Optional results of the faculty regents due to a possible disqualification of the candidates | News

In February 2025, the Board of Regents (BOR) of the Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) started its election process for the chairman of the faculty regent to replace the outgoing Jason Marion. They held the candidate forums on February 24th and 25th, where they opened the vote until March 6.

In an e -mail that was received by the eastern progress, it was announced that the candidate Lynnette Noblitt had won the election with 57% of the vote. Although the official announcement of her victory was postponed due to the BOR chairman Michael Eaves and turned to the Attorney General in Kentucky to clarify the qualifications of Noblitt.

The e-mail was completed by Aaron Macdonald, an assistant professor at the EKU for the Ministry of Environmental and Health, Administration and Medical Sciences, as well as chairman of the election committee for Bor.

MacDonald confirmed in another e -egg email that was sent to the eastern progress that the vote for the faculty regent is completed, “the nomination committee for elections and university checks the results and will not be given any further comment until the successful candidate is checked and officially announced to the faculty.”

In the letter to the General Prosecutor's office, the decision by OAG 77-212 from a similar decision with Western Kentucky University (WKU) in 1977 was expelled. The decision refers to the number of hours in which a faculty member taught or researched, compared to the amount of administrative times. The specific decision came to the conclusion that the faculty member at the WKU was regarded as an administrator due to its role as head of department, that their work capacities were primarily administrative and that they had excluded from the faculty representative in their regents.

This decision was made for its department heads with reference to the specific manual surge from WKU.

Lynnette Noblitt acts as a government chair for the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences at EKU and at the same time teaches Paralegal courses.

The qualifications of EKU in relation to the authorization for the faculty regent must be the faculty member to be qualified, at least one assistant professor at the university or a higher rank and be a teacher or researcher full -time, whereby this work is at least 50% of its total workload. The latter refers to the Kentucky revised statutes (KRS) Statut 164.321.

“What you [OAG 77-212] Say that, in contrast to an administrator, whether a person is a teacher depends on the definition of the institution, ”said Noblitt. “The Senate of the EKU faculty already decided who would be justified for the faculty regent.

Full -time lessons at the EKU are viewed as 12 hours, which means that 50% is someone who teaches six or more hours.

“I taught 11 hours last autumn, this spring I will teach 10,” said Noblitt. “I am good in this area. I also have an active scientific agenda. I published a chapter in a book last autumn. I believe that I clearly fell into the definition of the Faculty of Education for EKU. ”

Jason Marion, the outgoing faculty regent, said that the rainy of the faculty “responsible for the provision of the faculty's perspective, presumably for the good of the university and for board campaigns”.

The faculty regent works with the employees and student members of the Board of Directors, in which representatives of these respected communities are elected at the EKU.

Marion also explained that he believes that one of the most important roles of the board is to lead the hiring and dismissal of the university president. The board is responsible for the success of the President because it selects and hires it, he said.

Marion explained that the qualifications for the faculty regent is: “You have to be a member of the university's faculty of teachers, and then it is due to the various institutions to determine how this member is selected.”

It is a voluntary board and nobody is paid for it.

Marion said that he was able to grow as a faculty regent because he is a member of the board and is in her questions with students and employees.

“If the employees who help me not understand their problems would not be so good for the staff to hear their perspectives,” said Marion.

There is no official announcement about who fills the seat of the faculty regent or whether the Attorney General answered the qualifications of Noblitt.