Dear President Capilouto and members of the Board of Trustees,
The signatories to this letter agree that it is time for the President of the University of Kentucky to act on the requests made in the two resolutions recently passed by the Senate Council (acting on behalf of the University Senate):
Resolution Expressing Profound Concerns Regarding Proposed Changes to the University Senate Responsibility for Educational Policy
Resolution for an Extended, Careful, and Effective Review of University Regulations
You have made responses to the University Senate that do not seem collaborative. You have refused to provide the data used in the Deloitte and Workgroup 5 report. The request for more time was first reported as denied with your quote in the Herald Leader, which arrived prior to your direct message to the Senate Council. Indeed, such responses seem hostile.
Many members of the UK community have spoken out already about how “shared governance serves as an important check to balance competing interests.” The AAUP and the United Campus Workers have also released a joint statement in support of the University Senate. The AAUP sent a letter on shared governance to the president. More than 250 people attended the March 4 open meeting of the Senate Council. More than 500 people attended the March 18 University Senate meeting. More than 250 people have participated in your listening sessions. More than 300 people have specifically spoken to Senate Council members. Yet nothing has changed. This suggests that you have a plan, and the lack of clarity on that plan has led many people—perhaps especially faculty—to feel nervous, scared, and wary of what is to come.
Countless concerns have been raised about the Accelerate Kentucky project—including the rushed timeline and the threat to faculty decision-making authority, among many others—yet, at this moment, a clear concern of the AAUP and these signatories is that much of this project has happened behind closed doors and without collaboration with the University Senate. It is not reasonable to pursue major changes to the governance structures of the University of Kentucky without deliberate and respectful collaboration with the shared governance bodies that have been entrusted to serve the university in determining educational policies. You must acknowledge that the processes associated with Accelerate Kentucky have lacked transparency, integrity, and collaboration with the University Senate, and you must immediately collaborate with that body in the processes of evaluation, development, and modification of the regulations that directly impact the functions of the University Senate before any revisions of those regulations are presented to the Board of Trustees. This must include deliberate examination of data provided by the University Senate, acknowledgement that these data are not in accordance with previous presentations of “data” surrounding these questions, and a shared plan for going forward that is not simply the same as the hidden plans underway now.
The number of signatories here should signify to you broad support for a process that is transparent and truly a shared endeavor.
Philipp Rosemann, President of UK Chapter of the AAUP
Karen Petrone, Vice President
Robert Lodder, Treasurer
Jennifer Cramer, Executive Board Member
Michael Kennedy, Executive Board Member
Leon Sachs, Executive Board Member