Federal lawsuit filed to block Kentucky’s takeover and restructuring of Kentucky State University

FRANKFORT, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) – Kentucky State University students, alumni, and prospective students have filed a federal class action lawsuit challenging a new state law that restructures the university, seeking emergency court intervention to block its implementation.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Frankfort Division, targeting Senate Bill 185, a Kentucky law that plaintiffs say threatens the future of the state’s only public Historically Black College and University.

The complaint alleges Kentucky’s actions violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, longstanding federal desegregation obligations, and federal land-grant equity requirements tied to Kentucky State University’s status as Kentucky’s only public HBCU and 1890 land-grant institution.

Along with the lawsuit, plaintiffs filed a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction seeking immediate emergency relief to prevent implementation of SB 185 before the court can hear the case on its merits.

James M. Morris, of the law firm Morris & Morris, P.S.C., counsel for the named plaintiffs, said:

“Kentucky cannot underfund its public HBCU for decades, receive repeated federal notice of that inequality, and then use the resulting financial condition as justification to dismantle the institution’s historic mission and academic structure. This lawsuit seeks to preserve Kentucky State University while the Court determines whether the Commonwealth’s actions violate federal civil-rights law.”

The complaint details a decades-long history of federal findings and oversight involving Kentucky’s higher-education system.

According to the lawsuit, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights formally notified Kentucky in 1981 that the Commonwealth had failed to dismantle vestiges of its formerly segregated higher-education system and specifically identified enhancement of Kentucky State University as a continuing remedial obligation.

The lawsuit further alleges that in September 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Education jointly notified Gov. Andy Beshear that Kentucky State University had suffered approximately $172 million in inequitable land-grant funding compared to the University of Kentucky, Kentucky’s historically white 1862 land-grant institution.

Rather than remedy the federally identified funding disparity, plaintiffs allege that Kentucky enacted SB 185, a KSU-specific statute that:

• Declares a five-year financial exigency at KSU
• Redefines KSU as a “polytechnic institution”
• Restricts KSU to no more than 10 academic areas of study
• Authorizes closure of academic programs
• Grants extraordinary state oversight authority over university expenditures and operations
• Authorizes termination of faculty and staff, including tenured faculty
• Imposes enrollment and debt-related restrictions affecting students

The complaint also alleges that SB 185 creates serious accreditation risks by placing Kentucky State University under extraordinary external control at a time when the institution is working through an ongoing accreditation review by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Plaintiffs contend the law places KSU in an accreditation “catch-22” by requiring compliance with state-imposed controls that may conflict with accreditation standards requiring institutional autonomy, governing-board independence, and faculty oversight of academic programs.

The emergency motion seeks to temporarily prohibit:

• Academic program closures
• Faculty and staff terminations tied to SB 185
• Accreditation-related restructuring actions
• Mission changes and restructuring
• Student enrollment restrictions
• Debt-related barriers to continued education
• Other irreversible implementation measures pending judicial review

Plaintiffs are seeking declaratory relief, emergency injunctive relief, preservation of KSU’s existing academic structure and mission pending litigation, and additional equitable remedies designed to address the longstanding disparities identified by federal agencies.