UK is ‘politicizing its law school’ with unusual dean hiring, Beshear says
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday addressed a professor’s lawsuit against the University of Kentucky that argues UK did not follow proper procedures to hire its new law school dean.
Beshear said he believes UK made an unusual and partisan exception to hire Gregory Van Tatenhove, US District Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky, as the new dean of the UK College of Law.
“I know there’s a lawsuit about the incoming dean that I don’t believe to be qualified,” Beshear said Thursday at a press conference.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claimed the university prioritized politics and donations over scholarship and academia, and asks for the court to block Van Tatenhove’s appointment.
UK Provost Robert DiPaola previously said it hired Van Tatenhove because of an “extraordinary circumstance.”
But Beshear said that was a politically-driven excuse to hire a conservative judge and bypass his lack of tenure.
“If you invoke an exception for extraordinary circumstances, you’re not following a regular process…,” he said at a press conference Thursday. “Don’t insult our intelligence claiming that this is some normal process.”
“...The continued comment (by UK) that the regular policy was followed when they ended up throwing out all of the things they said the next dean had to have is just not true.”
Gregory Van Tatenhove won’t seek tenure, UK says
The university said Van Tatenhove will not seek tenure. Tenure is a way to prove one’s longtime experience in academia. A dean’s tenure is usually required by the American Bar Association to be an accredited law school and is typical of deans.
Jay Blanton, a spokesperson for UK, defended Van Tatenhove’s qualifications to be dean and said Van Tatenhove doesn’t need tenure to prove he’s academically qualified to oversee faculty as dean.
“Although some might only think of scholarship being what occurs by long time residential university faculty, broader definitions include such integrated and important real world scholarship that will be an example for students as they pursue their careers,” Blanton said in a statement to the Herald-Leader.
Much of the law faculty also opposed Van Tatehove’s appointment, according to emails from faculty obtained by the Herald-Leader. But the ABA requires that “except for good cause, a dean should not be appointed or reappointed to a new term over the stated objection of a substantial majority of the faculty.”
Van Tatenhove “didn’t meet any of it,” Beshear said.
Ties to big Republican donors
The federal judge has documented ties with some of the biggest Republican donors in the country, has received support from Republican officials in Kentucky, and was appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush.
Beshear said it’s not the first time the university has hired a Republican to serve as dean of the law school.
Paul Salamanca was the university’s interim dean before Van Tatenhove.
“When there was this initial vacancy, who filled it? An individual with the last name of Salamanca, who’s the outside attorney most of the time for the House Republicans,” Beshear said. “This dean has a family member who is the inside counsel for House Republicans, and it just maybe they want to claim all these things are coincidences.”
Kentucky gov. says law school should be non-partisan
Beshear said a law school should be nonpartisan and uphold the law.
“University of Kentucky’s administration is politicizing its law school,” he said, and added that alumni “don’t think this should be a Republican or a Democratic law school.”
“It should be a law school that’s teaching the law, and we honestly ought to have courts that are applying the law,” Beshear said.
Van Tatenhove told the Herald-Leader he will start his new role Monday.
He referred the Herald-Leader to UK’s public relations team for further comment.
Van Tatenhove was still listed as a federal judge and his seat was not vacant Thursday, according to the Kentucky US District Court’s website and the Federal Judicial Center.