UK will continue with appeal despite victims’ wishes

Confidential

Marjorie Kirk

UK will continue to pursue a lawsuit against the Kentucky Kernel student newspaper over documents regarding an associate professor’s sexual assault investigation, a spokesman for the university said Saturday evening.

The Kernel received the documents of the investigation from a confidential source connected to the case and featured reports from the investigation in an article published Saturday afternoon.

“We plan to continue the litigation based on what we believe is an erroneous interpretation of the law by the office of the Attorney General,” UK spokesman Jay Blanton said in a message to the Kernel.

A spokesperson for the two victims who filed the complaints against associate professor James Harwood told the Kernel that they wanted the documents to be public record with names and identifiers redacted.

Despite the wishes of the victims to make the documents public, UK still plans to fight against their release in court.