Representation at the Meeting:
 

Anesthesiology	Jim Daniel
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Robert Stellwagen
Cardiothoracic Surgery
Cell and Neurobiology	Gene Albrecht
Children's Hospital
Emergency Medicine	Michael Orlinsky
Family Medicine
Medicine	Om P. Sharma
Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
Neurological Surgery
Neurology
Norris Medical Library	Candice Benjes
Obstetrics and Gynecology	Rebecca Sokol
Ophthalmology	Ronald Green
Orthopedics	Tom Hedman
Otolaryngology	Dennis O'Leary
Pathology	Florence Hoffman
Pediatrics	Laura Wachsman
Physiology and Biophysics	Austin Mircheff
Preventive Medicine	Wendy Mack
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences	Henry Slucki
Radiation Oncology
Radiology	Michael Terk
Rancho Los Amigos Hospital	Vikram Kamdar
Surgery
Urology

Also attending:     Assistant Dean for Faculty Affairs Sandra Mosteller
                           Ronald Kaufman

1. Call to Order

 

 

The meeting was called to order by President Harvey Kaslow at about 12:15 PM. A quorum was not present at that time. He announced a change in location to KAM 505 for the September and October meetings of the MFA, unless the October meeting becomes a meeting of the Faculty-at-Large.

An engraved gavel was presented to Kathryn Challoner, MFA Past-President, in recognition of her service during the past year.

President Kaslow introduced Sandra Mosteller, Assistant Dean for Faculty Affairs, who had provided copies of a revised version of a proposed governance document (draft of June 18, 1998) for the School. President Kaslow reviewed background leading to this draft and indicated that the MFA would consider the draft later in the meeting when a quorum was present. Discussion ensued about the need for a clear, unambiguous statement from University Administration that the draft was acceptable to University Administration before the proposal was mailed to the faculty for approval.  Additional discussion indicated that if the faculty approve the document, the sense of the MFA was that the University Administration should then issue a clear and unambiguous statement indicating that the document was valid and in force. It was stated that there should not be a repeat of the experience wherein the faculty and School administration approved a governance document, only years later to have it declared invalid by the central University Administration.
 
 

2. Report from the Finance Committee

 

 

President Kaslow reported regarding the June 10, 1998 meeting of the Finance Committee, which he had attended on behalf of the MFA. President Kaslow stated that unless the Assembly elected to send someone else to represent the MFA at meetings of the Finance Committee, either he or Treasurer Jerry Gates would represent the MFA.

Among the issues considered by the Finance Committee at the June 10 meeting, at least two appear to be of direct concern to faculty. One issue concerns disbursement of income generated by Masters degree programs and allocation of costs associated with Ph.D. programs. There had been some discussion at the Finance Committee that income from Masters degree programs was to be used to offset Ph.D. program costs. At the Finance Committee the concern was expressed that this type of accounting might not encourage the effort put into creating and maintaining the Masters degree programs. The concern was also expressed that the costs assigned to the Ph.D. programs may overstate true costs, and as a result penalize the School for having an active Ph.D. program.

Another issue involved the policy guiding the use of the $1.5 million made available to an education budget under the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Clive Taylor. It appears that the plan is to not use any of the funds to increase faculty base salaries, but instead use some of the funds to pay stipends to faculty for educational efforts. Although it appears that the funds available for stipends will be available indefinitely, the allocation of stipends to individual faculty would be on a year-to-year basis. At the June MFA meeting, this policy raised concerns; and as a result, Dr. Challoner sent to Dr. Van Der Meulen, Chairman of the Finance Committee, a letter dated June 2, 1998 describing the concern of some basic science faculty about the lack of increases in base salaries. President Kaslow reported that the Finance Committee decided that a statement regarding the policy that guides the use of these funds would best come from the Dean, and Dr. Van Der Meulen agreed to forward the concerns expressed at the MFA to the Dean and to the two Senior Associate Deans, Bernstein and Taylor.  Dr. Van Der Meulen will send a letter to the MFA indicating the action of the Finance Committee.
 
 

3. Consideration of minutes of the June 2, 1998 meeting.

 

 

As a quorum had been attained, the draft minutes of the June 2, 1998 meeting were considered, and approved with the correction of the spelling of Dr. Heseltine's name.
 
 

4. Consideration of School of Medicine Governance Document.

 

 

The latest version (final draft 2, on the Dean's WWW page termed the June 18, 1998 document) of the proposed governance document was discussed. Dr. Mircheff pointed out that there are still inaccuracies in the document, such as the incomplete listing of MFA offices. It was suggested by President Kaslow that if the MFA made even one change in the proposal, it would likely require going back to the FEC for approval. President Kaslow suggested that the document be considered with no further changes, and if other changes would be of benefit, they should be put forth for consideration by the proposed Joint Task Force Regarding Governance (the next item on the agenda). Dr. Kaslow summarized the significant changes in this version of the document compared to the prior version. Dr. Albrecht expressed concerns about the statement in the document allowing the Board of Trustees to modify the document. Others expressed concern that the document should more clearly state that if conflicts are found between the governance document and the Faculty Handbook, then the Faculty Handbook would rule. After additional discussion, the question was called. The document was approved with a vote of 13 in favor and 1 opposed.
 
 

5. Consideration of a proposed Recommendation:

A Joint Task Force Regarding Governance.

The proposal, which had been on the agenda of previous MFA meetings, but had not been considered, was discussed and was passed unanimously. The Recommendation will be numbered 1998-99-001.
 
 

6. Consideration of creation an MFA Task Force:

Admissions Criteria and Subsequent Outcomes.

Senior Associate Dean Clive Taylor had asked President Kaslow if the MFA would select faculty to serve on a new task force regarding admissions criteria and subsequent outcomes. President Kaslow asked for volunteers. The following MFA representatives agreed to serve: Drs. Wendy Mack, Peter Heseltine, Laura Wachsman, Florence Hofman.
 
 

7. Reports regarding CPSA and other clinical issues.

 

 

Dr. Peter Heseltine reported that at a CPSA Committee meeting in early June, Dr. Van Der Meulen stated that efforts were underway to create a boiler-plate performance document for all medical schools providing service in Los Angeles County. A draft of the document was not yet available, but Dr. Heseltine indicated he would provide details when available via the MFA Listserver. Re-engineering issues at the County were also discussed by Dr. Heseltine and other clinical faculty. Dr. Challoner expressed concern about the potential impact of proposed changes on patient care. The need for more information and for open discussion of the proposals was stressed. It was stated by Dr. Green that the term re-engineering was not appropriate for a process primarily intended for cost-cutting and down-sizing. Dr. Orlinsky indicated that the changes being considered and some already implemented will have major effects on faculty and must be openly discussed. It was decided that Dr. Heseltine will ask to have the issue of obtaining information put on the agenda for the July 15, 1998 meeting of the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC). He will also generate a draft recommendation regarding obtaining information for consideration at the MFA Executive Board (MFAEB) meeting scheduled for July 14, 1998. If approved by the MFAEB, the proposed recommendation could then be taken to the FEC at its meeting scheduled for July 15, and the full MFA at is meeting scheduled for August. Dr. Orlinsky asked what concerns the MFA has for faculty in their clinical settings, such as the County Hospital. President Kaslow made it clear that, in his opinion, the fate of the school was directly tied to the fate of the clinical faculty. Discussion continued as to how faculty concerns in clinical areas can be adequately addressed. President Kaslow indicated that perhaps the governance document should be amended to create a standing committee regarding clinical affairs, and that this topic would be a suitable one for a Joint Task Force Regarding Governance, if such a task force were created.
 
 

8. Brief Reports:

• Creation of a new University Patent Policy. President Kaslow alerted the Representatives that this is an issue currently under discussion. Dr. Jelliffe will be keeping an eye on developments in this area.
• A draft (June 3, 1998) Strategic Plan from the Provost. Copies were distributed. The MFA has been asked for input.
• Educational Policy Committee (EPC): Response to LCME review. President Kaslow reported that the EPC will be holding a number of meetings over the summer to consider possible curriculum revision.
• Academic Senate: Retreat planned for August 28. Dr. Mircheff, a member of the Senate Executive Board,  reported and stated that the Senate is looking for people to serve on certain committees, especially the Committee on Faculty Benefits. Issues related to benefits were discussed. President Kaslow mentioned that the Faculty Handbook is also likely to receive further attention at the Senate this year.
• Dean's Task Forces on:
• Governance (Challoner). Dr. Challoner reported that the Task Force is no longer meeting. Further modifications of the Governance Document have been developed through interactions of Dr. Bernstein with MFA President Kaslow and other faculty.
• Review of Chairs (on hold) (Stellwagen, Colletti). The Dean has put this Task Force on hold because a Provost's Task Force is considering this issue for the entire University. Dr. Krandall, Chair of the Department of Medicine, and Dr. Silvia Formenti (Radiation Oncology) are members of the Provost's task force and will be asked for an update.
• Tenure for Newly Recruited Faculty (Mircheff, Formenti). Dr. Mircheff and Sandra Mosteller indicated that the committee has prepared a report that has gone to the Provost, but not yet to the Dean. The Provost has not released the report to the faculty at this time. There was some discussion of this report, the failure to release the report, and of the fate of such reports in general.
• Development of Junior Faculty (Mack, Laine). A report was made to the Dean and released. The sense of the MFA was that the report should be implemented and not allowed to wither. Dr. Challoner suggested that some effort should be made to determine if implementation had been started.

 Due to time considerations, the following items from the agenda were deferred to the next
 meeting:

• MFA representation on Standing Committees:
• Finance Committee (yes: nominated: Kaslow, Gates).
• Educational Policy Committee (yes: Nyquist).
• Faculty Appointment, Promotions, and Tenure Committee (yes: Meiselman).
• The Scientific Council (no).
• The Graduate Council (no).
• The M.D./Ph.D. Committee (no).
• Student Affairs Committee (no), Subcommittee: Financial Aid.
• Admissions Committee (no), Subcommittees: Admissions Advisory, Advanced Standing.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 2 PM.

Minutes prepared by Robert Stellwagen, Secretary, MFA