Our Principles and Priorities as Kentucky’s University

Campus Community,

We are moving quickly into the final two weeks of the spring semester, a time that has traditionally been filled with anticipation, joy and celebration.

But I realize that, for many, the recent policy changes facing our university — and higher education across the country — have resulted in questions and uncertainty. 

To comply with the law and new federal directives, we have had to make tough decisions. This includes the recent decision to cancel celebrations that have meant so much to so many people at the University of Kentucky over the years. 

In this video, I share more of my thoughts about why we made this decision. I also spell out the principles guiding our planning and the priorities we are seeking to protect and promote as we move forward. 

These principles guiding our planning include: 

1. We will focus on our land-grant mission and advancing Kentucky.
2. We will work hard to take care of our people, our students, faculty and staff — because they work hard to take care of Kentucky.
3. We will comply with the law, and we will rely on our people to think about how we carry out our mission and take care of our community.
4. While significant, our current financial challenges and economic uncertainty — in terms of potential reductions or changes to federal grant funding — are issues we will manage together in the long-term best interests of our institution.
5. We will communicate with our community consistently — with clarity and transparency — about what we confront and how we intend to move forward.

Our priorities, relating to federally funded programs, must be: 

1. Ensuring access for Kentuckians to advance subspecialty care that only we provide by protecting reimbursement levels for Medicare and Medicaid.
2. Ensuring continued federal funding for agricultural research and outreach efforts that protect a vital sector of Kentucky’s economy.
3. And promoting and protecting creative work, grants and contracts, from cellular discoveries to those that preserve and unlock the mysteries and questions of life and history. This work advances Kentucky by helping make our state healthier, wealthier and wiser.

This week, UK Research launched a video series featuring many researchers whose work is directly funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). I encourage you to watch these videos — as they tell a compelling story about the work our researchers do to advance this state and country. 

As we learn more about potential changes that could have an impact on our community, we will add federal policy updates and resources to this webpage.

Thank you for all that you do to teach, learn, discover and care as we continue to follow our north star — to serve Kentuckians and advance the Commonwealth. 

Eli Capilouto

President