By Olivia Krauth–
President James Ramsey says he will meet individually with every member of U of L’s Board of Trustees to discuss refocusing on students.
“I am disappointed, however, that our University has been defined by the friction among those entrusted with running it,” Ramsey said. “Our students, donors, alumni, faculty and staff deserve better.”
The announcement comes in a campus-wide email today, three weeks after a board of trustees meeting Ramsey said was “marred by discord, anger and tension.” At the meeting, several trustees voiced concern about Ramsey’s leadership, calling for a vote of no confidence at the April 20 meeting.
“Even though there was no advance notice about any lack of confidence, as expressed at the March 1 board of trustees meeting, I take the comments of individual board members seriously,” Ramsey said. “Our students, donors, alumni, faculty and staff demand confidence in their university, so that we continue to build on our progress over the past 14 years.”
Ramsey went on to say administrations and their governing bodies can and should disagree sometimes. “U of L is no different,” Ramsey said. “Over time, our Board of Trustees’ discussions have always had our students and their successes as the primary objective, and further, these discussions were not personal.”
Ramsey included multiple ways U of L has grown since 1998, noting increases in baccalaureate and doctoral degrees, Fulbright Scholars and philanthropic support.
“Our shared governance commitment has encouraged all of the trustees as equals to partner with administration to achieve our shared goals,” Ramsey said. “I commit to you that over the next several weeks restoring cooperation and shared governance between the board of trustees and the administration is a priority.”
