Former Kentucky State University president sues school; KSU fires back
The former president of Kentucky State University has sued the school, saying he was fired without cause and is owed $270,000 in severance, according to a lawsuit filed last year in Franklin Circuit Court.
Kentucky State University has sued M. Christopher Brown , the former president, saying the arbitration clause in Brown’s contract is not enforceable. KSU has also responded to Brown’s lawsuit, saying Brown failed to fulfill his duties as president, leaving the university in a poor financial state and damaging its reputation.
In Brown’s lawsuit, he alleges the KSU board of trustees forced him to resign last summer. He learned of this through text messages, phone calls and emails over three days in July 2021, the lawsuit said.
On July 13, one day after a board meeting where the university’s financial problems were laid out, the board chair called Brown “to tell him that he had to ‘lead KSU out of this crisis’ and stating that Dr. Brown could fix the problems,” according to the lawsuit. The next day, Brown received a text from the chair saying he needed to “write up your resignation letter/exit strategy.”
On July 15, Brown said he was contacted by the university’s counsel and told “the Board is of the opinion that your resignation should be immediately tendered and accepted by the Board. I understand that if the Resignation is not submitted by you today that the Board will take necessary action to establish that you have been relieved as President of the University and that an Acting President has been appointed to act on behalf of the University.”
The board accepted Brown’s resignation at the July 20 board meeting. In the lawsuit, Brown said his correspondence with board members did not say he was being fired with cause.
“Dr. Brown was forced under duress to resign or be terminated from his position; therefore, Dr. Brown was constructively discharged. His employment was terminated by KSU without cause and Dr. Brown is entitled to recover compensatory damages in an amount to be determined by the court, as well as punitive damages,” the lawsuit said.
Brown’s resignation came amid growing concerns about KSU’s finances and a half-dozen lawsuits accusing university officials of various acts of misconduct. Since then, KSU has been placed under state oversight, and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education has requested $23 million from the state to cover the current budget shortfall at KSU.
Brown’s contract stated that it could be terminated at any point with 30 days notice. If it was terminated for any reason other than “for cause,” KSU would pay Brown severance equal to 12 months of his salary, or $270,000, according to a copy of his contract included in the lawsuit. Brown is also asking for $10,000 in relocation fees, according to the lawsuit.
KSU, in its response to Brown’s lawsuit, alleges several financial issues caused or known by Brown. The response also says Brown did not fulfill his responsibilities as president because he “failed to notify the Board of Regents about the University’s true financial condition.”
“Rather, he repeatedly misrepresented the University’s financial situation to the Board of Regents each time an inquiry was made by board members during multiple public board meetings,” the lawsuit says.
According to the lawsuit, “Brown breached his fiduciary duty, duty of good faith, and duty of loyalty by withholding and misrepresenting critical information related to KSU’s debts, obligations, and financial condition. This breach resulted in placing KSU into a position where it will be unable to maintain basic operations and led to KSU seeking an emergency appropriation of approximately $23 million from the Commonwealth of Kentucky to cover its budgetary shortfalls.”
Reporter Austin Horn contributed to this story.
This story was originally published January 14, 2022 at 11:47 AM.