LEXINGTON, Ky.
University of Kentucky President Lee Todd has not promoted racial
diversity on campus and sometimes ignores Black student and faculty
accomplishments, a group of professors claimed in a letter.
The professors, who called themselves the “Concerned African American
Faculty,” wrote Todd a letter criticizing his administration for
allegedly being unresponsive to them. Currently, UK has a climate that
“minimizes and omits our numerous achievements and expertise,” the
professors said in a three-page letter.
Todd has reviewed the letter, UK spokesman Jay Blanton said. “His
intent is to get back directly with those faculty who wrote the
letter.”
Blanton said Todd would “want to act in the near future” on their
complaints but that the UK president would take it up with the faculty
“rather than engage in a conversation through the newspaper.”
Recently, Todd apologized to a group of state lawmakers for comments an
administrator made regarding a 40 percent drop this fall in Black
student enrollment. This fall, UK had 757 Black applicants, admitted
360 and enrolled 151.
UK has about 11,000 faculty and staff, and about 1,100 of them are Black, according to the school’s latest numbers.
