Attendance by Officers and Members of the Executive Board:
 

President	Loren Laine	present
President Elect	Harvey Kaslow	present
Secretary	Peter Heseltine	present
Treasurer	Jerry Gates	present
Past President	Harvey Kaslow	present
Member-at-Large	Kathryn Challoner	present
Member-at-Large	Dennis O'Leary	present
Member-at-Large	Rebecca Sokol	present

Representation at the Meeting:
 

Anesthesiology	Jim Daniel
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Frank Markland
Cardiothoracic Surgery
Cell and Neurobiology	Shao-Yao Ying
Children's Hospital	Gary Lerner
Emergency Medicine	Michael Orlinsky
Family Medicine
Medicine
Molecular Microbiology and Immunology	Joe Landolph
Neurological Surgery	Donald Larsen
Neurology
Norris Medical Library	Pamela Corley
Obstetrics and Gynecology	Rebecca Sokol
Ophthalmology	Ron Green
Orthopedics
Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery
Pathology
Pediatrics
Physiology and Biophysics	Herb Meiselman
Preventive Medicine	Daniel Stream
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Radiation Oncology
Radiology
Rancho Los Amigos Hospital
Surgery	Gary Anthone
Urology

Also attending: Joseph Van der Meulen, Clive Taylor, Bob Stellwagen, Henry Slucki, Bruce Gross

1.  Call to Order and Approval of Minutes:

The Meeting was called to order at 12:05 by the President, Loren Laine. When a quorum was present,  the minutes of the October  5, 1999 meeting were reviewed and approved by a unanimous vote.

The results of the election were not available at the time of the meeting. Of twenty-seven ballots returned, 14 faculty had failed to countersign the envelope flap. The MFA voted unanimously to accept all 27 votes. [The results were available on 11/5/99]

Clive Taylor, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs related that the LCME would make an interim visit during November. The LCME agenda was:

• Curriculum structure and management
• Student tuition and debt
• Medical school governance
• Resources assigned to the education program
• CPSA

 
Asked why the Faculty time to meet with the LCME had been reduced from two hours to one, he replied that the LCME had asked to meet with a small group of faculty. While other faculty were to be invited to the meeting with the LCME, he agreed that the MFA was the only elected representative body of the School's faculty.  Questioned on the School's position on future class size, he stated that next year's target for first year enrollment was 150 students.

LCME Accreditation documents

Harvey Kaslow, MFA President-elect, distributed a proposal from the Senior Associate Dean for Educational Affairs entitled "Compensation formula proposal for teaching overload"  regarding the expenditure of funds arising from increased enrollment that is expected not to recur.  After all expenses of the School are considered, the document suggests that the School's 1999-2000 budget will show a surplus of $276,671.  The proposal from the administration is to disburse the funds according to a formula based on contact hours with students and the results of student votes regarding faculty performance.

During the ensuing discussion, it was pointed out that the proposal:

• Likely violates University policy regarding overload payments to faculty with 12-month full-time appointments stated in 1996 by the Vice Provost.
• Treats education as a piecework enterprise, and penalizes faculty who had responded to requests that contact hours be reduced by making teaching efforts more efficient.
• Would jeopardize curriculum revision by pressuring faculty to seek student contact hours rather than promoting what was felt best for education.
• Would create a pressure on faculty to pander to students by dumbing-down material and making examinations easy.
• Would cause faculty to avoid accepting the responsibility for teaching inherently demanding material and lead them to seek to teach entertaining material.

After the discussion it was moved and seconded to recommend to the Dean that he not implement the proposal, and that the $276,671 be “banked” until alternative proposals are considered by the MFA.  The motion passed without dissent.

Joseph Van der Meulen, Vice President for Health Affairs said that there would be a meeting within the week and efforts to meet the requirement to prove cost efficacy was still underway. LAC had requested data on staffing patterns of non faculty personnel paid by the CPSA. He commented on the need to assure LAC would support the infrastructure, including such personnel. He assured the MFA that any CPSA contract would be reviewed by the Faculty before it was signed. The Faculty in response to an e-mail questionnaire by the MFA had expressed a strong desire to review the contract before the contract was finalized and before it was sent to the Board of Supervisors for signature.

          Ron Kaufman, Chief of Staff LAC+USC Healthcare Network was not present and this item was tabled.

          Proposal for Restructuring  LAC+USC Quality Management

7.  Faculty Governance:  Election of Department Chairs

A search for a Chairman of Pediatrics is ongoing. In addition to the Faculty Search Committee, Children's Hospital has input to the choice. It was reported that the Senate has passed a resolution requiring faculty input. A discussion was then held as to the meaning and requirement that there be an election of the Chair by the faculty. No consensus was reached and it was moved that a resolution on this matter be deferred to the next meeting of the MFA.

8.  Support of the MFA activity by the Office of Faculty Affairs

Loren Laine, MFA President reported that despite a meeting with Dean Ryan, the support for the MFA was still limited to a corner of an office to store boxes and secretarial assistance with MFA elections. Even the latter was in doubt: Leslie Bernstein, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs had written to the MFA on 10/9/99 suggesting that this support be withdrawn.  Joseph Van der Meulen, Vice President for Health Affairs said that he would act as an emissary to the Administration on this matter.

Submitted by MFA Secretary, Peter Heseltine