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"It used to be that suing a university was l %
like suing a church—it just wasn’t done, " D  
says john Darsie, UK’s legal counsel.    
However, Darsie, the principal legal officer 42
of the University, is first to admit that those
days are long past. Since his appointment as a
full~time attomey for the University in 1965,
the once unnecessary legal office, located in
the Administration building, now operates on
a budget in excess of a $100,000 a year (not · `
including costs for specialized litigation), S [
employs two other full-time attorneys in   ` 7   S
addition to Darsie, two full-time secretaries,   g, »
and two to three law clerks, usually UK law    
students, throughout the year. ° L
In Darsie’s role as general counsel, he is · · • ~
directly responsible as a staff officer to  zng with   tzynes I l
President Otis Singletary for counsel on all
legal questions and problems and for _ 1 /
supervising the activities of the legal office.   LISEI BZITICUQ I  
"We live tn a world Y  
of litigation, and 1   ·‘_-
universities are not  
immune. "  
Not only does Darsie give advice, but he Today, with such a tight job market, faculty "A »m,aj0r cause
defends the University in court actions and members are not as mobile and because of of increased y "f
drafts and approves contracts and deeds this, a non-renewed contract or denial of l l · th
1nvo vmg e n y e u a wa g , a , ,
` l ` th U iversit . t n re m kes them nt to fi ht which me ns ega action ° ° ° 0i
And, "Yes," says Darsie, "it is a full-time a lot of law suits," explains Darsie. is the fizlelnma _ U
job. Litigation has increased drastically since Darsie believes that this type of litigation of G tight   fa
the ’60s, especially in the last five years, and will continue to increase in direct proportion to acadenzic job
will probably continue to increase." the job market. ynarketo v w
Darsie believes that the increase in litigation "We have three or four such cases in some _ ai
in higher education has occurred for a variety stage in court most of the time," says Darsie. y U
of reasons. One of the most publicized cases that Darsie
"In general, people's attitudes toward and the University have been involved in is the b·
litigation have changed. We live in a world of Penn Central railroad case, a two·year rn
litigation, and universities are not immune," litigation involving a $1 million investment by b·
says Darsie. the University.
He says that beginning in the ’60s with UK invested a million dollars in commercial U
campus protests of Viet Nam, collegiate paper, a type of security, of the Penn Central A
involvement with social issues has brought the Transportation Company. When the Penn (6
university closer to the community. This Central Company went bankrupt, UK feared a H7
closeness, says Darsie, while having its benefits, large loss of its investment. it
has opened the university to public scrutiny. Darsie was in charge of hiring a specialized l o1
A major cause of increased legal action New York law firm since the matter concerned  
against UK and other universities in the last securities litigation. UK filed suit against j rr
¤— five years, is the dilemma of a tight academic Goldman Sachs & Co., a brokerage house and l W
l job market. underwriting firm in New York who handled i ·
"In the early ’70s, a great percentage of the selling of the securities, the railroad and  
faculty members were highly mobile—they Dunn & Bradstreet, a financial inforrnation l
could get jobs most any place. So, if a service.
university didn't promote its faculty or grant In the suit, which Darsie refers to as "very
them tenure, they could easily go elsewhere. successful litigation," UK recovered $630,000
and retained possession of the Penn Central
notes, which have since been estimated to be
worth more than $400,000. '
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