit with ECU, search committee chairman O'Neal Smitherman said.
"I'm sure that everyone on the committee considers all aspects of anyone's candidacy," Smitherman said. "All of those issues have been discussed in the search committee, and we have received a number of letters of support for Dr. Swart and other explanations as to what occurred."
Smitherman said the committee had only talked to Swart about the lawsuit and not Miller or ECU's lawyers.
"I'm not sure it's appropriate for us to have conversations with people's lawyers," Smitherman said.
Joe Losco, vice president of Ball State's chapter of the AAUP, said Ball State should be wary of a possible pattern in Swart's actions.
"I think the question is whether he just has an inclination to sue universities," Losco said.
Swart said he has never sued anyone in his life before this and has never had a grievance filed against him during his time as an administrator.
"Citizens have the right to go to court if they have an issue, so it's not only my right, but it's my obligation," Swart said.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
