FRANKFORT — After? hearing a plea from Kentucky State University President Koffi C. Akakpo, a Senate committee reversed itself Friday and approved releasing funds to design a new home for KSU’s nursing program.

Earlier in the day,? the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee had rejected House Joint Resolution 53 after chair Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ryland Heights, voted against the resolution. McDaniel said because KSU has “underperformed for a dramatic period” that he wanted to see “sustained” improvement before releasing the $5 million appropriated by the legislature last year.??

The committee later reconvened in a special meeting at which Akakpo told McDaniel he understood the senator’s concerns, noting that the state’s only public historically black college was in a “financial crisis” before he became president in 2023.?

No money to build new nursing school raises old question: ‘When will it be Kentucky State’s time?’

“I understand things are not coming out fast enough,” Akakpo said. “This has been the hardest job in my life, but I am committed to making it happen. Give me your votes. Trust me, I’ll come back next year and show you what we have been able to accomplish.”?

Some Republican senators who had earlier opposed releasing the money changed their vote, and the resolution was approved 9-2,? though McDaniel still voted against it. McDaniel said Akakpo is doing “magnificent work” at KSU but that “the institution still has steps to take as a whole.”?

“They need your leadership to do it. They need to be listening to your leadership and following it,” McDaniel told Akakpo. “I look forward to you utilizing the funds here in a good manner.”?

The full Senate later voted 34-3 to ?release the $5 million. McDaniel voted for the resolution on the floor.

The measure also requires KSU to submit to the legislature “a comprehensive business plan” for the health science building project including how the project would “work within and supplement the current health science programs” of other Kentucky universities.?

KSU has dealt with a number of controversies including misused funds under a former administration and had received a warning in 2023 from its accreditation body. The legislature in 2022 put the university under a management improvement plan and provided $23 million to help it recover from a budget hole.?

The legislature had set aside last year $60 million for campus maintenance and repairs, along with the $5 million for the design of the health science education building. Akakpo told the Lantern last year his vision for moving the university toward sustainability meant supporting academic programs that meet the needs of the region and state.

Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, praised Akakpo after the vote for the university president’s dedication and diligence for “concrete progress that clearly has been made.”?

“This is going to be good not only for the students, not only for future students that come there. This is going to be good for Kentucky, and I think it’s a win all the way around,” Neal said.

This story was updated with the Senate vote.