Morgan Watkins, and Andrew Wolfson

The Courier-Journal

Ruling that Gov. Matt Bevin had illegally acted as “judge, jury and executioner” in abolishing the University of Louisville board of trustees and appointing his own, a judge on Wednesday permanently set aside Bevin’s orders.

In another blow to Bevin’s executive powers, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said Bevin’s June 28 actions were “entirely without precedent.”

Shepherd wrote in a 17-page opinion that Bevin “maligned the integrity and competence” of the former board members by calling them “operationally dysfunctional,” then broke the law by giving them “no recourse whatsoever” to contest his “unilateral fiat.”

The judge also said Bevin improperly agreed to fire and replace the board as a condition of getting President James Ramsey’s agreement to resign.

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Amanda Stamper, a spokeswoman for Bevin, said the administration's general counsel was reviewing the ruling, which she noted "just so happens to come out the day before the one-year anniversary" of an attorney general's opinion that Attorney General Andy Beshear, "and now the circuit court, ignored."

She said that opinion, issued under former Attorney General Jack Conway, says Kentucky law "specifies that these reorganizations ‘may include the creation, alteration or abolition of any organizational unit or administrative body.’ "

"The governor thus has the authority to reorganize the University of Louisville board …” Stamper said in an email in which she declined to address whether the governor will appeal.Beshear, who sued to block Bevin’s orders, applauded Shepherd for issuing a ruling quickly and called on Bevin to either accept the ruling and appoint trustees to fill five openings, or agree to move the case immediately to the Kentucky Supreme Court.

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“What our students and faculty need now is finality,” Beshear said in a statement.

Dr. Bob Hughes, a staunch Ramsey supporter who serves on the board and recently stepped down as U of L Foundation chairman, said Bevin “attempted to do the right thing by trying to fix a dysfunctional ... board." But Hughes said, “His method as ruled by the courts has failed, and that ruling must be honored.”

Larry Benz, the chairman of the board that Bevin tried to abolish, declined to comment on the ruling, saying the trustees are looking forward to helping boost “student success, breakthrough research and community engagement.”

Another trustee, Brucie Moore, who also was recently named chairwoman of the foundation board, urged Bevin to fill five vacancies on the board, including two minority vacancies, even if he decides to appeal, so the board can begin the "critical business" of searching for a new university president.

"Finding a new leader for U of L is too important to the campus community, city and commonwealth to be delayed," she said.

Student Trustee Adam Vance, saying students want to see the issue resolved, called for "compromise with the common goal of allowing this university to be able to focus on the things that really matter: our students, faculty and staff."

Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman, who was chairman of the replacement board appointed by Bevin, said he didn't anticipate any protest. "It is out of our hands," he said.

Shepherd cited a decision by the Kentucky Supreme Court last week in which it held Bevin overstepped his authority in slashing public university budgets and holding that his power to reorganize state agencies does not extend to universities – and hasn't since 1952.

Rejecting one of Bevin’s main arguments, Shepherd also said the governor’s “assertion of unlimited power, during the legislative interim, to abolish a board, composed of members who can only be removed for cause, would completely defeat the protection of board members from partisan political interference for discharging their fiduciary duties.”

Shepherd wrote that he did not doubt Bevin’s “good intentions” but that if a court accepted his interpretation of the governor’s power to reorganize boards, “there would be nothing to stop a future governor from employing it to destroy a university board as a means of political retaliation, or to extort some economic advantage, or for other motives that are not in the public interest.”

“The court holds that the governor's re-organization power” under state law “does not extend to public universities, which the legislature has placed outside the scope of the organizational structure of the executive branch of government,” he said.

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Even if the governor had the power to reorganize university boards, Shepherd held that the law requires that trustees be removed only for cause, after a hearing.

Shepherd also rejected Bevin’s argument that abolishing the board was justified because it did not have enough minority members, saying that could be “cured forthwith” if he had complied with his pledge to fill existing vacancies with African Americans. Shepherd also said the political imbalance could be corrected over time through routine gubernatorial appointments.

Shepherd also noted that Bevin’s move, by undermining the independence of U of L, could jeopardize its accreditation.

In July, Shepherd issued a temporary injunction blocking Bevin’s new board from meeting, and the old board has met several times since.

Among other things, by nearly unanimous vote, it agreed to sue the university’s foundation unless is adopted seven reforms, many of which have been put into effect.

An ad hoc group of 47 faculty members had called Bevin’s order dismantling the board “an immediate diminishment of the academic legitimacy and reputation” of the university and supported Beshear’s lawsuit.

Reporter Morgan Watkins can be reached at (502) 875-5136 or mwatkins@courier-journal.com. Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189 or awolfson@courier-journal.com

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