By Jay Blanton, Kentucky Lantern · May 14, 2026

What’s really going on at the University of Kentucky? 

It’s a fair question — one we’ve heard in media coverage, online and directly from our campus community during a period of real and visible changes. As Kentucky’s university and the state’s largest employer with more than 35,000 employees, we owe clear answers grounded in facts and focused on our enduring mission, particularly amid the questions and understandable concerns.    

Periods of change invite scrutiny. That scrutiny is appropriate. Our responsibility is to respond with clarity and accountability.  

Here are the facts behind the changes. And, importantly, here’s why they matter for the Commonwealth we serve.  

Are we honoring our mission to advance this state? 

The surest way to evaluate any public institution is not by rumor or rhetoric, but by what it delivers over time.  

The record matters.  

In the 15 years that Eli Capilouto has been president, overall enrollment has increased by more than 10,000 students, our six-year graduation rate is up nearly 15 percentage points, research has increased by almost 50% with an economic impact to Kentucky of more than $1 billion, and we are treating and discharging nearly double the number of patients from our largest hospital, the UK Chandler Hospital.  

Perhaps most importantly, the number of degrees and certificates awarded increased from 5,835 in 2010-11 to 9,772 in 2024-25, an increase of about 67%. 

These are not abstract statistics. Every number is a life changed and a story to be told about more Kentuckians being educated by outstanding faculty and more lives touched through healthcare, research and discovery.  

By every meaningful metric, UK has momentum in its mission to advance Kentucky — and it is vital for the Commonwealth that we continue to grow, serve and deliver more. 

What is all this talk around centralizing departments?  

This is not a sudden or new direction. For more than a decade, the university has centralized administrative functions that were once spread unevenly across colleges — philanthropy, academic advising and research support among them. 

For example, as students take more classes across colleges and specialties, academic advising has become a full-time, professional function that benefits from consistency and scale. And as potential cybersecurity threats have intensified, centralizing processes and protocols from over 25 different departments into one Information Technology Services unit is not just efficient — it strengthens security. 

Importantly, these changes do not involve layoffs or reductions in pay or university benefits. For most, the change is primarily a shift in reporting lines, not day-to-day work. 

Of course, growth brings complexity; complexity brings questions. But while avoiding growth might seem easier, it would fail the mission we were created to uphold.  

Why are you outsourcing jobs and laying off people in dining, facilities, custodial work and other support services across our enterprise?  

To be clear, no one is being laid off or having pay or university benefits cut. 

The university is finalizing an agreement with a specialized provider to manage dining, facilities, maintenance and custodial services under one contract — a public-private model UK has used successfully for more than two decades in areas such as hospital dining, concessions, parking, housing and campus dining. 

Specialized providers can deliver more consistent service, scale efficiently and expand locally sourced purchasing, reducing costs through purchasing power and allowing savings to be shared with students and employees.   

What matters is not the label placed on a partnership, but whether the people who do the work are treated fairly and whether the institution delivers greater value to the public it serves. 

As the partnership is finalized, the university will lay out in detail how our people are being protected and how this initiative will significantly assist our efforts to advance Kentucky while continuing to elevate service to our campus. 

Why is UK suddenly doing so much work through Limited Liability Companies or LLCs?  

This is a longstanding practice at universities, and UK has used LLCs for more than a decade. But let’s be clear about what an LLC at UK does — and does not — do:  

It does not remove public accountability. 

LLCs remain subject to open records and open meetings laws, their meetings are publicly noticed and each structure has been approved by the Board of Trustees. They are part of — not separate from — UK.  

For example, when two community hospitals joined the university — King’s Daughters in Ashland and St. Claire in Morehead — LLCs were used as holding companies with boards that include community members and university officials. 

That public structure helped preserve existing pay and benefits while enabling faster investment in facilities and expanded access to care. The university uses a similar structure for an insurance company that ensures our doctors have medical malpractice coverage. 

These models are transparent and designed to support UK’s public mission to improve health across Kentucky, not obscure it. 

Across these changes, the track record is clear: jobs, pay and benefits remain protected, as they have in prior partnerships. 

What’s up with athletics?  

We have seen time and again that athletics is an important connector to UK and to Kentucky.  

Today, college athletics is changing rapidly in the era of revenue sharing, transfer portals and name, image and likeness (NIL) payments. To adapt, and with Board of Trustees approval and public review, UK extended athletics an internal line of credit — designed to be repaid through new revenue — to invest in facilities and opportunities that sustain the program. 

Some believe athletics should play a smaller role. That debate matters. The institution believes athletics should stand on its own financially, as it has for decades, while helping advance the broader mission, including, for example, contributing millions recently for a major science classroom building. 

To do this, the institution is exploring whether existing facilities could support development that generates revenue to sustain athletics without drawing on academic resources so we can continue pursuing championships.  

What’s the bottom line? 

UK is growing and changing because Kentucky is growing and changing.  

We face real challenges and legitimate concerns — an institution should never be so rigid that it dismisses criticism. In fact, debate is not only expected at a public university, it is essential. But those debates must be anchored in facts so we can learn from them and move forward, together.  

Ask questions, expect clear answers and judge the university by the outcomes we continue to deliver for Kentucky and her people — now and over time. 

The bottom line: UK is an asset to the state, and our mission is to make Kentucky better through what we do here.  

We intend to keep delivering on that promise.