FRANKFORT — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear expanded on his recent criticisms of leadership at the University of Kentucky — adding that he is wary of efforts to consolidate employees under private entities and the changes to governing regulations that gutted the faculty senate.
Beshear, a Democrat, had publicly scolded the university last week over recent hiring decisions, such as the appointment of U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove as the next dean of the UK College of Law and, seemingly, the creation of an executive job for retiring Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart with a $950,000 annual salary.
During his weekly Thursday press conference, the governor said that he “watched the fall of Jim Ramsey,” a former president of the University of Louisville who left his position after financial scandals.
“I saw what happens when too much power is consolidated in just one individual running the university — that sometimes they start thinking that they are the university, and that their decisions shouldn’t be questioned or criticized,” Beshear said. “And then what happens is what would have been a stellar legacy ends in a very difficult way.”
Beshear said he was “concerned” about the 2024 changes to the university’s shared governance policies that lessened the role of the faculty senate. At the time, faculty warned that the new structure would strip them of their power over academic decisions. The changes abolished the University Senate, which had faculty, student and staff representatives, and created a faculty senate.
The governor questioned the creation of vague new entities that will apparently employ some UK personnel. Within the last year, UK has been establishing new private LLCs that it says will “improve organizational efficiency, consistency and quality of service delivery.”
“Many of them are union employees, and there’s a real concern that they will lose a lot of their rights as public employees or as union employees, and I think especially a higher education institution ought to be looking out for the people that work for them,” Beshear said.
The governor added that he was still was not satisfied with the university’s response to the Van Tatenhove and Barnhart jobs. UK officials defended the hiring of Van Tatenhove in board meetings last week. Barnhart ultimately decided to not take the role as the first executive of the Sports Workforce Initiative at UK.
During the Friday meeting, Board of Trustees member Jim Gray called for a “collaborative group” to review and adjust the university’s governing regulations. Gray recently became an adviser to Beshear on transportation after serving as his Transportation Secretary.
“I’m still worried that, while they didn’t move forward with the $1 million job made out of thin air, that nobody’s saying that maybe that was a bad decision,” Beshear said, adding that when the state budget “is as tight as it is,” UK still created the job.
As for the dean, Beshear said that Van Tatenhove’s resume did not meet what the original job description was. In his presentation to a committee, Provost Robert DiPaola said Van Tatenhove’s experience would meet the “extraordinary circumstances” under the American Bar Association’s school accreditation standards.
“Then we’re told that, well, the process allows for ‘extraordinary circumstances.’ Well, you’re not a normal process, right, if you have ‘extraordinary circumstances,’” Beshear said. “And then just the coincidences that they would claim different connections and employment. It just gives me great concern there.”
According to his federal disclosure forms, Van Tatenhove has accepted reimbursements for travel from Joe Craft, a coal executive who is an alumnus of the College of Law. He and his wife, former U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft, are state and federal GOP megadonors and major donors to the university.
Beshear said his criticism had “nothing to do with cases,” including one where Beshear’s administration is facing a lawsuit in Van Tatenhove’s court that stems from revoking a liquor license. The governor said he’s “being treated fairly” in that as well.
He also said a “supermajority” of law faculty at the college opposed hiring Van Tatenhove, which is another factor in ABA accreditation. The Louisville Courier Journal first reported that associate deans had alerted Provost Robert S. DiPaola via letter faculty felt Van Tatenhove was an “unacceptable” candidate as he lacked “qualifications to be granted tenure,” which could risk the school’s accreditation. DiPaola said last week he was only alerted about the opposition in the letter, which happened after an “informal meeting.”
The Kentucky Lantern requested the letter and DiPaola’s response from UK in an open records request. On Wednesday, the university denied the request, saying that “all communication prior to the announcement of the hiring of Judge Van Tatenhove” as dean is “considered preliminary” under state law and cannot be disclosed.
“I’m going to take a real close look at the Board of Trustees to make sure we’re getting real, strong oversight,” Beshear said. “And they should absolutely walk back what’s claimed to be the 2024 action that moved these decisions to the President.”
However, Beshear said he was “not sure I read it fully that way,” regarding the power of administrators under the 2024 changes, and added that he does not want to see “when administration thinks that maybe something they want is not going to get through, they do some creative lawyering to get out of votes that might otherwise be up.”
As governor, Beshear has appointment power over trustees on public university boards.
“As always, we appreciate the governor’s feedback and we take it seriously. We are committed to oversight and openness,” said Jay Blanton, a spokesperson for UK. “And we will always listen for how we can improve and deepen that commitment.”
UofL
Beshear’s Thursday press conference was also the first since media outlets reported that the Kentucky Senate did not confirm Beshear’s reappointment of Sadiqa Reynolds to the University Board of Trustees before it adjourned earlier this month.
The governor said Reynolds is “an amazing leader” and praised her work at the Louisville Urban League.
“I think it’s a loss for UofL that she is not continuing to be on that board, but I have full confidence in Sadiqa, and if she’s willing to help us in other areas, I’d be grateful for it,” he added.
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Written by McKenna Horsley. Cross-posted from the Kentucky Lantern.
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