HEARING IN WATKINS CASE HELD, JUDGE'S RULING IS "UNDER ADVISEMENT"
Chancery Court Hearing conducted by teleconference
(NASHVILLE, TN) Chancery Court judge Patricia Head Moskal heard oral arguments Friday, in a hearing on the controversial Watkins College merger with Belmont University. Two Watkins students and an adjunct professor are seeking a temporary injunction to halt the merger, which would transfer up to $20 million dollars of Watkins real estate and other assets to Belmont. The plaintiffs are members of "Save Watkins", a collective of students, faculty, staff, and alumni formed in the immediate aftermath of the takeover announcement.
At the conclusion of the hearing, held this morning by teleconference in Chancery Court Part 1, Judge Moskal announced that she would be taking the case "under advisement." She did not indicate when she intended to rule. The judge’s ruling will be limited to whether to grant a temporary injunction, in order to allow time to consider legal issues at the heart of the lawsuit. If the group fails to win an injunction, they still have the option to go forward with other legal action.
The central legal question considered Friday was whether, as the plaintiffs assert, Watkins College is a public institution subject to legislative and judicial oversight, or an ordinary non-profit corporation that can conduct its business largely in secret.
The unusual decision to hold the hearing by teleconference was made as part of emergency rules and procedures established in the wake of the Coronavirus crisis. Judge Moskal conducted the proceedings from a nearly-empty courtroom, while attorneys, clients, and court reporters dialed in from remote locations. Belmont President Bob Fisher and Watkins board member Larry Papel also were present on the call.
Through their attorneys, the Watkins students and teacher argued that Watkins is clearly a public entity based on the terms of Nashville philanthropist Samuel Watkins's 1880 will, subsequent state statutes, and a long history of the Watkins Board accepting oversight by the State Legislature for matters such as property sales and purchases. Further, they claimed that the creation of a non-profit corporation in the 1970s did not extinguish the Watkins Trust, but rather, explicitly affirmed the public nature of the Trust.
The attorneys for the Watkins Board countered that the creation of the 1974 non-profit extinguished the Watkins Trust (and with it, any duty to adhere to laws governing public entities). Despite Tennessee statutes that label Watkins as a public entity, the Watkins Board attorneys asserted that it is a private corporation and, therefore, out of the reach of the legislature, judiciary, or public records inquiries.
Assistant Attorney General Janet Kleinfelter also appeared, representing the AG's Office, She echoed the Board’s claims of private status, claiming that only the AG's Office has a right to review and approve the Watkins-Belmont merger. In one eyebrow-raising statement, Kleinfelter asserted that the Tennessee laws that established and reinforced Watkins's status as a public trust are "obsolete" and suggested that they should be ignored as an example of laws that the legislature had simply never gotten around to repealing.
Kleinfelter's boss, Attorney General Herbert Slatery III, is a member of the Watkins Board of Trustees.
Watkins Board attorneys concluded by claiming that blocking the deal would cause "irreparable harm" to the Watkins trust because it would force the school to close and the property to be sold. In his closing rebuttal, the plaintiff's attorney Kevin Teets countered that nothing could cause more harm to the Watkins Trust than "killing it" by converting the Trust's assets into a cash gift to Belmont. He noted that Samuel Watkins could have donated his estate for scholarships but chose instead to entrust the state to establish and maintain an independent school.
The plaintiffs in the legal challenge filed to Save Watkins are Kenneth Strawn and Amari Harris, two students attending Watkins, and Mark Schlicher, a faculty member at the institution. The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Kevin Teets and Jonathan Fagan.
Recent Save Watkins Press
Emma Whitford, “Watkins-Belmont Merger Controversy Continues,” Inside Higher Ed, March 20, 2020.
Jason Hall, “'Save Watkins' group calls for resignation after alleged armed incident,” Fox17 Nashville, March 19, 2020.
Taylor Dafoe, “A Nashville Art School Made Headlines When It Announced a Merger With a Christian University. But a New Injunction Could Stop It,” ArtNet News, March 16, 2020.
A full list of media coverage is available here.
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Updated March 21, 2020 to clarify the nature of the injunctive proceeding, and to add names of plaintiffs and their attorneys.