Editor’s Note: The WKU Sisterhood awarded WKU Student Publications a grant of $32,900 in 2022 that went to upgrade audiovisual equipment for the College Heights Herald, the Talisman and Cherry Creative. Student Publications is also set to receive $40,000 from the Sisterhood
The WKU Sisterhood, an all-women member organization that has donated more than $1 million to WKU programs and organizations, has disbanded just days after being told it must disaffiliate from the university.
Sisterhood members received an email from WKU on Jan. 30 that said it could no longer support the Sisterhood as a “formally affiliated organization,” due to House Bill 4. The Kentucky legislature approved HB4 in 2025, which bans Kentucky’s public universities from giving differential treatment based on “religion, race, sex, color or national origin.” Debra Sowell, Sisterhood chair, said the Sisterhood voted to disband on Thursday.
The Sisterhood was told in August that it must diversify or disaffiliate from WKU due to HB4. The Sisterhood planned to pause its organization, waiting for clarification from the Attorney General’s office that the Sisterhood was an organization that was supposed to be affected by HB4.
Sowell said the Attorney General’s office didn’t believe Sisterhood was a “major issue” in being out of compliance with HB4, but was told by the Attorney General that it must comply with WKU’s interpretation of the bill.
Sowell told the Herald on Jan. 30 that the Sisterhood notified WKU of its plan to pause in December. The Sisterhood was told that the university had received its plan on Jan. 2, but Sowell said the Sisterhood heard nothing else from WKU until hearing that it must disaffiliate.
For those who had been “in the trenches” during the Sisterhood’s struggles with WKU affiliation, Sowell said they felt like they “had done everything we could do.”
Before voting to disband, the Sisterhood divided its remaining $116,500 among seven WKU organizations. WKU Student Publications is one of those groups and will receive $40,000 from the Sisterhood.
The Sisterhood had around $140,000 in its pool of money to donate on Jan. 30. After the group was told it had to disaffiliate, Sowell said most of the members in the endowment fund, which was part of the pool of $140,000, took their money and “redirected it to other Western organizations,” leaving the Sisterhood with $116,500 to donate.
“The university is deeply appreciative of the Sisterhood’s many contributions through the years,” University Spokesperson Jace Lux said. “Regarding the need to disaffiliate, there is no additional information to share beyond what was communicated to the Sisterhood’s membership on January 30.”
