LOUISVILLE, Ky. — An accrediting body that put the University of Louisville on probation has signaled that Kentucky lawmakers appear to be “working to address” its concerns. The group responded after the legislature voted to abolish the school’s board and replace it with one appointed by Gov. Matt Bevin.
In an email to a top university executive, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges said the legislative action appears to be “moving in the direction of clarifying the process for reorganization.”
But accrediting group executive Patricia Donat cautioned in the correspondence sent Tuesday that she could not predict how its board would respond to the new state law, which sailed through the Republican-led legislature last week and was signed by Bevin.
“I do know that it will be important for all legislation, board documents and institutional policies to be aligned once something new is in place,” Donat said in the email, which was initially reported on by The Courier-Journal.
Republican Senate President Robert Stivers has filed another bill that would allow Bevin to replace the board of any public college or university if the board fails to meet certain requirements, including failing to hold regular meetings, elect a chairperson or “reach consensus among its members in order to carry out its primary function.” Stivers said the bill would “provide clarity” about the governor’s role for removing board members.
The accrediting group said in a recent letter that it placed UofL on probation last month because Bevin had interfered with the board of trustees’ decisions and did not use a “fair process for the dismissal of board members.”
Bevin told a Louisville radio station last week that the school’s problems were tied to dysfunction on the governing board, including “infighting.”
