This update is really not mine but rather an email update sent out by Dr. Davy Jones to University Senate members and other faculty. For those that have not seen the email I have pasted it in below. To summarize, some of the interesting new stuff includes:
1. An edict by the soon to be former Dean of the College of Medicine (COM), Dr. Fred deBeer, defining exactly what type of scientific research that Dr. Paul Kearney can perform as a faculty member in the COM.
2. A declaration (some might view as a threat) by the President's Chief Council, William Thro, stating that if Dr. Kearney does not perform this type of research it would be considered "an act of insubordination and neglect of duty" for which "his status as a tenured faculty member" could be immediately reviewed.
3. An interesting conversation with former University Senate Chair and former COM Faculty Council Chair Dr. Hollie Swanson in which the President's Chief Council (once again Mr. William Thro) reportedly told faculty while explaining faculty governance at a COM faculty council meeting, that faculty did not have any business asking questions with regards to this Dr. Kearney case.
4. Interesting presentation quotes from a Department of Surgery faculty meeting in which the Department Chair Dr. Jay Zwischenberger and KMSF Director Dr. Marcus Randall spent the meeting maligning anyone associated with the Dr. Kearney case including the State's Attorney General and the Herald Leader.
5. An email mandate from soon to be former Dean of the College of Medicine, Dr. Fred deBeer, telling Dr. Kearney that he "does not approve" his request to attend Grand Rounds (a public meeting), which is in complete defiance to what the Board of Trustees and I even believe the University President stated he was allowed to do.
These are just a few highlights, so I encourage you to read the complete email. I realize that a few readers of this blog view faculty like Dr. Kearney, Dr. Jones and myself as "irrelevant people". Fortunately, this blog is really not about us but rather about the extremes that this university, hospital and college administration will go to silence any criticism or investigation of their practices. Furthermore, some may view these events and our presentation of them as simply paranoia, but no matter what denial avenue you choose, irrefutable evidence is still irrefutable evidence. Anyone who views what is happening here as totally justifiable and fair, please elaborate, because I am sure those throughout the COM and hospital following this vendetta and asking "who will be next?" would like to know why.
Dr. Davy Jones Email:
From: Jones, Davy
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2016 1:16 PM
Subject: Update on Paul Kearney Case 01-11-2016
Senate Council faculty members,
Now that we are starting the new academic semester, I want to offer some update on the case of our colleague Dr. Paul Kearney. As you recall, the UK Board of Trustees Health Care Committee on 8/24/2015 directed the President that the rights and privileges of Dr. Kearney as a tenured faculty member be immediately restored. Dr. Kearney has filed a lawsuit stating that the University administration is academically retaliating for his whistleblowing at College of Medicine Faculty Council meetings concerning noncompliance of the University with Adm. Reg. 3:14 (that is about faculty and the KY Medical Services Foundation, KMSF). On 8/28/2015 President’s General Counsel Bill Thro (who confirmed on 11/14/2015 that he is speaking for the President) placed additional academic restrictions on Dr. Kearney, such as forbidding that Dr. Kearney provide any kind of instruction to residents (even if not involving patients) and stating that Dr. Kearney has no right to attend what the General Counsel/President concedes are “public events” (e.g., “Grand Rounds”) at which some residents may be also attending for educational purposes. President Capilouto then on 10/12/2015 apologized to the University Senate: “And our management of the results of the actions of our Board of Trustees has been imperfect. And for that, I apologize.” However, the President, through Mr. Thro and Dean de Beer, has continued to impose the same and more academic restrictions onto Dr. Kearney, below.
Nov. 6, 2015
As reported by the Herald-Leader, the KY Attorney General rendered an Open Records decision that KMSF is not a private entity, but rather is a part of the University of Kentucky and therefore its records are subject to the Open Records law.
Nov. 12, 2015
Dept. of Surgery Chair Jay Zwischenberger and KMSF Executive Director Marcus Randall apparently offered their opinion to a meeting of the Dept. of Surgery Faculty:
JZ: “Why are we in the newspapers … what happened? Well, I see as a native Kentuckian and as somebody who has been intimately involved, there are four sources … that want to try to get attention. The first of these is a faculty member…. The second person was a medical student … and now they have an anger over what they went through as a medical student… The third source, is we have someone who is an Attorney General, that they lost the election. I’m sorry, but they lost the election! So they have, I think this is their heart. There is a fourth source, and that is the University of Louisville...
So if you are Frankfort, and you are going ‘Gee I just lost an election’ … and we’ve got a couple of unhappy people wanting to unseal the records, you can easily see how those four interplay … Am I inside the head of these four people? Of course not. But on the other hand I see where these Open Records requests are coming from.”
MR: “Can I give a fifth? The fifth one is the local media.”
JZ: “Oh yeah!”
MR: “Somebody wants a Pulitzer Prize or something like that … they’ve been convinced by some of the people Zwisch’s been talking about that there is a big story here that is going to be on the front page of the Herald Leader … they are going to get a newspaper award and be famous. That’s driving part of this too.”
Nov. 20, 2015
The sworn deposition of former Senate Council Chair and former COM Faculty Council Chair, Dr. Hollie Swanson, was rendered in the Paul Kearney whistleblower lawsuit. Quoting some parts:
PK Attorney: … after the January [21, 2014 College Faculty] Council meeting, you walked away of the opinion that Administrative Regulation 3:14 had been breached; is that correct?
Swanson: That is correct.
…………………………….
PK Attorney: … and it was your opinion that this breach was not publicly known?
Swanson: That’s true.
……………………………..
PK Attorney: … General Counsel, William Thro, explained faculty governance [at the 04/15/2014 Faculty Council meeting]?
Swanson: Yes
PK Attorney: … What did he discuss?
Swanson: He told us that we didn’t have any business asking these questions.
Dec. 3, 2015
By letter of 12/3/2015, an independent statutory body of Dr. Kearney’s professional medical peers (Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure), having examined the UK administrative allegations against Dr. Kearney and materials prepared by the UK administration, decided that within the law there was no professional misconduct on Dr. Kearney’s part and that the administration’s allegations/materials did not even warrant transmittal from the KBML inquiry committee to its formal hearing panel. (“… insufficient evidence of a violation to warrant issuance of a Complaint”). (emphasis added here)
Dec. 14, 2015
Dr. Kearney met with Dean de Beer on 12/10/2015 and, in part, informed the Dean as to the Board of Medical Licensure’s determination above. Within several days, the Dean sent to Dr. Kearney the statement:
From: de Beer, Frederick C
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 8:37 AM
To: Kearney, Paul A
Cc: Zwischenberger, Jay
Subject: RE: Surgical Grand Rounds
Paul: I do not approve of you attending Grand Rounds on December the 16th. Fred de Beer
(emphasis added here)
Remember the Grand Rounds is, as Bill Thro/President have conceded, a “public event.” Dr. Kearney first saw the dean’s above email during the same 12/14/2015University Senate meeting at which the President appeared before the Senate and claimed to the faculty that his policy is to protect the academic freedom of the faculty.
Dec. 10, 2015
On Sept. 28, 2015 Dean de Beer in the presence of Associate Dean Michael Rowland restricted Dr. Kearney that the only research he is allowed to perform is “basic research” and that he must propose a plan for how his future academic activity will be primarily basic research. Dr. Kearney protested that many UK faculty who do not have clinical privileges nevertheless perform clinically translational research by virtue of collaboration with clinical faculty. Dr. Kearney protested that to singularly restrict him to solely “basic research” is in contradiction to the Board of Trustee’s August 24, 2015 action ordering the President that all of Dr. Kearney’s rights and privileges as a tenured faculty member be restored. Dean de Beer nonetheless repeated the demand again to Dr. Kearny on Dec. 10, 2015 that Dr. Kearney must submit a proposal for how his future academic activity as a tenured faculty member will be restricted primarily to “basic research.”
Dec. 23, 2015
General Counsel Bill Thro, who speaks for the President (per 11/14/2015 from Bill Thro), wrote a follow-up to Dean de Beer’s insistence at meetings that Dr. Kearny must submit a proposal for how his primary academic activity as a tenured faculty member will be basic research. Says Bill Thro (this is a direct quote):
“If he fails to do so, the University will regard this as an act of insubordination and neglect of duty. In that circumstance, the University will immediately review his salary and his status as a tenured faculty member.” (emphasis added here)
Remember of course the state law KRS 164.230 that protects tenure that says:
“no president, professor or teacher shall be removed except for incompetency, neglect of or refusal to perform his duty, or for immoral conduct.”
I hope your find this information helpful. Sorry for the length, but as you can see, much has been happening.
Davy