Dozens of faculty members in the Jefferson Community and Technical College system have voted in favor of a resolution of no confidence in response to a new statewide tenure policy.The resolution is aimed at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System's Board of Regents and system president Michael McCall.Last month, regents approved a new policy that does away with tenure for new faculty hired after July 1st. Many faculty members in the system say it will compromise educational quality, but proponents of the change say it will allow more flexibility in hiring and save money.David Cooper is president of the state faculty union. He says the JCTC no confidence vote was 124-0, with and five abstentions."We will use this to set up our lobbying of the legislture in the next legislative session and we will attempt to get the legislature to enact legislation that would overrule their policy on tenure," Cooper said.The Jefferson Community and Technical College was the sixth in the state to have a no-confidence vote in response to the new policy. KCTCS officials say they have no plan to revisit their decision.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.