Kentucky
House education chair says professor review bill is not aimed at limiting tenure in Kentucky – Kentucky Lantern
FRANKFORT — Kentucky’s public universities and colleges could remove faculty who fall short of new “productivity requirements” under a bill sponsored by the chairman of the House Education Committee.
Rep. James Tipton’s House Bill 228 would require the boards of Kentucky’s public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System to establish a process to review faculty’s “performance and productivity” every four years. Faculty members who do not meet the requirements in their review could be removed from their position “regardless of status.”
Tipton, of Taylorsville, told a Kentucky Lantern reporter last week the bill “has nothing to do with ending tenure” and described it as a “post-tenure review bill.”
Tipton’s House Education Committee will consider the bill Tuesday morning.
“We’re in a time now where we have to have accountability, we have to have transparency, we have to have efficiency. And I think this will allow universities to be more efficient,” Tipton said Thursday. “And if somebody is not fulfilling their performance on the job, they should have a mechanism to address that situation.”
Under the legislation, faculty members could not be removed until 10 days after receiving written notice and must be given an opportunity to introduce testimony or have legal defense.
Kentucky law already allows faculty and administrators to be removed for incompetency, neglect, refusal to perform their duties or immoral conduct.
Tipton said that HB 228 expands the causes for firing to include meeting a university’s performance and productivity requirements. Any decisions on employment appointment could be delegated to university presidents.
The bill says university boards would have to establish their evaluation processes and provide them to faculty members by Jan. 1, 2025. The processes would become effective July 1, 2025.
The American Association of University Professors defines academic tenure as indefinite appointments that “can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency and program discontinuation.” Professors usually earn tenure after teaching and conducting research for six to seven years.
“The principal purpose of tenure is to safeguard academic freedom, which is necessary for all who teach and conduct research in higher education,” AAUP’s website says. “When faculty members can lose their positions because of their speech, publications, or research findings, they cannot properly fulfill their core responsibilities to advance and transmit knowledge.”
At the University of Kentucky, faculty who are working to earn tenure are evaluated every two years.
Tipton said he crafted the legislation to provide consistency across all public institutions, as state law currently has different sections about employment for the University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, other universities and KCTCS.
Tipton referred to 2022 legislation he sponsored and was signed into law to increase oversight of Kentucky State University. That included review of tenured faculty, as well as funding to cover budget falls at the university.
Republicans in other states have recently pushed or enacted legislation that would limit or end academic tenure. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former Republican presidential candidate, signed a law in 2022 that made it harder for state university professors to retain tenure and required university boards to review them every five years.
The Texas Senate passed a bill that would kill tenure in that state last year, but the House gave a counter proposal that allowed professors to be fired by schools for “professional incompetence” or “conduct involving moral turpitude.”
In 2023, an Iowan Republican legislator who proposed a failed bill that would ban tenure at public universities said he would likely not bring similar legislation forward again, but wanted institutions to know lawmakers were still “paying attention” to issues such as freedom of speech on Iowa college campuses.
Tipton said he did not review proposals from other states while working on his bill.
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The Kentucky Wildcats are getting ready to start a new era of their football program. In his 13 seasons as head coach, we have all become accustomed to seeing Mark Stoops teams at Kentucky play a certain way. This has been both on defense and on offense, the Wildcats have had a similar blueprint of winning games and finding success. Now, both sides of the ball will look a lot different in terms of scheme, so we will start on the defensive side and what differences you will see in 2026 under new coach Will Stein.
Old: Conservative 3-4
Mark Stoops and defensive coordinator Brad White had a lot of success in their 3-4 defense with a conservative play style, but it had plenty of weaknesses as well. With a nose tackle head up on the center and two defensive lineman playing on the inside shoulder of each offensive tackle, the defense would create pressure but couldn’t consistently finish to make them sacks. This defense required a guy like Joshua Hines-Allen to win one-on-one blocks on the edge in a dominant fashion to thrive as a defense. Since 2020, Kentucky finished top five in total sacks in the SEC just once, in 2023; every other team finished ninth or less in the conference in team sacks.
This conservative 3-4 defense allowed Kentucky to stay in similar personnel throughout the game. The conservative nature had a bend-don’t-break philosophy of keeping everything in front and making tackles. Kentucky rarely switched things up and rolled the dice with blitzes or had pre and post snap coverage rotations on the back end. It was cover 3 and cover 4 heavy, while not disguising coverages and typically sending four pass rushers at the quarterback.
New: Aggressive 4-2-5
The new scheme under defensive coordinator Jay Bateman will be the entire opposite of the old regime. This scheme will be primarily out of an even front, and we have highlighted current players on the team that will benefit from a change in technique. Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace will switch to a traditional edge rusher lining up outside of the offensive tackle, whereas Tavion Gadson will move to a true three technique on the outside shoulder of the offensive guard and both of these players played in the same technique in the previous scheme. Both Humphrey-Grace and Gadson should have more production moving to techniques they more accurately fit.
Kentucky’s defense will utilize five defensive backs for a majority of snaps, which is beneficial with most offenses living in 11 personnel with three wide receivers on the field. This scheme’s success in year one will heavily rely upon the experienced safety duo of Ty Bryant and Jordan Castell. Coach Bateman will have a lot more safety rotations in this scheme and switch up coverages a lot, disguising a particular coverage pre-snap before switching it post-snap. This defense will have a ton of eye candy to try and keep offenses off balance.
This aggressive scheme will not only roll the dice more on passing downs, playing more man coverage. However, it will also be more aggressive in terms of blitzing the quarterback or sending simulated pressures. Simulated pressures are shown as four defensive lineman rushing, but one will drop into coverage with a back seven player blitzing, still sending four at the quarterback while finding creative ways to do so. This amount of disguise and blitzing can create more havoc in the passing game, but it can also allow players to get out of position in the run game.
This schematic change will greatly benefit Kentucky against pass heavy teams, but it remains to be seen how that will be a benefit or a detriment to the run defense. In theory, this scheme should be able to create more havoc plays like sacks and tackles for loss, which can also provide more turnovers. Will Stein mentioned in a press conference, as an offensive minded coach, he wants to steal possessions on defense to get the ball back for his offense. This aggressive style is built towards a common theme of the new regime, which is they will try to win football games on offense rather than on defense.
WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Wilson County leaders are looking to introduce guardrails on data centers during a meeting Monday night.
The commissioner that introduced the idea said they are looking to mirror an ordinance that passed about an hour north in Warren County, Kentucky.
“We have thought about it significantly, and that’s why today is about protection,” said Warren County Judge/Executive Doug Gorman during a Warren Fiscal Court meeting on June 11.
Where to put data centers has become a global conservation, including here in Middle Tennessee.
“Over the past several weeks, I’ve watched Metro Council deal with the potential of a large data center next to the Nashville Zoo. I want to avoid being in that situation in Wilson County,” District 18 Commissioner Lauren Breeze said during a commissioner meeting last week.
Breeze said there are currently no requirements when and if a data center wants to move to town. So, she is working on a zoning amendment for data centers that mirror regulations that were crafted just an hour north.
“Bowling Green and Warren County, Kentucky, will have the gold standard of ordinances for data centers in America,” Gorman said.
Planning leaders in Warren County and Bowling Green spent eight months drafting an ordinance that they hope will protect their community from potential data center developments.
“Everyone and their brother are calling and asking what this ordinance says,” Gorman added.
The ordinance has strict standards on location, design, utility protections and even decommissioning.
For example, the data centers would need to be set back 1,500 feet from homes, schools, and hospitals, as well as look discrete—like an office building. It’s language Wilson County is looking to mirror.
“In my neck of the woods, we have a lot of warehouse and really big warehouses that honestly could be turned into one,” District 11 Commissioner John Gentry said.
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While some communities, like Cedar Hill, passed moratoriums, which put a pause on data centers, the Wilson County attorney said a moratorium might not hold up in court. However, in Warren County, Kentucky, leaders said their regulations will legally protect them.
“What we are doing is making sure to tighten the rules up enough so when they want to look at us and have to jump through seventeen thousand hoops to get done what they want done, chances are they will move on to somebody else,” another leaders expressed during the Warren County meeting.
The Warren County zoning ordinance will go through a second reading.
Meanwhile, the Wilson County Planning and Zoning Committee will meet at 5 p.m. on Monday, June 22. Data center regulations, as well as a moratorium, will be discussed during the meeting.
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