2008 Woodie Awards
Council violates law with decision
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: News
Associated Press
Officials violated state law by not conducting a national search for the state's higher education chief, and Kentucky should start pursuing a new permanent replacement, Attorney General Jack Conway said.
The search that lead the state's Council on Postsecondary Education to hire interim President Brad Cowgill for the full time post was not proper, Conway said as part of a nonbinding legal opinion released Thursday.
"The council violated the statute in voting to hire Mr. Cowgill as the permanent president," Conway said at an afternoon press conference.
Gov. Steve Beshear raised the issue after the council announced it had named Cowgill as its president. He argued that the council ignored legal requirements to find a higher education chief with an established reputation and experience in postsecondary education.
Conway said the panel was "duty bound at a minimum to conduct a national search to search for someone that has the qualifications that are actually spelled out in the statute."
Cowgill was former Gov. Ernie Fletcher's budget director and was appointed interim president in September. He is scheduled to take the permanent post May 1.
John Turner, the education panel's chairman, issued a written statement saying he wanted to involve Beshear in resolving the matter.
"I want to explore with the governor and my colleagues on the council a way to do so promptly and with appropriate respect for the independence of the council and our postsecondary institutions," Turner said in the statement.
The Council is the state's coordinating agency for Kentucky's public universities and community and technical colleges.
"The law is now clear, hopefully, in the minds of the council," Beshear said. "I am calling upon them - actually I am demanding - that they follow the law."
Officials violated state law by not conducting a national search for the state's higher education chief, and Kentucky should start pursuing a new permanent replacement, Attorney General Jack Conway said.
The search that lead the state's Council on Postsecondary Education to hire interim President Brad Cowgill for the full time post was not proper, Conway said as part of a nonbinding legal opinion released Thursday.
"The council violated the statute in voting to hire Mr. Cowgill as the permanent president," Conway said at an afternoon press conference.
Gov. Steve Beshear raised the issue after the council announced it had named Cowgill as its president. He argued that the council ignored legal requirements to find a higher education chief with an established reputation and experience in postsecondary education.
Conway said the panel was "duty bound at a minimum to conduct a national search to search for someone that has the qualifications that are actually spelled out in the statute."
Cowgill was former Gov. Ernie Fletcher's budget director and was appointed interim president in September. He is scheduled to take the permanent post May 1.
John Turner, the education panel's chairman, issued a written statement saying he wanted to involve Beshear in resolving the matter.
"I want to explore with the governor and my colleagues on the council a way to do so promptly and with appropriate respect for the independence of the council and our postsecondary institutions," Turner said in the statement.
The Council is the state's coordinating agency for Kentucky's public universities and community and technical colleges.
"The law is now clear, hopefully, in the minds of the council," Beshear said. "I am calling upon them - actually I am demanding - that they follow the law."
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