By Jai’Michael Anderson
President Gerry Bradley and Chair of the Board of Trustees Diane Medley visited the faculty senate meeting April 2 to clear the air on U of L’s recent switch in presidents.
March 26 marked former provost Bradley’s appointment as the university’s top officer following the resignation of Dr. Kim Schatzel. The seemingly sudden switch in power has left many questions and speculations as to why the transition occurred. Bradley, Medley, and Eugene Mueller, Chair of the Faculty Senate and trustee, met with university faculty to address their concerns.
The president’s seat has been a revolving door in recent years. The university has had seven presidents since 2016 — one sitting, three interim, and three permanent. Recent developments in this constant rotation have raised concerns about U of L’s leadership stability.
Bradley shared his sympathy and echoed the former president’s goal to bring longevity to the university’s executive positions.
“Somebody needs to be here for a while,” said Bradley. “I cannot promise anything about it, stability is just something you have to work to. I absolutely agree with you. Is it ideal that I am the seventh president that I’ve had in nine years? No. And I was the sixth provost — so not ideal.”
“My heart is here. I plan to be here,” said Bradley. “I always sort of thought about my next move being my last move.”
He added that he worked jointly with Schatzel to meet with legislators about reducing the impacts of HB4, stating that he and the former president hold the same position and the university will continue to comply with state laws.
“I certainly don’t have any differences in policy between the previous president and myself,” said Bradley.
He said U of L will be working with general counsels at Kentucky universities and the Attorney General to determine how provisions from HB4 will impact their institutions. He clarified that the university is focused on retaining funding and will comply with Attorney General Russel Coleman’s interpretation of the law.
“There are a lot of unknowns in there – contradictory language – it’s still unclear to a lot of folks,” said Bradley.
“We are going to have to understand; what is the law? And we know that we have to follow the law, but we are also a Community of Care. We are also a community, and we’ll take care of our faculty, staff, and students where they’re at. We are committed to doing that.”
“To the knowledge of the Board of Trustees, there is no underlying scandal,” said Mueller.
Bradley’s term is set for three years with a salary of $850,000. Mueller noted that his contract differs from the typical five-year deals dealt to many university presidents. He will receive an ‘in-depth’ evaluation by the faculty advisory committee at the end of two years with the possibility of an extension without a national search.
However, the Board reserved the right to initiate a search as stated in the contract. He specified that there are no direct confidentiality agreements within the contract, which may give the committee more involvement in the review process than in a search.
“I think that is the best show of good faith and the fact that the Board was well aware of shared governance issues,” said Mueller.
“Isn’t that more powerful than bringing in someone we don’t know — or that maybe we do know, and they’ve got a five-year contract,” said Medley. “We [would] have very little input from faculty, students, or staff, or even the people that report to them, about what kind of job they’re doing.”
