U of Kentucky Settles With Professor Who Alleged Retaliation

Raynor Mullins, a retired professor of dentistry, will get $620,000 and be able to return to the University of Kentucky as part of a settlement with the institution, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. Mullins sued the university last year, saying that he was fired after he publicly criticized Kentucky Republican governor Matt Bevin’s plan to roll back parts of the Medicaid expansion made under the Affordable Care Act. The settlement, reached just before Mullins’s lawsuit against the university was to proceed to trial, reportedly does not acknowledge wrongdoing by the university. Mullins alleged that the university faced political pressure to retaliate against him after he spoke out against Bevin's plan in 2016, and that he soon lost a post-retirement teaching appointment. A joint statement issued with the settlement says that both Mullins and the university “desire to resolve their disputes in a positive manner.”