From our colleagues at United Campus Workers of Kentucky:
Last week was devastating for the students, staff, and faculty at Kentucky’s public universities, and for everyone concerned about the state of postsecondary education in our Commonwealth. But it was not unexpected, and our coalition still has important work to do going forward. Now that Representative Decker’s anti-DEI bill (HB4) and Representative Tipton’s anti-tenure bill (HB424) have passed the Senate, both of these attacks on public higher education in Kentucky are close to becoming law. The Governor’s veto period lasts until Wednesday, March 26, and the legislature will then have until March 28 to use its supermajority to override any vetoes.
We do not yet know whether the Governor intends to veto HB424, so it is up to us to make our voices heard. We urge all of you to sign and share this petition by the end of the day Sunday, March 23, calling on the Governor to veto HB424. We plan to deliver this petition on Monday, so it is urgent that we circulate this petition quickly across all of our campuses. Faculty, staff, students, supportive administrators, and coalition partners and concerned community members are all encouraged to sign, but we especially want to demonstrate strong, widespread opposition from Kentucky’s faculty members.