As U. of Louisville’s President Steps Down, Kentucky Governor Seeks to Upend Its Board

Timothy D. Easley, AP Images

With two executive orders, Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky has thrown the leadership and governance of the University of Louisville into chaos.

The governor, a Republican elected in 2015, announced on Friday that he had disbanded the university’s current 20-member Board of Trustees. He has put in place a six-member interim board to oversee the institution, with three new appointees and the current faculty, staff, and student representatives.

Governor Bevin said he would name a permanent 13-member board, with 10 gubernatorial appointees to be approved by the Kentucky Legislature when it reconvenes, in January. The governor’s executive orders are now being examined by the state’s attorney general, who questions their legality.

At the same time, the university’s president, James R. Ramsey, announced in a brief letter, dated nearly a week after he left to travel outside the country this month, that he would offer his resignation to the new board.

The moves are a surprising twist in a lengthy dispute over Mr. Ramsey’s leadership, colored by disagreement on the board about whether to oust him after 14 years in office. Much of the debate has focused on whether Mr. Ramsey could lead the university past a host of scandals and allegations of misconduct.

Among the controversies that have swirled: Three university officials are now under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and a whistle-blower lawsuit alleges that the president ignored warnings about possible misconduct. Two years ago, another university official pleaded guilty to tax fraud and embezzling nearly $3 million. And the NCAA is investigating charges that a former basketball coach paid for strippers and sex for players and recruits.

Governor Bevin, however, placed the blame squarely on the board, which he described as “operationally dysfunctional.”

“Its dysfunction has precluded it from being fiduciarily effective,” Mr. Bevin said during a news conference on Friday.

The governor also said he had had several conversations with Mr. Ramsey, who was stepping down with the recognition that the university needed “a fresh start.”

Others in the state, though, don’t see a fresh start. They see a power grab by a governor who they say has not been a friend to higher education.

“What the governor did this morning was a great example of political gangsterism,” said Ricky L. Jones, chairman of Louisville’s department of pan-African studies. If the governor’s plans move forward, the university will be operating without a permanent governing board, president, or provost, said Mr. Jones.

And now, Mr. Jones said, the governor can “appoint board members that he will see as functional if they agree with him wholeheartedly.”

‘Unprecedented Actions’

In less than a year in office, the governor has already raised concerns about his views on — and support of — higher education. After announcing his proposed state budget, in January, Mr. Bevin said taxpayers should not subsidize French-literature majors to the same extent as students in science and technology.

In the spring, he ordered a 4.5-percent cut in the current higher-education budget, despite objections from state legislators and the attorney general, who questioned his authority to make such a cut.

A state judge ruled in May that the governor could reduce higher-education spending without legislative approval.

Some state officials are also raising questions about the governor’s authority to dissolve the existing board.

Kentucky law says that board members can be removed by the governor only “for cause, which shall include neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, after being afforded a hearing with counsel before the Council on Postsecondary Education and a finding of fact by the council.”

The state’s attorney general, Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said in a written statement that his office was closely reviewing the governor’s “unprecedented actions” to dissolve the board, which “lawmakers mandated be independent.”

Rep. Derrick Graham, a Democrat and chairman of his chamber’s education committee, said disbanding the entire board would undermine the staggering of trustees’ terms, which is meant to reduce the governor’s political influence.

Despite those issues, some board members who spoke to reporters on Friday said they were reluctantly accepting the governor’s decisions.

The future health of the university “depends on a thorough change of administrative leadership,” one trustee, Emily Bingham, said in an email. Mr. Ramsey’s administration “routinely compromised proper governance oversight and repeatedly failed to communicate effectively,” wrote Ms. Bingham, who was one of the board members active in trying to force a no-confidence vote on the president.

The board’s chairman, Larry Benz, said in an email that he would issue a statement when he had “weighed all of the information.”

Eric Kelderman writes about money and accountability in higher education, including such areas as state policy, accreditation, and legal affairs. You can find him on Twitter @etkeld, or email him at eric.kelderman@chronicle.com.