Whitlock promotes Moberly at EKU, then C-J promptly demotes him.

This morning the Courier-Journal took a swipe at EKU President Doug Whitlock's promotion of House budget committee chairman Harry Moberly to what C-J called the position of "executive director for administration."

His "demotion" came as a surprise to those of us thought Whitlock promoted him to Executive Vice President for Administration.

In an e-mail sent to faculty yesterday Whitlock said,

"The University has a significantly underutilized administrative resource in Harry Moberly, Jr., Esq. Mr. Moberly has valuable experience at EKU, having been a fulltime faculty member for two years and having served as Director of Judicial Affairs and Services for Individuals With Disabilities for 17 years. In these, and other assignments at the University, he has demonstrated abilities in working with and through others to build consensus and achieve results. Further, his legislative experience as a member of the House Education Committee, Co-Chair of the Education Assessment & Accountability Review Subcommittee, Chair of the House Budget Subcommittee on Education and subsequently as Chair of the House Committee on Appropriations & Revenue, has given him an understanding of education at all levels and considerable budgetary expertise. His contributions have been recognized by virtually all of the major education advocacy organizations in the
Commonwealth. So that the University might more fully utilize his skills, I am appointing him as Executive Vice President for Administration.

Pointing to past "parochialism of local legislators" C-J suggests a conflict of interest saying,

"...one must judge whether it's a good thing that House budget committee chairman Harry Moberly Jr. now has an even bigger job at Eastern Kentucky University, over whose public funding he presides. Formerly director of Judicial Affairs and Services for Individuals With Disabilities at EKU, Rep. Moberly has been raised to executive director for administration, reporting directly to a president who, understandably, will be focused like a laser on how much taxpayer money his campus gets.

OK. I get the point. But I'm having a hard time imagining that Moberly hasn't been a loyal Eastern advocate for some time now. What has really changed?