MEDICAL FACULTY ASSEMBLY
Attendance by Officers and Members of the Executive Board:
| President | Harvey Kaslow | present |
| President-Elect | Loren Laine | present |
| Secretary | Robert Stellwagen | present |
| Treasurer | Jerry Gates | present |
| Past President | Kathryn Challoner | present |
| Member-at-Large | Peter Heseltine | |
| Member-at-Large | Roger Jelliffe | present |
| Member-at-Large | Dennis O'Leary | present |
Representation at the Meeting:
| Anesthesiology | |
| Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | Frank Markland |
| Cardiothoracic Surgery | M. Barr |
| Cell and Neurobiology | Gene Albrecht |
| Children's Hospital | Gary Lerner |
| Emergency Medicine | Kathryn Challoner |
| Family Medicine | |
| Medicine | Mohamed El-Shahawy |
| Molecular Microbiology and Immunology | Joe Landolph |
| Neurological Surgery | |
| Neurology | Patricia Anderson |
| Norris Medical Library | |
| Obstetrics and Gynecology | Rebecca Sokol |
| Ophthalmology | Ronald Green |
| Orthopedics | Tom Hedman |
| Otolaryngology | Dennis O'Leary |
| Pathology | Celeste Riley |
| Pediatrics | Laura Wachsman |
| Physiology and Biophysics | Herb Meiselman |
| Preventive Medicine | Daniel Stram |
| Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences | Bruce Gross |
| Radiation Oncology | |
| Radiology | |
| Rancho Los Amigos Hospital | |
| Surgery | James Helsper |
| Urology |
Also attending: Sandra Mosteller, Joseph Van Der Meulen, Ronald Kaufman, Henry Slucki, Fermin Vigil, Philip Harris
The meeting was called to order at approximately 12:15 PM by President Harvey Kaslow. Consideration of the minutes of the February 2, 1999 meeting was deferred until a quorum was present. At that time the minutes were approved as submitted with no objections and one abstention.
President Kaslow reminded the representatives that a meeting of the Faculty-at-Large would be held at 4 PM on Tuesday April 13, 1999 in the DVRC Auditorium.
President Kaslow also reminded representatives about the election schedule for MFA representatives, officers, and Academic Senators. He asked for volunteers or nominees to serve on the MFA Nominating Committee. Joseph Landolph, Kathryn Challoner, Henry Slucki, and Roger Jelliffe agreed to serve; the committee will be chaired by MFA President-elect Loren Laine.
President Kaslow called the attention of the representatives to the attendance record for MFA meetings, which was distributed and is also posted on the MFA web site.
President Kaslow reported on Academic Senate issues and distributed
several related documents. The issues included the call for nominations
of faculty to serve on various University committees and on the Executive
Board of the Senate. He also reported that the Senate may consider rules
regarding proxy voting for senators. The Senate considered, but did not
pass, a resolution regarding access to personnel files. Dr. Kaslow indicated
that he believed the Senate would revisit the issue of personnel files
sometime in the future.
This agenda item was deferred until the arrival of Mr. Vigil. At that time Mr. Vigil and Mr. Harris distributed and discussed two documents provided in response to the Recommendation. Mr. Vigil indicated that one document is from the report submitted to the AAMC. Mr. Vigil pointed out that the entire report to the AAMC includes many additional pages of detail. The AAMC document summarized all revenues and expenses and listed both School of Medicine accounts as well as various other accounts, such as those of practice plans and associated hospitals. The second document was a breakdown of all expenses in a format with categories useful to the Dean. The total expenses of $439,921,779 were allocated to clinical, research, and education subcategories. The clinical and research components were further divided on this page into additional major subcategories.
Dr. Gates, MFA Treasurer, commented on the good cooperation received
from members of the administration in putting together this consolidated
budget document. President Kaslow stated that these documents were intended
as an initial presentation of budget issues, and he looked forward to opportunities
in the future for more detailed discussion of budget issues. In response
to a question about further breakdown of the education expense item, Dr.
Kaslow and Mr. Vigil indicated that this budget item could be examined
in more detail in the future. Another representative asked if the MFA could
simply be given the entire report sent to the AAMC. In response Mr. Vigil
referred to the complexity of that report and the many additional questions
it would prompt.
President Kaslow reported that he had received a request from the University Academic Senate for access to the lists of faculty on the department-specific listservers of the School of Medicine. He suggested that the Senate be given access to the listservers and asked if there were any objections. There were none.
President Kaslow also reported on a request received from Elizabeth
Pratt, Head of the HRA, asking for email addresses of faculty to be added
to be a proposed new listserver related to clinical trials. He indicated
that he would work further with Ms. Pratt on the logistics of this proposal
and that a notice would be sent to faculty about the new listserver.
Dr. Van Der Meulen reported that two issues related to the new CPSA agreement were still not settled. These are the issues of compliance and indemnification. Regarding compliance, the County is asking USC for a blanket agreement to future plans they may develop, and USC finds this request too open-ended. Regarding indemnification, the County is revisiting aspects of previously considered indemnification proposals. Although discussions are continuing, Dr. Van Der Meulen expressed doubts that an agreement can be reached in time to avoid sending out letters to faculty at the end of March indicating the possibility of cuts in salaries or loss of positions.
In response to a question from Dr. Laine regarding differences in notification that might be received by County versus non-County physicians, Dr. Van Der Meulen indicated that notices would go to all faculty members who receive CPSA money. He also explained that the County was proposing to change the procedure by which the physicians who had not transferred to USC would be paid. Currently, the County gives USC the money to pay these physicians, and these funds are then transferred back to the County. The County is now proposing that in the future the County will directly pay these faculty without passing the funds through USC. This change would decrease interest income and indirect cost recovery to the University. When asked how many faculty would transfer to direct payment by the County, Dr. Van Der Meulen and Dr. Kaufman indicated that there are 75 faculty in this category, 47 of whom are tenured.
Dr. Laine asked Drs. Van Der Meulen and Kaufman if either had comments
about the ongoing efforts to unionize County physicians. There was some
discussion of local and national trends relating to the unionization of
physicians. Neither Drs. Van Der Meulen nor Kaufman stated a position of
the University on this issue.
President Kaslow explained that this item is on the agenda because he had received in January copies of documents related to a grievance regarding the issue of University obligations when a tenured faculty member resigns from a County position but not from his/her University position. The MFA Executive Board had decided that these documents would be placed in the MFA files on the 5th floor of the Keith Building. These files are open to interested faculty. Concerns raised by this grievance led the Executive Board to put the issue of faculty contracts on the agenda for the meeting. President Kaslow directed the representatives' attention to a packet of documents relevant to faculty contracts. These documents included: An explanation of procedures for issuance of faculty contract documents (obtained from Vice Provost Barbara Solomon), the current faculty contract, MFA Recommendations 1997-98-002 and 1997-98-003 regarding issuance of faculty contracts, minutes of the FEC meeting of Nov. 19, 1997 at which the MFA recommendations were discussed, and the amended forms of these recommendations passed by the FEC on Nov. 19, 1997.
President Kaslow then asked Sandra Mosteller, Assistant Dean for Faculty Affairs, who was attending the meeting in place of Senior Associate Dean Leslie Bernstein, to address questions about the issuance of contract documents. Dean Mosteller stated that contract documents for all School of Medicine faculty members, except those in the Dept. of Medicine, would be distributed to the offices of the Department Chairs by Friday (March 5, 1999). She indicated that verified salary numbers from the Dept. of Medicine were not yet available and as a result these contract documents were not yet ready to be issued. In response to a question, Dean Mosteller stated that the contract documents to be issued were for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 1999. She also reported that the School of Education also has not yet issued contract documents for the current year.
Dean Mosteller was asked whether the May 1999 deadline established in the Faculty Handbook would be met for issuance of next year's contract documents, and she responded that it was highly unlikely the deadline would be met and that she did not know when they would be issued. President Kaslow asked whether the Office of Faculty Affairs could provide a schedule of their projected dates for the issuance of next year's contract documents, and Dean Mosteller stated she would pass this request along to Dr. Bernstein.
Questions were raised about the wording that faculty members might expect
to see in the contract documents. It was asked whether the language would
differ from the language in contract documents faculty members had previously
signed. Dean Mosteller stated that there would be differences in some cases.
She indicated that there was boilerplate language for specific circumstances.
Dr. Kaslow asked for copies of the boilerplate language for each special
circumstance, and Dean. Mosteller said she would transmit this request
to Dr. Bernstein. Additional discussion took place on the meaning of language
in the contract documents, on the consequences of signing or not signing
the documents, and on modifying the documents before signing. There was
particular concern expressed by representatives about the consequences
of the wording in the documents for faculty who have remained with the
County. Some representatives also pointed out that the University has withdrawn
the option to switch from County employment salary and benefits to University
salary and benefits.
7. New Business: None.
8. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:40 PM.
Submitted by: Robert H. Stellwagen, MFA Secretary; edited by Harvey
Kaslow