State Senate President defends Cumberlands pharmacy school plan

The president of the Kentucky Senate defended the allocation of $10 million in state money to the University of the Cumberlands for the construction of a pharmacy school during a ceremony Tuesday morning at the school.
The university recently kicked out sophomore Jason Johnson, 20, of Lexington, for posting on his website at MySpace.com that he was gay in violation of university policy. Johnson was a theater major at the college, and a dean’s list student.
A gay rights groups has called upon Gov. Ernie Fletcher to veto funding for the project since the university is a private religious school and because of its expulsion of Johnson.
Senate President David Williams said that he had his legal staff do some research before he proposed appropriating $10 million to build a pharmacy school on the campus of a religiously affiliated university.
“It just so happens that this issue has been dealt with before,” Williams noted. “The clear case law in the Commonwealth of Kentucky says that the General Assembly may provide appropriations to religiously affiliated institutions to provide public services that benefit the people of all faiths or no faith.
“These public monies may be provided without violating section five of the Kentucky Constitution, despite the fact that the conduit is a religiously affiliated organization.”
The gay rights groups and some state legislators have questioned whether the university will even be able to get accreditation for the pharmacy program arguing that the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, the only group that can accredit pharmacy schools, revised its guidelines so that as of July 1, 2007, “sexual orientation” will be one of the prohibited types of discrimination.
Williams said there is no federal protected class status for sexual orientation in the United States.
“There are those that wish to use this issue to promote their agenda of making sexual orientation or sexual preference a protected status, but this is not the venue for them to do that,” Williams added.
Dr. James Taylor, president of the University of the Cumberlands, said the university’s attorneys have studied the criteria from the pharmacy council’s accreditation guidelines, and have determined that the university meets compliance standards.
He said the university complies with federal and state guidelines for employment, and in its relationship with students.
“It is the opinion of our attorneys that the university clearly complies with those laws,” Taylor said adding that the university must be in conformance with federal and state law concerning discrimination.
“No federal or state law applicable to the University of the Cumberlands requires non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or lifestyle.
“So according to the university’s attorneys, all the accrediting body is saying is that an application for accreditation must be in conformity with federal and state law when it comes to non-discrimination. That is a reasonable requirement in our view, and the university meets that requirement.”
Williams added that there have been some “blatant misrepresentations” in the statewide press over the ability of the University of the Cumberlands to be accredited with a pharmacy college.
“The University of the Cumberlands is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges, and is a fully accredited organization,” Williams said. “The university complies with all federal and state non-discrimination statutes, and does not engage in any prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, nationality, ethnic origin, sex, age, or handicap.
“It follows the same laws as the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, except it does it without the taxpayers dollars paying for it. I have every confidence in the fact that under Dr. Taylor’s leadership it will be accredited.”

Funding through coal severance
Williams added that the funding for the pharmacy school and the $1 million scholarship program isn’t coming out of the general fund, but rather from coal severance tax money.
The purpose of the coal severance tax money is to promote economic development in areas where coal producing had taken place.
Taylor estimated that the pharmacy college will employ 50 people.
Williams said that total will include 20 professors, who will be paid about 125 percent of the national average for pharmacy professors throughout the country.
“This will be a self-sustaining program. The tuition that will be charged here will sustain the program, and allow it to continue. There will not be any need for any additional funds or operating monies for this,” Williams said.
“The young people that graduate from this will be heavily recruited, and can expect to make over $100,000 immediately after going out into the market place.”
Williams said the pharmacy college is badly needed in Kentucky because each year out of more than 900 applicants to the University of Kentucky, only 110 are admitted each year.
Williams said the cost for starting a new pharmacy college at any of the state’s public universities was cost prohibitive, and that places like the University of the Cumberlands was a logical place to build one.

Checks presented
During Tuesday’s ceremony at the university, Williams also presented several other ceremonial checks, including an $18.9 million check for a new judicial center, a $5 million check to Cumberland Falls State Park for renovation and expansion of the campground, and a $9.7 million check for construction of a golf course at the Falls.
Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison collected a $400,000 check for updates at the Hal Rogers Family Entertainment Center.
Whitley County Judge-Executive Burley Foley collected a $250,000 check from Williams for courthouse renovations.
The Whitley County Water District received a $1.16 million ceremonial check from Rep. Charlie Siler for rural water lines for unserved regions in the Meadow Creek/Tackett Creek area.
Williams jokingly told the crowd that he would like to apologize for all the problems associated with the recent highway construction.
“It is a tremendous problem that we certainly aren’t used to living in this area. A matter of fact, it has been since 1971 that we have had this kind of problem,” he added.
Williams noted that the state six year road plan call for the entry and exit ramps off I-75 to be tremendously improved, in addition to turning lanes being constructed on various roads.
Williams also presented a ceremonial check to Rep. Charlie Siler for $77,409,000 to represent the amount of state road aid that will be spent in Whitley County over the next two years.