The University of Kentucky reached a tentative settlement on Friday, May 9, in two lawsuits regarding professor Buck Ryan, who accused the school of defamation and retaliation.
However, UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said the settlement documents are not yet finalized.
“The University is pleased these cases have been resolved after so long,” Blanton said.
In December 2019, Ryan sued university administrators Provost David Blackwell, Interim Dean of the College of Communication and Information Derek Lane, Director of the School of Journalism and Media Mike Farrell and chief audit executive Joseph Reed in a civil lawsuit.
According to the original complaint in the first lawsuit, Ryan claimed he was defamed by the faculty listed above after they alleged that he “exploited” his position at the university for monetary gain by requiring students to purchase a book he had written.
Also in December 2019, Ryan filed a second defamation lawsuit against UK’s Board of Trustees and a former student who claimed he displayed suggestive advances.
Ryan’s lawyer, Robert Abell, told the Kernel on May 27 that he expects details of the settlement to be finalized soon, though no date was specified.
“I’ll be pleased to speak with you when the process is finally and completely concluded. That should take another week or so, give or take,” Abell said.
Bucky Ballz • May 29, 2025 at 10:15 am
UK looks pretty ridiculous. In the HL article it gives Ryan’s salary at over $100,000 as a full professor at UK. Since they were forced to retain him after the lawsuit he continued to draw that income.
His layoff was most likely due to budget shortfall 2019-2020 and they used any excuse to do that. It’s not likely that 50-100 textbook sales would significantly affect his salary.