Kentucky: History repeating? As former U of L Dean Robert Felner faces the feds, colleagues and students shed light on his turbulent past

by E Wayne Ross on August 13, 2008

LEO Weekly: Cover Story for August 13, 2008

History repeating?

As former U of L Dean Robert Felner faces the feds, colleagues and students shed light on his turbulent past

The e-mail’s subject line read “Justice at Last?”

The message relayed sordid details about the brewing scandal surrounding Robert Felner, the former University of Louisville dean under federal investigation for potentially mishandling hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money.

When Paul Hutchinson — a student of Felner’s at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign two decades ago — opened the e-mail from an old college friend, the message linked to recent media coverage of the criminal investigation here in Louisville.

As Hutchinson read news of the saga, he wasn’t surprised by the allegations against Felner, whom he describes as problematic, neglectful and unprofessional. What was more shocking, he says, is that it took so many years for accusations of wrongdoing to surface.