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.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — One person died and several others were injured when an EF-2 tornado tore through Washington County on May 30, 2025.
A year later, Emergency Management Services Director Kevin Devine is now reflecting on the scene left behind.
“It looked like a bomb went off in several houses,” Devine said.
The tornado left widespread destruction in its path.
Covering Kentucky
Community mourns Ron Hill, victim of Friday’s Washington County tornado
“It was just trees mangled, a house blew off, windshields, vehicles cracked and moved,” Devine said.
The tornado touched down on Long Run Road, a rural one-lane road. Crews used chainsaws to cut through debris to clear a path for ambulances.
Access to the area proved difficult for emergency responders.
“It had rained a lot so if you got off the road a little bit you had a chance of getting stuck,” Devine said.
Devine, who has served as director of Emergency Management Services for more than two decades, called the response his toughest experience in that role.
“It was a challenge getting in and out and getting people in and out because everybody’s trying to go both ways,” Devine said.
The search and rescue operation took nearly 100 volunteers from multiple counties.
Now, as the county plans for future severe weather events, Devine said he does not see Washington County adding to its six warning sirens already in place — outside of some additional communication efforts with neighboring communities.
“We’re such a rural county, we can’t really put them next to every house,” Devine said. “With the news the way it is you now can get your warnings on your phone pretty easily.”
At the site on the hill above Long Run Road, recovery has taken a personal shape. Tonya Orberson lost her fiancé, Ronnie Hill, in the tornado. According to Devine, she now has a new home, complete with a basement.
Devine credited the community for making that recovery possible.
“They really pitched in and helped,” Devine said.
Jim Obergefell talks LGBTQ+ rights 10 years after Supreme Court ruling
Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that legalized gay marriage nationwide, looks back on its impact 10 years later.
Happy Pride Month!
About 9% of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual, and some places are safer for and more welcoming of those in the LGBTQ+ community.
Here’s how Kentucky ranks compared to other states.
How Kentucky ranks for being welcoming, safe for LGBTQ+ members
Kentucky ranks No. 35 out of 50 states for being welcoming of the LGBTQ+ community, according to Out Leadership’s State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index. While the commonwealth has climbed eight spots since 2019, it earned about 41 out of 100 possible points, receiving a B- grade.
The report comes as national scores continue to decline. The average state score has fallen for four consecutive years and now sits at 53.1, with 26 states scoring below 60, Out Leadership founder and CEO Todd Sears told USA TODAY.
The index suggests acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. has declined in recent years, reversing progress that once improved the well-being and safety of LGBTQ+ communities, Sears said.
“When we started this index eight years ago, the goal was to show Americans the issues that were still live but invisible — HIV criminalization, conversion therapy, where state legislators actually stood — because once marriage equality passed, a lot of people assumed the work was done. It wasn’t,” Sears said. “What we’ve documented since is a genuine regression.”
This year, Out Leadership added 12 new indicators measuring the effects of policies affecting LGBTQ+ people, including restrictions on bathroom access, pronoun and name use and gender-affirming care for adults. Sears said the additions were made to better capture policies that have increasingly affected LGBTQ+ residents and their families.
“For the last several years, we simply weren’t capturing forces that were already hitting LGBTQ+ citizens and their families,” Sears said.
SafeHome.org also ranks Kentucky on the lower side for LGBTQ+ safety. The state ranks No. 27 out of 51 jurisdictions, including Washington, D.C., and received a score of 80.7 and a B- grade.
The rankings are based on a score that combines state laws affecting LGBTQ+ residents and hate crime data. Researchers evaluated laws across several policy areas using input from a survey of more than 1,000 LGBTQ+ people and paired the results with FBI hate crime statistics before calculating the final scores.
Contributing: Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY Network. Reach Marina Johnson at Marina.Johnson@courier-journal.com.
Kentucky got consecutive home runs from Jayce Tharnish and Tyler Bell to take a 9-6 lead over West Virginia. Chase Alderman and Nile Adcock combined to record five consecutive scoreless innings. The Bat Cats were three outs away from reaching — and hosting — a super regional.
West Virginia had other plans.
Free passes, a balk, and a three-run home run from Paul Schoenfield plated five runs in the ninth. It was absolute chaos in Kendrick Family Ballpark. Kentucky snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
That sets up one final game between the Wildcats and the Mountaineers again, but this one could sting for some time. Jeff Drummond and myself are reacting to the crushing loss by taking a look at what went wrong, how it got off the rails so quickly. and what could be on the horizon for tomorrow.
Smash that play button.
More Kentucky News and Views on the KSR YouTube Channel
Kentucky Sports Radio has expanded its coverage of the Wildcats in the most ridiculous manner possible on our YouTube Channel. Here you will be able to find interviews with coaches and players, as well as commentary from the KSR crew. From Rapid Reactions following big events to our lengthy lineup of live shows, subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel to stay up to date on everything happening around the Big Blue Nation.
Want more coverage of the Cats? Join KSR+
KSR has been delivering UK Sports news in the most ridiculous manner for almost two decades. Now, you can get even more coverage of the Cats with KSR+. Now is the perfect time to join our growing online community. Subscribe now for premium articles, in-depth scouting reports, inside intel, bonus recruiting coverage, and access to KSBoard and House of Blue, the most vibrant message board communities in Big Blue Nation.
JOIN HERE
-
Lifestyle15 minutes agoThis is what you want to read this summer : It’s Been a Minute
-
Technology25 minutes agoPebblebee’s Halo can help track lost items and keep you safe, and it’s on sale for $50
-
World30 minutes agoHidden tunnel discovered in Tijuana may have supported cross-border trafficking operations
-
Politics37 minutes agoJared Kushner’s overseas luxury resort project faces anti-corruption investigation amid violent protests
-
Health40 minutes agoVeterans face surprising threat after cancer diagnosis, study reveals
-
Sports45 minutes agoRick Adelman, architect of some of the NBA’s best offenses and Hall of Famer, dead at 79
-
Technology52 minutes agoYour Microsoft text codes are going away
-
Business55 minutes agoCompany wants to revive Primm, the gambling spot turned ghost town. Owners say: Not so fast
