| Tuesday, November 24, 1998
PRESENT: Arend, Bates, D.Betz, P.Betz, Fasold, Fink, Fisher,
Goldfrank, Iglarsh, Jacobs, Joyner, Kopac, Martire, MoranCruz, Morris,
Noyes, Pfeiffer, Rameh, Ronkainen, Sitterson, Soudee, Stent, Viksnins,
Vroman, J.Walsh,S.J., T. Walsh.
ABSENT: Andrews, Davis, Dover, Finkel, Fort, Gerli, Lieber, McCabe,
Mujal-Leon, Peck, Pinkard, Richardson, Zuccarelli.
Minutes
JoAnn Moran Cruz announced that Joe Sitterson's service on the Senate
is still pending his availability. With this note, the minutes of
the meeting of September 3 were approved as written.
Bookstore Oversight Committee
Richard Ross of the Library was named to the Committee and another member
sought. Leona Fisher suggested Dennis Todd who was named pending
his willingness to serve.
Medical Center Oversight Committee
Discussion of the proposed committee focused on numbers of faculty to
be named from each campus. Dick Bates and Tony Arend will serve ex-officio,
and the Senate will name two members.
Jo Ann Moran Cruz said her understanding of the committee was that it
would study the probable results of various plans proposed for the Medical
Center. She opened the floor for nominations.
Dick Bates read a statement from Father O'Donovan defining the committee's
role. Work will start next week and continue through the spring.
This represents a substantial time commitment.
George Viksnins proposed James Albrecht and Doug Brown of the Economics
department. Dick Bates named Wayne Davis. Leona Fisher named
Joe Neale. Pat O'Hare was proposed from Nursing. An attempt
was made to nominate JoAnn Moran Cruz. Jim Angel was reported to
have nominated Harvey Iglarsh. Tony Arend named Betsy Steven of Demography
and Jeff Peck of German.
JoAnn Moran Cruz asked all those who had proposed names to find out
whether they would serve. She said she would propose all the names
to the Steering Committee.
Tony Arend asked to add Kevin Wildes. David Goldfrank spoke in
favor of naming an economist; the problem has come from poor resource allocation.
Judith Feder was also suggested.
Dan Martire moved a preference for Wayne Davis first and Doug Brown
second among the candidates. This was endorsed.
Medical Center Situation
JoAnn Moran Cruz spoke of the background of the problem and the scope
of any proposed partnership. At first this was seen as limited to
the clinical area, but now the academic is also on the table.
The question of what other partners or buyers might be interested remains
open.
Michael Cole, who came to report to the Caucus, mentioned Hopkins and
the Washington Hospital Center. Hopkins, of course, has its own medical
center which raises problems of duplication.
JoAnn Moran Cruz reported that we need to know the extent to which the
research and clinical functions posed dangers to the University budget.
Marcia Morris asked for more concrete budget information.
Adam Myers attempted to summarize the structure of the Medical Center,
divided among: 1. the hospital; 2. the faculty practice group; 3.
the schools of nursing and of medicine; and, 4. the research enterprise.
The largest by far is the hospital, next is the faculty practice group.
Many faculty cross lines between divisions. There are also many employees
on research grants, soft money that does not support tenure-track employment.
Only about 120 of 720 faculty are tenure-track. Tenured faculty have
been reduced by buy-outs.
Adam Myers reported a conversation with Sam Wiesel who demanded larger
representation in the Senate because of the size of the Medical Center
faculty. Adam Myers told him Senate representation gave weight to
tenure-track numbers.
Teaching is often different in medicine because it consists of visiting
patients as well as classroom work. Typical faculty in research derive
60%, on average, of their salaries from outside funds. The faculty
practice plan derives 80% from clinical revenues.
Sue Vroman spoke of the advantages of faculty membership to clinicians
who gain fringe benefits. She asked how many were actually involved
in education. Adam Myers suspected it would be few.
A major problem results from the lack of rationale for changes.
If a department closes, a reduction is justified, but the changes that
have occurred have only nebulous bases. Adam Myers and Dick Bates
spoke of the risks of hiring people on research money. Michael Cole
noted that the new compensation plan was at odds with the understanding
under which he was hired.
Dick Bates described partnership agreements under discussion:
a health-care provider, a school with a medical school, or a school without
one.
JoAnn Moran Cruz reported that the Medical Caucus had endorsed three
out of four of the resolutions of the Main Campus Executive Faculty.
She also announced that a recent audit discovered an additional $27
million "problem" in the Medical Center. This involves bills that
it had been assumed would be paid and that were not paid in last year's
budget, as well as bills that were not sent out due to a change in the
billing system. This effectively increases last year's deficit.
Such surprises will make any attempt at partnership more difficult.
Sue Vroman cited Main Campus cuts that are threatening academic quality.
She questioned whether this was causing problems for the Main Campus, particularly
in the distribution and filling of unfilled tenure lines. JoAnn Moran
Cruz suggested a discussion at a future meeting.
DB/jhg
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