Steve Wilson, a former member of the University of Louisville board of trustees, apparently will go to any length in his crusade to separate Jim Ramsey from his position as UofL President. That’s regardless of any embarrassment to any individual, the university or the board members.

While one, like the owner of the 21C Museum Hotel, may own truckloads of classic art, it’s obvious that money doesn’t buy class.

Wilson, or someone in his employ, this week authored a hit piece attacking Ramsey in the Louisville Eccentric Observer. The piece essentially questioned Ramsey’s dual role as university president and as chief executive of the University of Louisville Foundation.

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The writer borrows from the analogy of “The Emperor Has No Clothes” to fit Wilson’s narrative of Ramsey having conflicts of interest coinciding with some recent embezzlement cases at the school. Wilson commissioned Jimmy Margulies, a nationally-syndicated artist in an obvious effort to ridicule the UofL president.

Curiously WHAS 11, which recently aired an erroneous report about a “secret meeting” at Ramsey’s house to discuss his “retirement,” also carried the same story on its web site.

Also in the LEO piece, the author also attacks Bob Hughes, former UofL board chairman, for coming to Ramsey’s defense:

“With his portrait hanging on a University building and with a huge tax write-off for donating to the University the house in which he still lives in Murray Kentucky, Dr. Hughes seems to relish this role. Every time one of the Trustees questions the cloth, Dr. Hughes tries to discredit them by calling them members of a conspiracy or the “Chardonnay Crowd” and tries to belittle Ivy League educations.”

Hughes, however, does make some valid points, among them that Wilson and an associate consider the university and the foundation to be serious competitors to their own construction and development enterprises.  They would love for the foundation to go away, regardless of the harm to the university.

A small group on the board continues to embarrass the university, unable to accomplish its agenda in an honorable or professional manner, unable to comprehend or appreciate that Ramsey’s considerable efforts. He is creative, thinking outside the square, upsetting some people in the process, but he has but one priority and that is the University of Louisville.

In rebuttal to the LEO piece, Dr. Hughes requested that Card Game carry the following response:

“I am disappointed in Mr. Wilson’s comments, but I am not surprised by the negative nature or that they were written in fairy tale form.   In his short tenure on the Board of Trustees, I and many others did not take him seriously from an academic or financial standpoint.  I was also disappointed in the sexual and sexist nature of the article.  The seamstress he alludes to in the article has an MBA degree, and she has raised over 120 million dollars for the university.”

“I have never been called someone’s court jester, and by the comments in the article, I am sure it bothered Mr. Wilson to see my picture everyday on the building for being named Alumnus of the Year at the University of Louisville.  That was based upon 22 years of volunteer service to the poor children of Kentucky by helping the Medicaid Pharmacy Program and the University of Louisville.  Mr. Wilson will never be afforded the same honor for you have to be an alumnus of the University of Louisville and to be an alumnus of the year for any university; you at least have to have a college degree.  Merely stating you attended Murray State University does not qualify.

“Lastly, I do still live in the house I donated to the University of Louisville Foundation.  I will continue to do so for another three years for I made it a donation over a five year period.  It is irreversible and the deed is in the name of the University of Louisville Foundation dedicated to the Cardinal Covenant Program.  This program enables poor children to be able to afford a college education that they might not receive.  I would challenge Mr. Wilson to make the same donation of his house that marriage afforded him to the same program for the same purpose.  That story or request is not a fairy tale, but instead a reality meant to help as many students in need as possible.”

Robert Curtis Hughes, MD

 

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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.

2 thoughts on “Attack on Jim Ramsey sinks to new low”
  1. So sad that an individual or a small group of people can negatively affect the image of an institution with such forward-looking leadership.
    When I was a young teenager, living in a medium sized community where my parents owned a business, a newspaper reporter that was highly respected ran a story in the local daily newspaper. The story had some fabrications to make the story more tantalizing. Since I spent much of my time downtown, I was able to hear all the local gossip. The gossip of the day was the newspaper story.
    Just about, everyone was talking about the untruthfulness of the story. That day, the reporter was fired without the benefit of a going-away-luncheon. He left town in shame, searching for a new career. The Publisher of the newspaper apologized and made a statement that untruthful reporting will not be tolerated.
    Jump to today’s world and our newspaper, radio, and television reporters report untruthful stories to build a larger readership, listening, viewing audiences, or to make them appear more important.
    Twenty-one nationally known journalists have been caught lying in the past few years making their stories important and newsworthy to just plain fabrication. Some were fired and some received periods of suspension.
    Growing up, I have always recognized supermarket newsmagazines have stretched the trustworthiness to new extremes. It appears that someone is always dying of a tragic death or some notable couple is headed for a trauma-filled breakup or divorce.
    I have always viewed the supermarket tabloid newsmagazines as gossipy and conspiracy driven trash reporting succumbing to the lowest reporting standards. However, how am I to reconcile the same news reporting standards in our local newspapers, radio, and television news stories? Must everything be a reality TV show? Making up secret meetings and tarnishing someone’s reputation goes way beyond factual reporting and common decency. Play by Play and color announcers that dwell on pass and present problems only make themselves look frivolous.
    There is way too much complaining about the NCAA. If you do not like the way the NCAA is running things then become a member of the board and make changes. Otherwise, shut up and stop complaining.
    Now we find there is a group of people that is out to make sure the University of Louisville’s President, James Ramsey, PhD is terminated. The big question that should be asked who is behind this muckraking? In my years of business experience as an employee, mid-manager, manager, and contractor, I have observed there is always a small group of people that dislike everything and everyone that is in supervision. They always believe they can do far better. The big problem with this group is they only know how to complain and from my experience, they are the laziest of the lazy. They like to blame others for everything that is wrong in their lives.

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