University Puts Cost of Employing Anwar Sadat’s Widow at $313,000

The University of South Carolina spent about $313,000 to have the widow of slain Egyptian President Anwar Sadat lecture and teach a class for three semesters, school President James B. Holderman said Tuesday.

Holderman made the figures public after a judge ruled that the public’s right to know how much Jehan Sadat was paid was more compelling than the state university’s arguments for keeping the terms of her employment private.

Holderman said she received $7,000 for lecturing in the fall of 1984, $50,000 for teaching a course in the spring of 1985 and $75,000 each semester for teaching fall 1985 and spring 1986 classes in Egyptian culture.

The university paid $9,981 for three round-trip international flights and $94,283 for 44 round-trip charter flights with her security personnel.

Lodging, Gifts Counted

The school also paid $1,475 in lodging costs for three semesters and gave Sadat three gifts with a total value of about $1,800, he said.

“Mrs. Sadat performed magnificently,” Holderman said.

Circuit Judge James E. Moore ruled, in an order made public Tuesday, that the school had to disclose how much it paid Sadat. The suit was filed by journalism student Paul Perkins and his wife, Cheryl, who sought the information for a free-lance article.

Sadat had been scheduled to teach the course again this fall, but she resigned when she learned of the lawsuit, officials said.