Legislative Update Campus Message

Campus Community,



Last week, leadership in the House presented their proposed state budget for the next two years. Governor Beshear presented his proposed budget last month.



The House proposal includes increases in the general funds — or base budget — UK would receive from the state as well as more investment in the performance funding model. House members will consider that proposal in the coming weeks, before turning to the Senate for its review.



The performance funding model represents dollars that universities compete for based on state priorities, such as enrollment, graduation, educating students from underrepresented backgrounds and more graduates in areas aligned with workforce needs such as health care and engineering.



In addition, the proposed budget also includes authorization for UK HealthCare (UKHC) to move forward with a critical, UKHC-financed expansion of the Albert B. Chandler Hospital and state dollars for the continued revitalization of buildings in our campus core as well as new construction for the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.



In all, these proposals represent a continuation of investment in, and support of, the critical work we are doing to advance this state in everything that we do.



We are deeply appreciative of that support and emboldened by the push by policymakers for us to do and be more for our state as we collectively work to build a commonwealth that is healthier, wealthier and wiser.



To be sure, as many of you know, we also — like so many institutions across the country — are being asked challenging questions from policymakers as well.



Legislation already has been filed in this session related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as seen in curriculum and policies in classrooms and on campuses.



Early in the session, legislation has also been offered regarding tenure and performance review, requirements for Artificial Intelligence (AI) policies in both K-12 and higher education institutions and a proposal to limit how we regulate safety in the form of guns on our campus.



All of these represent challenges to, and questions about, the way we do our work as a community. In the coming weeks and months, our government relations team and I will be directly engaging with legislators about both the opportunities and the challenges.



My approach on all these issues is to engage earnestly and respectfully, asking what the concerns are with how we do our work, while proudly telling our story as a university committed to being a place of open and deep inquiry that is preparing students for the workforce and for lives of meaning and purpose.



That mission — to advance Kentucky — requires a campus that embraces inquiry and debate, while simultaneously striving to be a place of belonging for everyone.



Those ideas are not antithetical to one another. They are essential to each other.

They are not easy to live up to, but the most important things rarely are.



We will navigate these issues and questions, together, as a campus community. The legislative session is a long process, one we are just beginning and one that will have several twists and turns, changes and modifications.



But we have a powerful story to present, of a community that for nearly 160 years has made as its mission and purpose how we make tomorrow in Kentucky better than today. I remain excited about the opportunity to tell that story on behalf of so many on this campus who make it possible.



Eli Capilouto

President