Western Kentucky University by Harrison Lowell H.;

Author:Harrison, Lowell H.; [Harrison, Lowell H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2021-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Seven

Forming the University

1966-1969

PRESIDENT THOMPSON had often warned zealous supporters of Western against too hasty demands for university status, but by 1965 he believed that the time had come. In his ten-year report to the Board of Regents, he pointed out the advantages of the change of status and recommended “that such a change in Western’s name should be considered at the earliest possible date, . . . Western is ready for such change.” To achieve it, however, legislation was required, and here careful preparation was vital. The major stumbling block was likely to be the University of Kentucky which had consistently opposed each step in the progress of the other state schools. Dean Cravens was told at a meeting in December 1965 “that the University of Kentucky had contacted members of the Legislature in Western Kentucky attempting to get their support in opposition to university status for the State colleges.” If there were such efforts, they were unsuccessful. The Commission on Higher Education employed consultants who recommended that four state colleges (excluding Kentucky State College, the predominately black college in Frankfort) be elevated to university status and allowed to develop noneducation masters programs as rapidly as possible. The new universities should also develop research and service programs appropriate for their primary areas. Other recommendations included making the University of Louisville a state school, establishing Northern Kentucky State College in the Covington area, and continuing the state-wide community college program under the aegis of the University of Kentucky. The consultants recommended that each governing board should be autonomous and that ex officio memberships should be terminated at the end of the terms of the incumbents.1

Most of the recommendations were adopted unanimously by the Commission on Higher Education. The vote on the elevation of the colleges to universities was 13 to 3 with one abstention; the opposition, as expected, came from the University of Kentucky.

The college presidents exercised their considerable influence, and by early February Thompson wrote “There is a good chance that we will get a bill through the Legislature this session without any organized opposition and with little fanfare.” The bill whipped through the House of Representatives 83-0 on February 16, 1966, but a problem developed in the Senate when Senator Tom Garrett managed to add an amendment to create a four-year college at Paducah. That decision was reversed the next day by a 24-6 vote, and the bill passed 29-6. It was a compromise between the university and the four colleges. The University of Kentucky was defined as the state’s main graduate and research institution, and, in a move of far-reaching importance, a new Council on Higher Education was created. Its voting members consisted of nine laymen appointed by the governor; the presidents of the state’s public universities and colleges would be nonvoting members. This change removed much of the power that the college presidents had been able to wield by bloc voting on issues vital to their welfare.2

Governor Ned Breathitt signed the bill on February 26, 1966. The

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