Posted March 6, 1997
MEDICAL FACULTY ASSEMBLY
MINUTES FOR THE MEETING OF FEBRUARY 4, 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Attendance by Officers and Members of the
Executive Committee
Representation at the Meeting
Approval of Minutes
Motion Regarding Provost's Termination
of Contracts to ISSM Faculty
Motions Regarding Efforts to
Revise the Faculty Handbook and Contract
Discussion Regarding School of
Medicine Contract Documents
Election of MFA Representative to
the Proposed CPSA Committee
Election of MFA Representative to
the Attending Staff Association
Discussion of LA County Issues
Discussion
of Restructuring and Budget Proposals
Adjournment
ATTENDANCE BY OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
President Robert Stellwagen present President-Elect Kathryn Challoner present Secretary Harvey Kaslow present Treasurer Wendy Mack present Past President Donna Shoupe Member-at-Large Silvia Formenti Member-at-Large Loren Laine present Member-at-Large Laura Wachsman present
REPRESENTATION AT THE MEETING:
Anesthesiology Jim Daniel Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Robert Stellwagen Cell and Neurobiology Children's Hospital Arno Hohn Emergency Medicine Kathryn Challoner Family Medicine Medicine Kevin Chan Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Axel Schönthal Neurological Surgery Neurology Cheryl Waters Norris Medical Library Alice Kawakami Obstetrics and Gynecology Ophthalmology Ronald Green Orthopedics Tom Hedman Otolaryngology Pathology Arnis Richters Pediatrics Laura Wachsman Physiology and Biophysics Herbert Meiselman Preventive Medicine Wendy Mack Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Henry Slucki Radiation Oncology Radiology Rancho Los Amigos Hospital Surgery Urology
The meeting was called to order at approximately noon by President Robert Stellwagen.
By voice vote with no objection or abstention, the minutes of the January 7, 1997 MFA meeting were approved as emailed out with a few corrections added by the Secretary.
2. MOTION REGARDING PROVOST'S TERMINATION OF CONTRACTS TO ISSM FACULTY.
As has been widely reported, on June 28, 1996, the Provost wrote tenured members of the Institute for Safety and Systems Management a letter that said, in part:
"As you are aware, ISSM will no longer require the services of full-time faculty beyond the 1996-97 academic year. Under the circumstances, I am writing to let you know that the contracts of all tenured ISSM faculty who have not received appointments to other schools or departments in the university will not be renewed after June 30, 1997."
Robert Stellwagen reported that at the last meeting of the University Academic Senate, a resolution passed that stated, in part:
"B. THE PROVOST IS ADVISED TO:
"1. retract his dismissal letter of July 28, 1996,
"2. write a substitute letter to all ISSM faculty guaranteeing to uphold all the terms and conditions of their individual Faculty Contracts."
It was moved and seconded that the MFA express its support for the above quoted resolution of the Academic Senate. The motion was approved by voice vote with none opposed or abstaining.
3. MOTIONS (2) REGARDING EFFORTS TO REVISE THE FACULTY HANDBOOK AND CONTRACT.
Robert Stellwagen reported that it was announced at the Academic Senate meeting that a committee was drafting revisions to the Faculty Handbook and Contract, and that it was likely that the proposed new contract would be shortened and make more substantial reference to the revised handbook. Some MFA representatives expressed considerable concern about the outcome of such efforts.
It was moved and seconded that the MFA President request that a representative from the MFA serve on the committee dealing with revisions of the Handbook and Contract. The motion was approved by voice vote with none opposed or abstaining.
It was then moved and seconded that the MFA President suggest to the committee dealing with revisions that the representative from the MFA be Henry Slucki or his designated alternate. The motion was approved by voice vote with none opposed or abstaining.
4. DISCUSSION REGARDING CONTRACT DOCUMENTS GIVEN TO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE FACULTY.
Henry Slucki reported that the Adminstration had sent him contract documents that had been significantly, substantially, and unilaterally altered compared to his previous contract. Dr. Slucki made handwritten changes to the document to reverse the changes, signed the document, and sent it to the Adminstration. The Adminstration refused to accept the changes, and sent back to Dr. Slucki a duplicate version of the document it had originally sent him. Dr. Slucki is now seeking legal advice on how to procede.
Considerable discussion ensued. It appeared that different faculty had received different versions of unilaterally altered contract documents. Representatives from the Basic Science Departments stated that, to their knowledge, few or no Basic Science Faculty had signed the new documents, and that 23 Basic Science Faculty had filed a lawsuit against the University alleging breach of contract.
The sense of those at the meeting was that faculty would appreciate more information regarding the newly-issued contract documents. President Stellwagen agreed to solicit from both the Adminstration and faculty documents that would establish the generic types of newly-issued contract documents.
5. ELECTION OF MFA REPRESENTATIVE TO THE PROPOSED CPSA COMMITTEE.
The ballots distributed to elect a faculty member to represent the MFA
on the proposed CPSA committee were collected. The tally for the first
ballot was:
Challoner 5
Heseltine 7
Jones
1
Laine
2
Yusin
2
(total # of votes) (17)
A second ballot was then distributed, and a vote between the top two
vote-getters held. The result was:
Challoner 7
Heseltine
8
(total # of votes) (15)
The decreased total arose from the fact that two departments submitted ballots for the first ballot, but were not represented at the meeting.
Dr. Heseltine will represent the MFA in CPSA negotiations with Dr. Challoner acting as the alternate.
6. ELECTION OF MFA REPRESENTATIVE TO THE ATTENDING STAFF ASSOCIATION.
Loren Laine (at this point absent from the MFA meeting) was nominated for the position; there were no other nominees. By voice vote with none opposed or abstaining, he was elected to represent the MFA to the Attending Staff Association.
7. DISCUSSION OF REVISED GUIDELINES FOR EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND DISCLIPINE DISTRIBUTED BY MARK FINUCANE, DIRECTOR, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH.
Rodanthi Kitridou distributed the Revised Guidelines (dated January 7, 1997) to the MFA. There was considerable discussion about the Guidelines. Dr. Kaufmann discussed the political aspects of the environment that generated the guidelines. Some faculty noted that some of the guideline could be interpreted in ways that might compromise academic freedom. It was noted that the Guidelines were not designed nor meant to operate in a university.
8. DISCUSSION OF RESTRUCTURING AND BUDGET PROPOSALS.
In previous meetings, Dean Ryan had announced he intended to release the plan for compensating faculty for teaching and research efforts by the end of January, 1997. Apparently the release of those plans will be delayed. This delay will now apparently cause a delay in the release of the plan for compensation for clinical efforts. Concern was expressed that these delays will prevent meaningful faculty input into the planning process. Apparently the mandate from the Board of Trustees to balance the budget remains.
At a meeting of the Budget Advisory Committee the issue was raised that the deficit of the School would be reduced, according to current accounting rules, if grants with low indirect cost rates were not funded through the School and University, but through other entities, such as the Health Resarch Associates (HRA). The question was posed as to why the HRA could manage these research projects and make an apparent profit, while for the School and University there was an apparent deficit. There was no clear answer to this question.
The Budget Advisory Committee is apparently attempting to determine the actual fiscal effect of removing these low indirect cost rate grants and contracts from the budget of the School and University. It was suggested that to remove them would, in effect, be spinning off a portion of the research effort from the University.
At approximately 1:45 PM, the meeting was adjourned.