Does rural Kentucky hate Louisville? (Lexington, Paducah: credit, place to live, tuition)

[Cthulhu7]

Define rural. Since the merger, a large proportion (and a significant number of square miles) of the city/county of Louisville/Jefferson County's area consists of open space/countryside (most notably in the southeast corner,) as well as an increasing amount of low density commercial/residential development (sprawl.)
Lexington on the other hand, while the proportion of countryside within it's borders if far greater than that of Louisville, it has at least made efforts to cluster new residential development.

And as far as the diversity and percentages of population within Kentucky cities that is of European, African, Asian and Latin American decent etc., the merged City/county of Louisville Metro counted at the last census:

White Non-Hispanic (76.4%)
Black (18.9%)
Hispanic (1.8%)
Two or more races (1.4%)
Other race (0.7%)
American Indian (0.6%)

Hopkinsville counted:

White Non-Hispanic (65.3%)
Black (30.9%)
Hispanic (1.7%)
Two or more races (1.4%)
American Indian (0.6%)
Other race (0.6%)

Lexington:

White Non-Hispanic (79.1%)
Black (13.5%)
Hispanic (3.3%)
Two or more races (1.6%)
Other race (1.2%)
Chinese (0.8%)
American Indian (0.6%)
Asian Indian (0.6%)

Radcliff:
White Non-Hispanic (60.6%)
Black (25.6%)
Hispanic (5.7%)
Two or more races (4.5%)
Other race (2.6%)
Korean (2.0%)
American Indian (1.4%)
Filipino (0.6%)

even Paducah:
White Non-Hispanic (72.1%)
Black (24.1%)
Two or more races (1.6%)
Hispanic (1.4%)
American Indian (0.8%)
Other race (0.5%)


And as far as those ads for the University of Louisville touting it as "Kentucky's metropolitan research university," half of the metropolitan area is in Indiana! UK is just as known for research (including human cloning) and has a metropolitan area which lies entirely within the confines of Kentucky!

Thank you.
I will now step off my soapbox.

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu7

Define rural. Since the merger, a large proportion (and a significant number of square miles) of the city/county of Louisville/Jefferson County's area consists of open space/countryside (most notably in the southeast corner,) as well as an increasing amount of low density commercial/residential development (sprawl.)
Lexington on the other hand, while the proportion of countryside within it's borders if far greater than that of Louisville, it has at least made efforts to cluster new residential development.

And as far as the diversity and percentages of population within Kentucky cities that is of European, African, Asian and Latin American decent etc., the merged City/county of Louisville Metro counted at the last census:

White Non-Hispanic (76.4%)
Black (18.9%)
Hispanic (1.8%)
Two or more races (1.4%)
Other race (0.7%)
American Indian (0.6%)

Hopkinsville counted:

White Non-Hispanic (65.3%)
Black (30.9%)
Hispanic (1.7%)
Two or more races (1.4%)
American Indian (0.6%)
Other race (0.6%)

Lexington:

White Non-Hispanic (79.1%)
Black (13.5%)
Hispanic (3.3%)
Two or more races (1.6%)
Other race (1.2%)
Chinese (0.8%)
American Indian (0.6%)
Asian Indian (0.6%)

Radcliff:
White Non-Hispanic (60.6%)
Black (25.6%)
Hispanic (5.7%)
Two or more races (4.5%)
Other race (2.6%)
Korean (2.0%)
American Indian (1.4%)
Filipino (0.6%)

even Paducah:
White Non-Hispanic (72.1%)
Black (24.1%)
Two or more races (1.6%)
Hispanic (1.4%)
American Indian (0.8%)
Other race (0.5%)


And as far as those ads for the University of Louisville touting it as "Kentucky's metropolitan research university," half of the metropolitan area is in Indiana! UK is just as known for research (including human cloning) and has a metropolitan area which lies entirely within the confines of Kentucky!

Thank you.
I will now step off my soapbox.

I'm sorry but I think I have missed something. Were we comparing Lexington to Louisville?

[KerryB]

Yes. Most of the truly "rural" parts of KY is in eastern & central KY, where they blindly follow the Cats like a religion. Its just what they do there & they're socialized into it from birth.

So, yeah. I'd say most probably do hate Louisville (even though they've probably never actually been there) simply because of UofL. Kinda dumb (OK, its really dumb), but it is what it is.

[Cthulhu7]

Originally Posted by missymomof3

I'm sorry but I think I have missed something. Were we comparing Lexington to Louisville?

Some people were.

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu7

And as far as those ads for the University of Louisville touting it as "Kentucky's metropolitan research university," half of the metropolitan area is in Indiana! UK is just as known for research (including human cloning) and has a metropolitan area which lies entirely within the confines of Kentucky!

Thank you.
I will now step off my soapbox.

Really my main "beef" with UK is that it shares much less of its benefits than most flagship universities. Blacksburg doesn't have more VA tech alums than Richmond or Norfolk, Oxford doesn't have more Ole Miss alums than Jackson or the Memphis suburbs in MS, yet Fayette County has 37,000 UK alums while Jefferson County has only 23,000 and Northern KY only has 10,000. UK tries to counter this by saying they employ one person in each county in their Ag extension program - woohoo!

The Lexington Metro is thriving while the rest of the state is stuck in a Rust Belt economy. Louisville is growing some but ranks 52nd out of the largest 55 metros in percent of college grads. NKY doesn't do much better. Lexington itself ranks 10th among cities over 250,000 in percent of college grads.

At least U of L is honest - while it does have lots of medical outreach in Western KY and enrolls a good number of students throughout the state it does mostly benefit its own metro area.

[urbancharlotte]

Originally Posted by missymomof3

I read yesterday that alot of rural Kentuckians see Louisville as "sin city" and full of "Northern Values" and don't like us. Is that true? It breaks my heart to think that the state that I love so much doesn't love me back

It should not break your heart. The fact that rural areas of the state don't like the urban areas is a compliment, and you should take it as such. Read between the lines of their hatred and you will be glad that they hate Louisville. Unless of course, you have NO CLUE what Louisville represents to rural Kentucky. You know I have lived in rural Kentucky. What you didn't know is that I have an uncle in Louisville. Trust me, I know VERY WELL why Louisville is considered "the devil" or "unsafe" or "wicked" to rural Kentucky. Maybe you should get out of Louisville more often so you can see what I have already seen.

Originally Posted by KerryB

Yes. Most of the truly "rural" parts of KY is in eastern & central KY, where they blindly follow the Cats like a religion. Its just what they do there & they're socialized into it from birth.

So, yeah. I'd say most probably do hate Louisville (even though they've probably never actually been there) simply because of UofL. Kinda dumb (OK, its really dumb), but it is what it is.

Reps for you on this one!!! Where I lived (Ashland) is only 15 minutes from Huntington. You would think they (Ashland) would support the school that is actually in their metropolitan area (Marshall Univ). Heck Nooooooooooo!!!! They are ALL UK heads out there. It is quite pathetic if you ask me because Marshall does more for that Metro region than UK EVER will.

Another thing I noticed was the fact that most of the biggest UK fanatics in Ashland barely made it out of High School (if they even bothered to attend high school at all). I am not sure whether they realized it or not, but most UK graduates look down on many of their fans in eastern KY. I've had the pleasure of knowing a few UK grads down here in Charlotte. The way how they talk about some parts of Kentucky is just horrible (the same parts of Kentucky that worship UK). CRAZY!!!!

[censusdata]

The whole "holier than thou" attitude that most UK alums and fans in Metro Lexington have is the main reason I am no longer a UK fan. I moved to Lexington from Casey County when I was 11 and all I heard was that I was an inbred hillbilly who couldn't talk right and needed to go back to my
trailer park'. I then stopped and asked myself why it made sense to cheer for their university when then hate me and where I'm from, especially when University of Lexington in Kentucky really has very little economic benefit to my part of the state.

[urbancharlotte]

Originally Posted by censusdata

The whole "holier than thou" attitude that most UK alums and fans in Metro Lexington have is the main reason I am no longer a UK fan. I moved to Lexington from Casey County when I was 11 and all I heard was that I was an inbred hillbilly who couldn't talk right and needed to go back to my
trailer park'. I then stopped and asked myself why it made sense to cheer for their university when then hate me and where I'm from, especially when University of Lexington in Kentucky really has very little economic benefit to my part of the state.

Ha HA!!! I like that!!! "University of Lexington" is basically what it is. However, when you have a bunch of National titles (and your school is named after the entire state unlike Louisville) it becomes obvious why so many Kentuckians outside of Lexington worship UK. UK doesn't really love these folks back, but you can't tell them (the UK fanatics) that. If the University dropped "Kentucky" off of its name, its fan base would drop like a rock. It the same as the Duke/Carolina thing here in NC. Carolina is more popular because of its name (and MJ). However, if Duke were called "Carolina" instead, I have a feeling MJ (raised in Wilmington NC) would have been a Blue Devil. A name can do a lot for a sports team when it comes to attracting blind followers.

[JefferyT]

Having went to U of K the "University of Lexington" thing must be new because when I was there U of K drew from around the state. I had roommates from Guthrie and Hopkinsville (Pennyrile region), used to party with a girl from Mayfield (Purchase), had another roommate from Boone County (Cincy area), SGA president was from Ashland, etc, etc.

There certainly was a Lexington contingent, but U of K drew students from all over as it was the OSU or Wisconsin of Kentucky, or sort of a combination of Purdue and Indiana, the place one went if one wanted an advanced degree or professional degree. I know that people who went to private schools like Berea or Georgetown ended up at U of K working on their masters.

U of K also drew from Louisville, but more of the East End crowd. In fact there was one frat that seemed to be mostly made up of St X or Trinity alums.

An interesting angle is that since I used to live in Valley Station many of my classmates had family connections to the counties south of Louisville, so they had a preference for WKU when they went to college.

[censusdata]

JT, UK does draw a lot of students from around the state but Lexington then keeps the lion's share of the graduates, something true 'college towns' don't do.

As far as enrollment goes UK is dramatically pulling back from most rural counties while increasing its out of state enrollment.

Source for following info: http://www.uky.edu/IRPE/students/enr...ntbycounty.pdf

Consider some of the following declines

Daviess County down by 102 students (19%) since 2005
Harlan County down 64 students (60%) since 1999
Muhlenberg County down 57 students (58%) since 1999
Pulaski County down 37 students (15%) since 1999

All this while UK's total enrollment increased by 3,000 (12%). Half of that gain was from out of state. This is the same university that accuses U of L of 'over reaching it's mandated mission' because it is picking up enrollment from those areas that UK thinks its too good to enroll from!