U of L faculty votes to back embattled Ramsey

In a vote that could help save his presidency, a majority of the University of Louisville’s Faculty Senate say they have confidence in James Ramsey’s ability to lead the university.

Asked if they believe in Ramsey's ability to be an "effective leader," 55 percent of the 60 who cast votes said yes, while 40 percent voted no and 5 percent abstained.

University spokesman John Karman said Ramsey was "very happy" with the results, which were disclosed at a Faculty Senate meeting Wednesday, and thinks they send a strong message to the Board of Trustees when and if it takes its own vote on Ramsey.

Larry Benz, chairman of the board, who has opposed Ramsey, said there have been many faculty votes on the president "and it is hard to tell what is truly reflective."

While the faculty governing body has no power to remove the president, a database of such votes at 150 universities since 1989 shows that half the targeted presidents resigned or retired within one year of the vote.

Some senators questioned Wednesday's tally, noting that it seemed to conflict with previously announced polls in which faculty in the Arts & Sciences, Brandeis School of Law and the College of Business voted against Ramsey in overwhelming numbers. Seventy percent of business professors who voted, for example, said they had no confidence in him.

But Faculty Senate Chair Pamela Feldhoff noted that the results of surveys in the university's largest unit, Health Sciences, were never released. Vice chair Enid Trucios-Haynes said the Faculty Senate survey was taken anonymously and independently from the university and there is no reason to think the results are invalid.

The outcome came as a surprise because most faculty senators who spoke out at an April meeting said they thought the time had come for Ramsey to go, citing scandals under his watch and his combative tone with the press.

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But other faculty praised him, noting that enrollment and graduation rates have climbed during his tenure, and some professors bemoaned a mob mentality that seemed to be forcing him out.

Ramsey fought for the support of the Faculty Senate, noting in a statement that through 15 budget cuts, U of L has had no campuswide layoffs or furloughs and that he has raised a tremendous amount of money for research, endowed chairs and endowed professorships.

The president’s supporters also have rallied behind him, buying a full-page ad in the CJ attesting to his accomplishments, and launching an online petition on which more than 500 people listed their names. The statement also noted that Ramsey’s background in finance has enabled him to manage the business of the university during economic turbulence.

Ramsey’s allies on the Board of Trustees blocked a proposed no-confidence vote March 1 on procedural grounds, and the board was set to consider it again last month. But under a settlement reached in a lawsuit challenging the board’s lack of minority representation, the board cannot take any votes on “significant personnel matters” until Gov. Matt Bevin appoints two new minority trustees.

That, in turn, cannot be done until the Governor's Postsecondary Education Nominating Committee recommends appointees to him. Bevin may wait until the end of June when the terms of two more trustees expire, then make four appointments.

Feldhoff, the faculty representative on the Board of Trustees, said her vote, if the board takes one on Ramsey, will be "influenced" by the Faculty Senate tally.

Benz said last month – and reiterated Wednesday – that Ramsey should decide on his own whether to stay, resign or retire, but Ramsey has said he has no such plans and intends to stay at least through the end of his contract in 2020.

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Hired in 2002, Ramsey has been credited with helping dramatically increase the university's academic standards for incoming freshmen and its graduation rate. He also led fundraising drives that have transformed the campus and its athletic facilities.

But over the past two years his leadership came under attack as the university dealt with embezzlement scandals and other embarrassments, including an FBI investigation of its top health care executive and an NCAA investigation of allegations that men's basketball players and recruits were provided dancers and prostitutes. The university also has been criticized for offering buyouts to top officials in exchange for their silence, and Ramsey's compensation has been questioned.

Other critics, including on the Board of Trustees, have questioned Ramsey’s role as president of both the university and the U of L Foundation, its fundraising arm, which has given him deferred compensation. Last year, the CJ reported that Ramsey, provost Shirley Willihnganz and chief of staff Kathleen Smith had been paid $2.4 million, $1.8 million and $1.3 million, respectively, in deferred compensation, and that Ramsey in 2014 was paid 2 ½ times more than the average of the Atlantic Coast Conference's other 14 presidents and chancellors — all of whose universities are ranked far higher academically than U of L.

Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189 or awolfson@courier-journal.com.