You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
University of Louisville President James Ramsey officially resigned late Wednesday, ending a 14-year tenure that descended into controversy.
Ramsey's resignation, effective immediately, was accepted at a special Board of Trustees meeting that stretched roughly seven hours and included extensive negotiations, according to The Courier-Journal in Louisville. The university president’s contract would have run through 2020, but he agreed to offer his resignation earlier this year when Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin overhauled Louisville’s Board of Trustees. Ramsey also offered to serve for a year as interim president, but the new board rejected the idea. The two sides reached a deal that will pay Ramsey $690,000 -- the equivalent of two years of his university salary.
But Ramsey plans to continue at the University of Louisville Foundation, he said in a statement issued through his lawyer. Ramsey is the foundation’s president, earning about $8 million between 2012 and 2014 in the role. He said he plans to continue to work “in whatever capacity the foundation board thinks best.” Ramsey’s future with the foundation will not be decided until September at the earliest, according Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman, who chairs both the foundation and university boards.
Ramsey’s resignation comes amid a legal battle over whether Kentucky’s governor had the power to dismiss and replace Louisville’s Board of Trustees. Louisville Provost Neville Pinto will lead the university while it searches for a new president.
