Board of Supervisors upholds firing of Former Band Director

Former Southern University Band Director, Nathan Haymer, has been battling the ruling of his controversial termination after audits surfaced reporting over $300,000 being put into his personal bank account over his four-year tenure as Southern University’s Band Director.
Since the initial ruling was announced in the Spring of 2018, Haymer has been battling the ruling under the pretenses of incomplete evidence via audits produced by the university .
On Friday, August 24, the Southern University Board of Supervisors upheld the initial ruling that terminated Haymer’s position at the Historically Black College, temporarily halting the long-standing saga of legal battles between the two parties.
After meeting for a period of around two hours on the 24th, the Board exited the meeting and announced that by a vote of 6-5, they would be upholding Southern University System President-Chancellor Ray Belton’s, initial ruling of termination.
Serving as Band Director of the Southern University Marching Band since 2014, Haymer’s termination was met with much controversy when it first occurred, as noted by many members of the band.
“You can be doing all of the right things for the right reasons, and someone may still feel like you’re in the wrong. I know that everything he does is for us and not against us, and for that, I will always love and support him,” said Elisa Hood, a sophomore biology major and band member from Atlanta, Georgia.
According to Haymer’s attorney, Karl Bernard, the funds shown in the audit that was used as evidence towards his termination were only in his account at the instruction of university officials. Said funds were supposed to be allocated to new band equipment and other supplies.
“We are going to continue to exhaust our efforts to demonstrate to the board that Mr. Haymer deserves a second shot,” Bernard said moments after the meeting.
While Bernard did present a 15-20 minute pitch in favor of Haymer, he noted at the conclusion of his pitch that it would be “hard” to override a decision handed down by the System President.
“I have zero comment,” said Haymer as he was left the hearing.