By Vinny Porco

On March 26, 2025, the U of L Board of Trustees accepted the resignation of then-university president Kim Schatzel at a special meeting called just one day prior. Unfortunately, the U of L community still knows very little beyond that.

Many at U of L were left scratching their heads when, upon her resignation, the board disclosed that Schatzel would receive a separation package that included $700,000 and a mutual non-disparagement agreement.

Why would she get paid $700,000 if she resigned of her own volition? The section of her contract concerning “Voluntary Resignation” lists “Accrued Obligations” as U of L’s financial responsibility to Schatzel in this situation. Section 15(d) specifically states that this “…shall not include any form of severance payment.”

An excerpt of the section of former U of L President Kim Schatzel’s employment agreement concerned with terms of voluntary resignation. (File Image / The Louisville Cardinal)

The financial details of Schatzel’s separation with the university, funnily enough, were more consistent with an earlier section of her contract outlining details of potential termination. In particular, payment of such an amount would only align with the document’s language about termination “without cause,” which calls for severance payments equal to a year of “current base pay.”

A section of former U of L President Kim Schatzel’s employment agreement concerned with termination. (File Image / The Louisville Cardinal)

As it turns out, termination “without cause” is more than likely what happened.

Much of what we do know is thanks to open-records work done by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and the dedication of local journalist Jess Clark. An April 2025 Louisville Public Media article saw the release of several notable pieces of correspondence related to Schatzel’s resignation.

The central item of interest in that article was an email sent by the Board of Trustees’ then-chair Diane Medley to Schatzel on March 24, 2025, just two days before Schatzel “resigned.” Current chair Larry Benz was copied on the email, along with U of L’s Chief Legal Counsel Angela Curry.

The first paragraph of that email reads:

“Kim, as we commenced your annual review with full board participation and after the meeting last week and earlier this evening, we have been given direction by the board. After this consideration and discussion, we have been instructed to give you the courtesy of a notice of termination of your employment with the University. We have sufficient evidence for a ‘for cause’ termination of employment. However, our plan is to have an emergency board meeting late in the day Wednesday at 5:00PM, where we will have a public vote to terminate you without cause, which includes fulfilling the financial and other obligations under your agreement.”

Interestingly, Medley notes in the email that the Board of Trustees believed they had “sufficient evidence” to terminate Schatzel “for cause.” However, they instead decided to terminate Schatzel “without cause” and then offer her the chance to resign, as a standard matter of course.

Why would they choose to terminate Schatzel “without cause” when they were confident they had the evidence to do so with the “for cause” distinction? Doing so would prevent the university from having to shell out $700,000.

Were they bluffing about having “sufficient evidence” to terminate her for cause? Or was their decision not to terminate “without cause” possibly a reflection of a “cause” they or Schatzel wouldn’t want to go public in that situation?

Board of Trustees Chair Diane Medley facilitates a meeting before going to Executive Session on March 26, 2025. (Photo by Vinny Porco / The Louisville Cardinal)

In terms of acknowledging the situation, Medley stayed vague. She told LPM that termination without cause would be “less disruptive to all the parties.”

With Benz, it was more of the same. He told KyCIR, “If you had a friend, family member or loved one that resigned and had reasons to do so and those reasons were protected, would you be happy about those being opened up to public view?”

What’s a little “disruption,” in Medley’s words, if it could save U of L $700,000? It’s hard to imagine an above-ground explanation severe enough to warrant a $700,000 cover-up, especially if it’s about a personal issue like Benz’ comment hints at.

After all, responses of surveyed trustees collected in July 2024 suggest the group was happy with Schatzel’s performance. She received good scores across the board, and positive written comments aside from one that suggested she be more accessible to the community.

A written summary of that survey obtained by The Cardinal notes that all respondents agreed or strongly agreed to “recommend that she continue in her current role.”

This was the last review available, and suggests that all was well in admin-land in the summer of 2024.

What could have surfaced in her March 2025 “annual review” that Medley referred to in the above email? When The Cardinal approached U of L Open Records for documentation of this “annual review” mentioned in the email, Associate Director Sherri Pawson stated, “We did not identify an annual review for Dr. Schatzel completed in 2025.”

What could have happened in a period of eight months? What could be so bad that the Board of Trustees would not only terminate her, but essentially pay her $700,000 to keep it under wraps?

U of L Board of Trustees Chair Larry Benz presides over a June 26, 2025 meeting at Grawmeyer Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Vinny Porco / The Louisville Cardinal)

It has been exactly one year since Schatzel’s abrupt resignation, and it’s becoming increasingly likely that we will never know the details of the “cause” that Medley referred to via email. That information is shrouded in layers of rhetoric about “personnel matters” and is further protected by a mutual non-disparagement agreement.

This will not stop the curiosity. Only time will do that. But it’s been a year, and for now, I still find myself asking, “What is the $700,000 secret?” I can think of some Pan-African Studies graduate students and faculty members looking for a new daycare that could really use that money right now.