[Addendum 26 July: Meeting cancelled this morning! This is what I was met with with I showed up.]
Another short-notice meeting of the possibly legally appointed UofL Board of Trustees is scheduled for tomorrow. The first item on the published agenda is consideration of the resignation of President James Ramsey. The next and only other item on the agenda, making it seem like a decision has already been made, is consideration of transition planning and search for a next president.
I was unable to make it the last meeting and was preparing an analysis of the reports in the Courier-Journal, Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, Insider Louisville, WDRB-41, and the Louisville Cardinal. I will submit my additional thoughts later, along with a summary of tomorrow’s meeting.
Buy-out?
In interviews over the past weeks was mention of a buy-out of Dr. Ramsey’s contract. One question that I hope will be asked tomorrow is, “if President Ramsey has resigned, why is an issue of buy-out even be on the table?” Surely given all that has come before, no additional financial burden should be placed upon the shoulders of an already debt-burdened student body. The presence of student questioners clearly influenced the outcome of last week’s consideration of the University’s budget with its 5% raise in tuition. Additional seven-figure payments to Dr. Ramsey will surely raise objections by others than myself.
We shall see what we shall see.
Peter Hasselbacher, MD
Emeritus Professor of Medicine, UofL
25 July 2016
The meeting was rescheduled for the next day. An executive session of some 8 hours resulted in a negotiated resignation of Dr. James Ramsey. A generous buy-out to avoid litigation was announced. This was not a resolution of all the outstanding issues. See next posts.