FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 30, 2020
WATKINS ACTIVISTS VOW TO FIGHT ON AFTER ‘MINOR’ SETBACK
(Nashville, TN) -- A Nashville judge has declined to grant an injunction sought by two students and a teacher who are attempting to block the controversial proposed merger between Watkins College of Art and Belmont University. In a statement issued Monday evening, they vowed to continue their fight.
Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal, in a narrow ruling Friday, denied the students and teacher a temporary injunction to halt the merger, ruling that they lacked standing under the Tennessee Nonprofit Corporation Act. She did not rule on their assertion that the underlying Watkins Trust is public, nor the other claims made by attorneys for the students.
Attorneys for the students and teacher argue that the deal is invalid because the Samuel Watkins Trust, which was established by an 1881 state law, defines the Watkins property as public, which supersedes the desire of the Watkins non-profit corporation to sell the campus and give the proceeds to Belmont, a private university. They cite the fact that the law has never been repealed or substantially modified. The Watkins non-profit corporation, they argue, is a separate entity that does not extinguish the underlying public Trust. They have vowed to continue their legal fight.
Save Watkins, a group of students, faculty, and alumni who support the legal effort to block the Belmont deal, issued the following statement on Monday:
“Despite continued baseless claims by the Watkins Commissioners, the judge did not rule against the merits of our assertion that the Watkins Trust is a public entity under state law. This is a minor setback. Our case remains active and we look forward to our day in court.”
Watkins and Belmont jointly announced a merger in January, with Watkins students being offered a transfer to Belmont. The Watkins campus, under this plan, would be sold and the proceeds going to an endowment for Belmont students attending the newly-christened “Watkins College of Art at Belmont”. Estimates place the value of the real estate at $15-20 million dollars, a figure that was also stated to Watkins students and faculty at a meeting on the day of the announcement of the merger.
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.
CONTACTS:
Save Watkins, Quinn Dukes, 646.704.4761, quinndukes@gmail.com
INTERVIEW AVAILABILITY:
Kevin W. Teets Jr., 615.933.8230, kevin.teets@kevinteetslaw.com
Jonathon Fagan, 615.604.1030, jd@faganjd.com