{"id":4283,"date":"2015-09-04T18:26:51","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T22:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.khpi.org\/blog\/?p=4283"},"modified":"2015-09-15T10:37:46","modified_gmt":"2015-09-15T14:37:46","slug":"protest-at-uofl-board-of-trustee-meeting-over-its-racial-composition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.khpi.org\/blog\/protest-at-uofl-board-of-trustee-meeting-over-its-racial-composition\/","title":{"rendered":"Protest at UofL Board of Trustee Meeting Over Its Racial Composition."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"board-sep-600\"<\/a>I suggest two potential immediate\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>remedies!<\/b><\/p>\n

The University of Louisville Board of Trustees had a major annual meeting<\/a> yesterday, Sept 3, 2015.\u00a0 It was a busy day with an overview orientation in the morning for the three new Board members, two committee meetings, and a long Trustee meeting.\u00a0 I will have more to say about some of the proceedings that included\u00a0a misfire or two such as the Trustees being asked to vote on the recommendations of the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Governance that had not been distributed, and a surprise vote on an internal review of the governance of the UofL Foundation that was passed when all the press had been excluded from the meeting room. \u00a0An update<\/a> on the litigation with Norton Healthcare was given in executive session, but the resulting resolution informs us of another round of court-ordered mediation in October with a rigorous imposed format.<\/p>\n

A \u201cnon-disruptive\u201d protest.<\/strong>
\nTo follow up on a series of earlier articles<\/a>, I want to report here on a protest held during the trustee meeting by several clergy and community activists standing with of the Justice Resource Center of Louisville.\u00a0 These advocates for the African-American community continued to draw attention to the fact that the Board as it was seated was the first not to contain a single African-American trustee appointed by a Governor since 1970. \u00a0The 7 or 8 individuals sat quietly in the meeting room until the first executive session when most folks were sent from the room.\u00a0 At the press conference in the rotunda of Grawemeyer Hall that followed, the protest was anything but reserved.\"protest-sep-600\"<\/a>Strong language.<\/strong>
\nFour individuals spoke. They had nothing bad to say against the Board itself, or of President Ramsey who they praised as working effectively with the minority community of West Louisville.\u00a0 Although it is my understanding that the Attorney General is not obligated to provide a legal opinion for every request by a citizen, the protestors were critical of Attorney General Conway by name for not issuing an opinion about the legality of the current Board before it was seated.\u00a0 There were harsher words for Governor Beshear whose name was mentioned along with former Alabama Governor George Wallace as presiding over segregated systems. \u00a0The group believes that the Board as seated is illegal and must be repaired. They pointed out that African-American athletes seem good enough for the school\u2019s profitable teams but not its governing Board of Trustees.\u00a0 In their words, \u201cthis university has an urban mission and has been serving this community for years so that not appointing someone that represents the make-up of the city is a disgrace, an insult, and it is illegal. We think it needs to be addressed and corrected.<\/em>\u201d In their view (and mine), \u201cthis president \u2026 and this board have been handicapped by this governor by not appointing a racial minority to this board as the law requires.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Advice was given that a court injunction might be requested, or that the proceedings of the current board might be challenged as coming from one that is illegally constituted. Opinions were stated that the state\u2019s Democrats were taking the African-American vote for granted with an implied threat that the party could lose its traditional support. [You can view the comments in their entirety in this YouTube video<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Illegal or worse.<\/strong>
\nThere is no doubt that even if not \u201cillegal,\u201d both the Nominating Committee<\/a> that presents names to the Governor for appointment, and the current UofL Board of Trustees are badly out of compliance with Kentucky statutes.\u00a0 One does not need an Attorney General\u2019s opinion to know that!\u00a0 In fact, the nomination and appointment process is even more of a mess than I initially discovered.\u00a0 Until I attended the trustee orientation this week, I missed the fact that the Governor is further constrained for two the seventeen trustees by a statutory requirement (KRS 164.821<\/a>) that he must select these from a list of three nominees submitted by the UofL Alumni Association\u2013 staggered one every three years! \u00a0Except for a requirement that the nominees be graduates of UofL, there is no requirement that the nominated alumni trustee representatives be balanced by sex, race, political party, or any other criteria!\u00a0 Thus, only 15 of the 17 \u201ccitizen\u201d or at-large of the 20 UofL board positions fall under regulatory control promoting diversity. \u00a0Seems to me that the two major controlling statutes conflict with each other.<\/p>\n

Not bad people, only a bad system.<\/strong>
\nGovernor Beshear is decidedly not a segregationist, and neither he nor Attorney General Conway nor the University of Louisville is racist. \u00a0Comparing Governor Beshear to George Wallace was over-heated rhetoric.\u00a0 Furthermore, strictly speaking, the current Board of Trustees is not segregated. \u00a0Its student-constituent member is African-American and she is no potted plant.\u00a0 There is even a board-resolution in play that would give her and her faculty and staff representative counterparts full-equity voting rights on the Board. \u00a0Imagine that! \u00a0Nonetheless, I believe the white complexion of both the Postsecondary Nominating Committee and the UofL Board of Trustees is a good example of the structural racism that still shackles our community.\u00a0 We live in a world of custom and law left over from a time\u00ad\u2013 within my own lifespan\u2013 when our country was overtly racist and in which segregation was engraved in law.\u00a0 As hard as we try to escape these handicaps, we continually stumble upon unrecognized or ignored consequences of that ugly heritage.\u00a0 The pathway to trustee status continues to be dependent more on who you know and not on who you are.<\/p>\n

How can we make things right now?<\/strong>
\nI asked the protestors what they thought the Governor could do.\u00a0 First of all, they wanted him to admit that he had made a mistake\u2013 a grave mistake.\u00a0 They asserted that this is the Governor\u2019s problem to fix. They made no specific suggestions, so I will do so.<\/p>\n

Solution #1: One or more trustees can resign<\/strong>.
\nThere are trustees on the Board who were there 30 years ago when I first came to Louisville and who seem to have been on one or more of the UofL-associated corporate boards ever since. \u00a0If a trustee positon opens up before the usual yearly appointment date, a governor has a free hand to pick whoever he or she wishes to fill that spot for the duration of the departing trustee\u2019s term.\u00a0 The Postsecondary Education Nominating Committee or the Alumni Association plays no role in such replacement appointments.\u00a0 How about it? \u00a0Perhaps one or more of the current trustees who have had a good run will let someone else participate in University Governance for the good of our community. (Former trustees get to keep their good seats at athletic events!) \u00a0This option has the advantage of being completely legal and gives the replacement trustee full equity with other trustees.<\/p>\n

Solution #2: Add members to the Board by gubernatorial order.<\/strong>
\nI will be very surprised if any existing trustee volunteers to resign their current position or swap it for a position on one of the other influential UofL corporate boards. Therefore, I propose that Governor Beshear appoint as his representatives four African-Americans to sit alongside the existing Board of Trustees. This would give\u00a0representation on the Board roughly\u00a0proportional<\/a> to the percent of the black population of Jefferson County. These\u00a0can be two men and two women, and two Democrats and two Republicans or any combination. If the Governor wishes to continue to appoint fresh outsiders, he is free (and I encourage him) to do so. \u00a0There is no statutory authorization to increase the size of the \u201cofficial\u201d Board and not enough time to write a new law. The new additions can participate in all discussions, serve on all committees, and be subject to all conflict-of-interest rules.\u00a0 Since other non-trustees sit-in when the Trustees enter executive session, these new people should too.\u00a0 Their perspectives will enrich all of the Board\u2019s work. The added members can be designated Ex-Officio members of the Board or any other respectful title. When the next round of nominations and appointments comes up, the pipeline will already be primed. \u00a0Even if there are are\u00a0resignations as above, the Governor can add to the Board’s legitimacy\u00a0in this second way.<\/p>\n

This remedy has the uncomfortable disadvantage of separate and unequal status on the Board, although such has been tolerated for years. \u00a0It has the considerable advantage of becoming operational in a relatively short time.\u00a0 Most importantly, this albeit temporary approach provides a way to respond to the most important of the protestor\u2019s legitimate requests\u2013 that the experience and perspective of this important part of our urban community be at the table when decisions are made.\u00a0 I am aware of no statutory prohibition to this approach.\u00a0 I would like to see who has the nerve to stand up and object!<\/p>\n

How can we make things right in the long run?<\/strong>
\nI reiterate my earlier suggestion.\u00a0 This broken system needs to be scrapped and started over from scratch. The fix cannot come from behind closed doors, and must include participation from those who can help identify the pitfalls inherent in\u00a0our legacy of structural racism, sexism, classism, or other forms of discrimination.<\/p>\n

Peter Hasselbacher
\nEmeritus Professor of Medicine,
\nUniversity of Louisville
\nSeptember 4, 2015<\/p>\n

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