By Sherrie Martin–
U of L students are fighting against Katina Powell, author of “Breaking Cardinal Rules,” saying Powell’s claims are damaging to their degree value.
U of L student Kyle Hornback was first to begin a lawsuit against Powell and her publisher, claiming that Powell’s allegations cause U of L degrees to lose value while they are making a profit.
“I had thought about the issue on my own, and after discussing it with an attorney, we were able to put the idea into action. I knew that this was a significant topic of discussion for all university students, so a lot of ideas had jumped around in my head about it,” said Hornback.
Hornback and her lawyer had an original goal of making the suit a class action, with a target of 5,000 students involved. Three students have joined Hornback in the suit.
As the suit evolved and more information surfaced surrounding the situation, Powell’s story has begun to unravel. Most recently, five women whose reputations have been damaged by Powell have joined the suit.
“There is an amended complaint that includes a handful of students that joined (there would be an incredible amount of paperwork involved to include every student) and the five women who deny Powell’s allegations of their participation in prostitution. Their names and photographs were used in the book without their consent and they have since received a lot of negative backlash because of it,” said Hornback.
Although some of the women do admit to being involved in parties and/or stripping, which is not against the law, they all consistently deny participating in any prostitution activities.
“With this new information, not only do we have testimony to prove that at least some of Powell’s book is a fabrication, but we are also looking to remove the book from the shelves entirely because the publishing company and coauthors did not do their due diligence in seeking the consent on behalf of the girls who are mentioned in and photographed in the book, which violates the law,” Hornback said.
Hornback said many mean comments have come from University of Kentucky fans. Backlash has also stemmed from the misunderstanding of her intentions.
“It’s important to me that people understand that I am not doing this for money or attention,” Hornback said. “My sole intention is to prevent a criminal from profiting off of the promotion of illegal activity and to attempt to bring something positive out of something that has so damaged the reputation of the University of Louisville and all of its students.”
