Is it legal? If so, where might it take the University?
Over the past few months The University of Louisville Board of Trustees has gone from 20 members to 20 sidelined members, to 3 “temporary” ones, and just last week to 13 possibly permanent members, 10 of whom were newly appointed by the Governor. Although the sequence from dismissal to replacement was initiated by means of a questionable claim of illegal racial composition, none of the subsequent changes in Board powers or composition are authorized by existing Kentucky law controlling Board composition. In its setting of a pending vote by the former Board of no confidence in President James Ramsey, the gutting and replacing of the Board can be reasonably interpreted as a way to protect the presidency of Dr. Ramsey, and to assert absolute control of the Board by the Governor. I will suggest below that the method used for the recent appointment process and the fruits of its labor both reinforce these limited motivations. In my opinion, the outcome of the appointment process was never in doubt, and an attempt to legitimize the process through the Postsecondary Nominating Committee was a sham. Continue reading “New Board of Trustees at UofL. A done deal?”