Emily Bingham

I am the only appointed member of the University of Louisville Board of Trustees with a Ph.D. and with experience teaching at institutions like UNC-Chapel Hill, Centre College, Bellarmine University, and U of L itself. When I joined the board in 2013 I looked forward to using that experience - together with my past service on multiple public boards - to help the university build on its success over the past 15 years by moving forward as a first-tier public university.

We are not moving forward now.

Since I joined the board, our work has, in fact, been made nearly impossible by a series of crises, either caused or made worse by the current administration. Just a few examples:

A core responsibility of a board is employing and paying its leaders, yet we have been lied to about the president’s compensation. We cannot move forward without honesty from the leader we employ.

We have heard and inquired about countless rumors of self-dealing, theft, and conflicts of interest. In each case, our questions (including explicit questions about self-dealing by David Dunn) were dismissed – until disclosure was forced by FBI investigations or lawsuits. We cannot move forward without complete information, and we cannot move forward under a culture of theft.

In a basketball program already embarrassed by the sexual misconduct of its coach, egregious alleged sexual misconduct by employees and players was never met with clear, forceful condemnation from the president. Waiting for years for NCAA judgment is unacceptable. We cannot move forward with leaders whose moral compass on these issues is not clear.

Seventy-eight full professors signed a letter explaining that a “drumbeat of crises” led many of them to feel “ashamed to be associated” with the university. This letter was not brought to our attention by the administration. When the board did learn of it, we failed to answer it. We cannot move forward if we do not all support our faculty and the students they teach.

No other major public university has a president who manages both the university and its philanthropic foundation with the total control of President Ramsey. We cannot move forward with such an outdated and conflicted model of control.

At every turn, President Ramsey tells us that his authority and his “pioneering” leadership require our unquestioning defense. When we ask questions, we get temper tantrums. We cannot move forward as a first-class public institution with a form of a leadership - and a leader - who does not understand what good governance requires. Students, alumni, faculty, staff, community leaders and the Commonwealth deserve better.

I regretfully express my loss of confidence in President Ramsey’s leadership of this vital public university.

Emily Bingham is a historian, author most recently of "Irrepressible: the Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham," and has served on the University of Louisville board since 2013.

Bingham apologizes to Pitino for comments