Yes. But, behind them I suspect is the Emperor.
Paul Atreides, in “Dune.”
More than a year ago I wrote about the capture of the academic process by the Kentucky Governor’s Office where some unnamed individual with clout became “pissed-off” when Dental Professor Dr. Raynor Mullins exercised both his faculty and first-amendment rights to suggest that cutting back on dental and vision services to Medicaid beneficiaries was a bad idea. Everyone involved seemed to know who in Frankfort held the power to intimidate the leadership of our “Flagship University,” but the Governor’s office denied any involvement in the matter. (We have encountered that scenario before, right here in River City!) The University rolled over and dismissed Dr. Mullins.
In response, and to both hold the University accountable and presumably to shine a bright light on what actually appended, Dr. Mullins filed a lawsuit against the persons of the Vice President for Administrative and External Affairs and the Dean of the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry. In my earlier commentary, I opined that perhaps under oath that the truthfulness of the allegations would come out– or not! It is not clear to me that any such disclosure happened. The University requested of Federal Judge Robert Wier a summary judgement (dismissal) of the case against it which was denied. As I understand it, before the case was to go to a jury trial, a private settlement was reached without any admission of guilt. I do not know how much pre-trial discovery was done. Today’s reports in the Lexington Herald and Courier-Journal do not refer to any information from depositions taken under oath. Often such settlements include clauses of confidentiality that hide embarrassing findings from public view. Is it conceivable that court records might be sealed? Is it possible that we may never know to whom the UK officials caved?
What is just as disturbing as not ever knowing the identity of the bully is the claim that communication within the University and with the Governor’s office in this matter was conducted using personal e-mails. The use of personal electronic devises and emails to skirt open-meeting and open-record laws is an emerging threat to the ability of the public to hold its government accountable.
The University of Kentucky does not come off looking good in this matter. It seemingly admits no guilt at all, but some UK entity now has a 6-figure settlement to pay with legal fees to boot. Dr. Mullins is taken back in to the faculty. Transparency disappears. No one is held accountable. Dr. Mullins may not have achieved all his goals, but in my view, he stood up to the state agency that is the University of Kentucky and won!
Peter Hasselbacher, MD
Emeritus Professor of Medicine,
University of Louisville
Dec 10, 2018
[If anyone has public court documents or other information that might shed light on this sad affair– or for that matter correct any misunderstanding of mine– I hope they will communicate with me confidentially or with the email link found in the side-bar of this website.]
Here is a copy of Judge Wier’s opinion of 9-28-18
I had a chance today to read Federal Judge Robert E. Wier’s opinion of 9-28-18 in which he rules against UK’s request for summary dismissal of the case thus advancing it to a jury trial. Enough is summarized in that opinion to convince me that UK had a losing case! There are some interesting aspects. I will report more on this later.
The settlement agreement is confidential, but might be available through an open record request. [Anyone out there have a legal copy already in the public domain? I post Judge Weir/s opinion at both ends of the main article above.
I have confirmed to my practical satisfaction that there were relevant emails exchanged between the Governor’s office and the University, and that private email addresses were used. I need to find out how to get copies of the actual records which are in the trial records which are not sealed. These facts are important enough that they need to be out for the public to see.