The Office of the Attorney General has issued an opposition response to WKU’s motion for a stay of its lawsuit against the College Heights Herald, University of Kentucky’s student paper the Kentucky Kernel and Attorney General Andy Beshear.

WKU’s motion to be heard before a Warren County judge on May 15 would ask for a stay in the case until the lawsuit between UK and Beshear is decided.

WKU’s motion claims the stay should be granted because “the UK case is identical to the case at hand,” and answers questions about Title IX sexual misconduct records and the powers of the Attorney General.

“Issuing a stay of this case would save time, reduce parties’ litigation expenses, and promote judicial economy and efficient resolution of the issues,” the WKU’s lawyer Thomas Kerrick wrote in the motion.

The response from Beshear’s office argues WKU’s motion is wrongly comparing the two cases and is an example of how the university wishes to hide any allegation from the public.

“Each and every file dealing with such allegations is unique, and a university must justify its withholding of each and every document in these files under the Open Records Act,” Beshear wrote in the response. “Indeed, the University’s Motion to Stay exemplifies how the University is trying to shield every allegation of sexual assault and harassment from public scrutiny and, ultimately, accountability for how the University handles such matters.”

Beshear filed a motion to intervene in WKU’s lawsuit against the Herald and the Kernel in late March. The hearing scheduled for May 15, in Warren Circuit Court,  will be the first hearing in the case.

Reporter Jacob Dick can be reached at 270-745-6011 and [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @jdickjournalism.