When C.L. Max Nikias was ousted as president of USC amid a sex abuse scandal involving a onetime campus gynecologist, the university’s trustees sent him off with a compensation package that exceeded $7.6 million, according to newly released tax filings.
The filings, made public by the university this week, cover the 2019 fiscal year, a period during which Nikias served just 38 days as president. He stepped down in August of that year in the face of faculty and student outrage over the handling of Dr. George Tyndall, a student health center doctor accused of abusing and harassing students for decades.
USC’s board defended the payout in a statement, saying it was necessary to abide by the terms of Nikias’ contract and “in order to move forward with a leadership change.”
“The board also agreed to certain other provisions to accelerate [Nikias’] departure prior to the end of his three-year term,” the statement said. “The compensation reflects money owed to him for salary, retirement and other benefits, some of which date back to the employment agreement he entered into when he became President in 2010.”
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