June 21, 2016

To: Members of the Board of Trustees of the University of Louisville

Dear Members of the Board:
I am writing on behalf of an ad hoc group of 47 University of Louisville faculty
who met today to discuss the crisis in governance created by Governor Matt
Bevins Executive Orders 2016-338 and 2016-339 of June 17, 2016.
First, we urge you to continue to consider yourselves to be the legally
appointed members of the Board of Trustees, and to act accordingly. As you
surely are aware, there is no provision in Kentucky Revised Statutes that
permits the wholesale dissolution of the University of Louisville Board of
Trustees by the Governor. However, KRS does specify that legally appointed
members may be removed only after a finding of cause at a hearing by the
Council on Postsecondary Education [KRS 164.218(b)]. Since no such
hearings were conducted, nor any findings of cause determined, you remain
the duly appointed Trustees, and as such retain your full powers and duties as
the Board of the Trustees.
Second, we urge you, either individually or collectively, to file a motion for an
immediate injunction staying Executive Orders 2016-338 and 2016-339.
Such a motion is warranted on several grounds. The Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools mandates that the governing Board be free from
undue influence from politicalbodies and protects the institution from such
influence (Principles of Accreditation, 3.2.4), and that the governing Board
have a policy whereby members can be dismissed only for appropriate
reasons and by a fair process (3.2.5). The Governors Executive Orders
violate both of these standards of accreditation and therefore place the
University of Louisvilles accreditation in jeopardy. Further, we should
consider how these Executive Orders might undermine the professional
accreditations in the School of Medicine, Brandeis Law School, the College of
Education and Human Development, the School of Social Work, and others.
Further reasons in support of a motion for an injunction include the loss of
political independence for the Board, loss of institutional memory embodied
in the membership of the Board, and the immediate diminishment of the
academic legitimacy and reputation of the University of Louisville.
Very truly yours,

David S. Owen
Associate Professor of Philosophy