FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Thursday, March 26, 2020

FORMER WATKINS BOARD MEMBERS QUESTION “FAILURES”, “IMPROPRIETIES”

Sharp Criticisms Lodged in Letters to Attorney General

(Nashville, TN) Two longtime former members of the Watkins College Board of Trustees, retired Chancery Court judge Carol McCoy and Dee Doochin, have written to Attorney General Herbert Slatery III, raising sharp criticisms of “improprieties” and “failures” in the operation of Watkins in recent years. The letters come in the wake of a legal challenge to the planned absorption of Watkins by Belmont University. Chancellor McCoy served on the Watkins Board of Trustees for thirteen years. Doochin served on the Board for sixteen years. Both left in 2018. Doochin released her letter yesterday. Neither have received a response from the Attorney General.

McCoy’s letter and affidavit have come to light as part of a legal filing Monday in Davidson County Chancery Court by attorneys for two students and a faculty member, as part of their lawsuit that aims to halt the Watkins-Belmont deal. This is the same court that Chancellor McCoy presided over for twenty years before her retirement in 2016. In Davidson County, Chancery Court has jurisdiction over a range of governmental and business cases.

The filing, known as a “motion to supplement the record”, includes McCoy’s letter, which the attorneys are asking Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal to consider as part of the case as it proceeds.

In her letter to the AG, Chancellor McCoy writes, “I resigned due to the lack of leadership by the Executive Committee of the board and the failure of the three gubernatorial-appointed Commissioners to properly exercise their duties....” She cites the hiring of Watkins President J. Kline’s then-fiancee as VP of Admissions “despite her lack of qualifications”, and the unusual unilateral step taken by the Executive Committee to address the nepotism concerns by appointing themselves to oversee this conflict of interest.

Describing “serious mishandling of its resources”, McCoy asks that the “operations of the College be reviewed since [President] Kline has been employed for any improprieties”. She also highlights the state’s ownership of Watkins College, including its valuable real estate, and asks Slatery whether the State of Tennessee has agreed to the sale of the land.

Watkins Board’s attorneys filed a response to the Court Tuesday, claiming that Chancellor’s McCoy’s letter is not “relevant”, and “contains nothing of substance; it presents hearsay and opinion--not objective fact”. It notes that McCoy is not “the Attorney General, a director, nor a member of Watkins.”

In fact, Watkins does not have “directors”, but uses the term “trustees”. The institution is governed by the three Commissioners and a Board of Trustees. Chancellor McCoy was a Trustee for 13 years. While in office, Chancellor McCoy served as president of the Tennessee Judicial Conference and presiding judge of the 20th Judicial District.

Doochin released her letter yesterday as an Open Letter, after sending it to the Attorney General last week. Citing similar concerns as Chancellor McCoy, she writes, “During my early years on the Board, I watched the school grow into a nationally recognized, highly credentialed institution filled with outstanding faculty and students who earned numerous prestigious awards in a number of disciplines. Unfortunately, during the time J. Klein was at the helm of the institution, the growth ceased and the school began to enter a declining slide, financially and in every other way.”

Doochin further stated, 

"There was a time where transparency was the norm between the President of Watkins and the entire Board of Trust, not just with the three Commissioners and the Executive Committee. Unfortunately, this transparency practice changed during J’s tenure. The decisions concerning the management of the school started being made by the Commissioners and the Executive Committee, with the expectation that the entire Board of Trust would rubber-stamp all of these decisions. That didn’t happen when it came to voting on J’s contract renewal. Those who voted against the contract extension were unexpectedly removed from the Board when the renewal of their terms of service revolved."

McCoy and Doochin were among twelve members of the Board who resigned or were abruptly removed by the Board’s powerful Executive Committee between 2017 and 2018, following a series of controversial actions by the Committee with little input or participation by the full Board. The Executive Committee is headed by the Watkins Commissioners and includes others specified by the Bylaws. Over the years the Executive Committee has assumed sweeping powers; often overruling or sidestepping the intent of other committees or the full Board.

Watkins College’s current Commissioners and Board, citing financial difficulty, recently announced an intention to merge with the much larger Belmont University, a Christian University. The deal calls for the sale of Watkins’s current campus, worth an estimated $20 million, with the proceeds of the sale transferred to Belmont as an endowment gift.

‘Save Watkins’, a collective of Watkins supporters who favor blocking the sale and seeking another solution to keep the school independent, today released the following statement: 

“We thank Chancellor McCoy and Ms. Doochin for courageously standing up against the injustice and the apparent malfeasance that the Watkins Commissioners are desperately trying to sweep under the rug as they rush forward with this terrible Belmont deal. We encourage other current and former Board members to raise their voices, too.

“These letters further prove what we have seen at every step. Whenever it suits the Commissioners to assert dictatorial powers granted by the State, they do so. But when it comes to the public’s right to know, and the Legislature’s right of oversight, they suddenly pretend that they are solely a private corporation. The problem is that their corporate bylaws don’t grant the Commissioners these powers. ONLY the Public Trust. Any special power held by the Commissioners (and the Executive Committee that they alone appoint) is inherently a function of Watkins being a public entity. 

“So, which is it? You simply can’t have it both ways”. 

Watkins College is governed by a legal structure that is unique. According to Samuel Watkins’ will and state law (TCA 49-50-701), Watkins College is held in trust by the State of Tennessee and overseen by three Commissioners who are appointed by the Governor and approved by the State Senate. In 1974, a non-profit “general welfare corporation” was formed to supplement, but not replace, the public Trust. As described in a newspaper report at the time, Commissioner Frank M. Farris “said that the formation of the general welfare corporation and the board of trustees is not contrary to the principles of the will, but rather will broaden the foundation of community support for Watkins Institute.”

The Articles of Incorporation for the Watkins non-profit state that its purpose is to “perform all acts, consistent with the Will of Samuel Watkins...to strengthen the ability of the educational institution known as Watkins Institute to serve the needs of the people of Tennessee and to carry out the testamentary intent in purpose of Samuel Watkins”. The operations are to “in all respects comply with the provisions of the will...and the aforesaid Act of the General Assembly of Tennessee accepting the trust therein provided”. 

The plaintiffs in the legal challenge filed to Save Watkins are Kenneth Strawn and Amari Harris, two students currently attending Watkins, and Mark Schlicher, a faculty member at the institution. The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Kevin Teets and Jonathon 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.
• Full list of media coverage available here.