Ramsey says U of L broke no rules on disputed doctorate

This from C-J:

Spokesmen: He was only addressing part of inquiry

In a letter to the University of Louisville's accrediting agency, President James Ramsey said yesterday that "we do not believe any violations have occurred" in awarding a doctoral degree to a student who was enrolled at the university for only one semester.

But in interviews, spokesmen for the university said Ramsey was referring only to possible violations of the accrediting agency's residency requirement for doctoral candidates.

They said the committee Ramsey appointed Wednesday still will investigate other aspects of the degree -- including whether then-dean Robert Felner had a conflict of
interest in supervising the doctoral candidate, who had given his research center a $375,000 contract.

"Dr. Ramsey is going to let the committee do its work," said A. Keith Inman, U of L's vice president for university advancement. "He has not reached any other conclusions."

Yesterday, a lawyer for Felner offered his first public comments on the Ph.D. controversy. Scott C. Cox said there was no connection between the contract and Felner's efforts to help the doctoral student, John Deasy, win his Ph.D...