FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Matt Bevin on Monday blamed the probation status of the University of Louisville’s accreditation on the “infighting,” “disagreement” and “public squabbling” on its board of trustees — rather than his June decision to abolish the board and appoint his own.

But Bevin’s remarks on a Lexington radio station were directly contradicted last week by the president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, who said it placed U of L on probation last month because Bevin’s abolition of the board put it out of compliance “with its own policy on board dismissal.”

Bevin insisted in an interview on WVLK Radio that U of L no longer faces loss of accreditation —  if it ever did — now that the General Assembly has enacted a law allowing him to appoint a new board subject to confirmation by the Senate.

Meanwhile, the Kentucky Supreme Court on Monday announced that it will hear the governor’s appeal of a Franklin Circuit Court ruling that he acted illegally when he issued executive orders last June abolishing the board and appointing a new one. Judge Phillip Shepherd blocked those moves. The high court’s decision Monday bypasses the need for the Kentucky Court of Appeals to first hear the appeal.

Bevin, though, has said the appeal is moot now that the legislature has acted.

Attorney General Andy Beshear, who filed the suit challenging Bevin, said in an interview on Monday that the General Assembly’s action Saturday “put the University of Louisville at great risk of losing accreditation” because the bill it passed simply “adopts the executive order that placed the university on probation.”

Beshear said, “The University of Louisville’s accreditation was put on probation when an outside party — the governor — removed trustees without a fair process. What the legislature did on Saturday was remove trustees without a fair process. It violated the direct SACS standard.”

But Senate President Robert Stivers, a Manchester Republican and sponsor of the bill, said the legislature’s action will satisfy SACS. “You had an institution that was being governed by an illegally constituted board that was dysfunctional and needed remedy,” Stivers said. “This is a legislative remedy.”

Under the legislation approved in the House and Senate, the governor would be authorized to appoint 10 members to a new U of L board, subject to confirmation by the Senate.

The legislation does not approve the replacement board that Bevin unilaterally created last year in the move that Shepherd found was illegal.

In an advisory letter last week, Robert King, president of the Council on Postsecondary Education, told House and Senate Republican leaders that the bill since passed by the House and Senate contains no provisions “in obvious violation” of SACS rules and standards.

King wrote that “we cannot predict with absolute certainty” SACS’ response, although he said the legislation makes future appointments through a new nomination and selection process consistent with the one currently used to appoints members to the boards of all public institutions in Kentucky.

He also said the legislation would cure issues with minority representation on the board, which kept it from making personnel decisions because of a lawsuit filed by the Justice Resource Center.

SACS’ decision may turn on whether it decides to hold Bevin accountable for what he has already done — namely, abolish the board without due process and appoint his own — or only what transpires in the future.

The agency, which accredits 800 colleges and universities in the South, could decide that the legislation is just a cover for what Bevin already has done.

It may note that the governor never fulfilled his promises to make minority appointments to bring the U of L board into compliance with the Justice Resource Center settlement or filled other vacancies to add more Republican members to the board.

SACS also could question why Bevin — and House and Senate GOP leaders — rushed the legislation through before SACS issues its formal notice of probation, which is expected Wednesday and could spell out exactly what needs to be done to get the university off probation.

Beshear said that was a particularly “reckless” aspect of what transpired last week. He said lawmakers have ample time to revisit the issue when the legislative session resumes on Feb. 7 for up to 25 more days.

But Stivers said the Senate and House Republican majorities are confident the bill will satisfy SACS “and there needs to be closure here. … The university is losing its interim president, a new interim needs to be in place, and a search needs to be started for a new president.”

Stivers said the bill does more than establish a board membership structure that Bevin wanted because it requires Bevin start all over with the process of receiving nominees to the board and requires that the Senate confirm his 10 appointees.

Stivers noted that he has also filed a bill that lawmakers will take up in February that will “put in place a process to deal with situations where there are illegal appointments, improperly constituted board, and board that are deadlocked or dysfunctional” at any state university.

Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at (502) 875-5136 or [email protected]. Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189.