By Linda Blackford, Kentucky Lantern · May 11, 2026

Last week, the University of Kentucky ended its first big public-private partnership by severing its contract with Aramark for food services, thus ending employment for about 900 people, who’ve worked there for the past decade. 

The story, first broken by TV stations, came from WARN notices, federally required state notices that detail when large layoffs are scheduled. Knowing this, it seemed strange the UK officials had not gotten in front of the story to reassure workers that they would probably be rehired as the next private partner was brought on board.

The Lantern’s McKenna Horsley quickly posted a story, which I linked to in a social media post with the question “What is really going on at UK?” This appeared to incense spokesman Jay Blanton as though I was insinuating something nefarious. 

Not exactly. It’s a legitimate question because UK is in the middle of a vast, poorly explained reorganization, in which major swathes of the university are being put into limited liability companies. This has gotten lots more attention than usual because it intersects with athletics, which is being reshaped by the system to pay athletes for the first time, requiring vast sums for (mostly) football and basketball players. (There also a lot of attention because those teams haven’t been performing up to UK’s usual standards.)

When reporters have asked for more details and understanding, they are referred to a new organizational chart that shows the LLCs for healthcare sectors, for athletics, and then for something called Integrate Blue, which is maybe some kind of centralization of staff employees. According to the UK website, it will “more fully integrate and align functional services across the enterprise. The goal is to improve organizational efficiency, consistency and quality of service delivery.”

Now I’m just a knucklehead, and I don’t understand the jargon of the fancy MBA types who populate UK’s upper administration, but what exactly does this mean? Does it mean UK will further hollow out Lexington’s middle class by taking benefits like retirement and tuition credits away from its employees because they now work for private vendors?

So little is understood that the United Campus Workers of Kentucky and Service Employees International Union group of union members held a protest on Friday about the lack of information for employees.

“There is more unknown than there is known. It’s a problem,” union member and UK employee Katie Goldey told the Herald-Leader’s Jesse Fraga. “So a lot of workers have been told that they’re going to be centralized, but have no idea what that’s going to look like.”

Maybe at one time, faculty could have told us, but since the university senate was dissolved, they’ve been effectively cut out of shared governance. 

What scares me the most is that all these changes are being powered by the uproar in college athletics. UK Athletics has gone from completely self-sustaining to taking big loans from the rest of the university because the top players need millions to be lured to UK.

We’ve been told UK is planning not just one, but two “entertainment districts” of hotels and restaurants, instead of research space, classrooms and dorms. They’re already working on the area next to Kroger Field, and are next eyeing the area around Memorial Coliseum, which probably means they would tear down the Singletary Center for the Arts to build on a big open area of land next to the Student Center.

Gov. Andy Beshear, whose appointed board has happily voted many of these changes through without blinking, is now asking questions about the layoffs, golden parachutes, and how much power the Board of Trustees has given away to the administration. That’s good. Lexington’s leadership should also be wondering how all these changes will affect the city. 

But most of all, Kentucky’s taxpayers should be asking questions about its own flagship; a university was built to serve this state – not branding companies, hotel conglomerates, overpaid administrators and sports agents.

UK shouldn’t turn into a “nimble” corporation of entertainment districts just so it can pay top dollar to top players. UK exists to educate the children of Kentucky. All the rest is just a lot of noise.