Temporary Restraining Order cancels planned Interim Board meeting scheduled for later this week had been postponed indefinitely

Erskine College has filed a motion for a voluntary dismissal in its lawsuit against the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, but a very similar suit was filed Monday.

Richard Taylor and Parker Young, dismissed members of the Erskine board of trustees, along with David Chesnut, president of the alumni association board of directors and an ex-officio member of the school’s board, and the Erskine Alumni Association filed suit against the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Inc. in Abbeville County Courthouse just before 3 p.m. Monday.

The plaintiffs were also granted a temporary restraining order against the synod which, like the one granted to Scott Mitchell, chairman of the college’s board of trustees who brought the original suit, prevents a synod-appointed interim board of trustees from meeting to revise the school’s bylaws. A motion for a temporary injunction has also been filed and the hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. March 25 at Newberry County Courthouse.

The lawsuit alleges the General Synod violated the school’s bylaws, charter and state law when it voted to remove 14 members of Erskine’s 30-member board of trustees at a special called meeting March 3.