A horse peeks out of his stall at Keeneland, a racetrack in Lexington. An anti-doping authority had raised questions about the work of a lab under the supervision of a faculty member whose tenure was revoked Thursday by the University of Kentucky. (Getty Images)
LEXINGTON — The University of Kentucky has fired a tenured faculty member who formerly oversaw the university’s equine drug-testing lab.
Scott Stanley was removed as the head of UK’s former Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory last year following an investigation that alleged the lab failed to meet standards under his leadership. The investigation was conducted by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, which oversees drug testing of Thoroughbred racehorses.
The UK Board of Trustees approved revoking Stanley’s tenure by voice vote during a Thursday special meeting. Trustees asked questions of Stanley’s attorney, Cristina Keith, and UK lawyer Whitney Stepp-Gay and publicly debated the decision. Stanley had waived his right to a hearing.
“At the University of Kentucky, we are committed to advancing Kentucky through research and service of the highest quality,” said board Chair Britt Brockman in a statement following the meeting. “We must uphold the highest ethical standards and comply fully with university and industry regulations. Any violations of these policies are taken seriously and addressed to maintain the integrity of this work – the work of thousands of people across this institution.”
Keith told the Lantern after the board vote that her client was obviously disappointed with the outcome, but she could not say if Stanley would appeal the decision in court without speaking to him first.
A university press release said that terminating a tenured faculty member is rare, but allowed under Kentucky state law.
UK began the process to revoke Stanley’s tenure last fall after initial findings in an internal audit. One finding included a test that was commissioned by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit was never performed but Stanley had reported the result.
Keith said in the board meeting in response to questions about the testing result that “without additional information, Dr Stanley cannot speak to this specific allegation” and questioned the integrity of the finding. She said there has not been a photograph of the alleged unopened sample.
“In addition to that, all samples are received in more than one vial, so assuming that there was a discovery of one unopened vial in the EACL lab refrigerator, that is not conclusive evidence that no testing had been performed,” she said.
Charges Stanley faced, according to UK’s press release, were:
Failure to perform duties: Misrepresentation, falsification of test results and fraudulent billing
Failure to perform duties and/or incompetence: Lack of internal controls (to prevent tampering and manipulation of data) and lack of oversight of EACL operations
Failure to perform duties and/or incompetence: Conflicts of interest/commitment and improper hiring practices
Frank Shoop, a nonvoting member of the board who is member and past chairman of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, spoke about the importance of accurate and credible drug testing for horse racing. According to the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, the thoroughbred industry brings in $115 million in tax revenue for the state annually.
Shoop said a prominent testing facility used to be at the University of California-Davis.
“A lot of people in this state worked a lot of years to get this to the University of Kentucky,” Shoop said.
Eagle Diagnostics acquired the chemistry lab from UK earlier this year.