WHEREAS, the Academic Senate has requested that the Medical Faculty Assembly consider a report regarding the meaning of tenure and its relationship to economic security at the School of Medicine, and

WHEREAS, litigation regarding the meaning of tenure and economic security for tenured faculty of the School of Medicine was recently settled out of court, and

WHEREAS, the terms of the settlement would likely provide information that would help the MFA intelligently discuss the Senate report, and

WHEREAS, the attached statement from the faculty who were part of the settled litigation indicates they wish to reveal the settlement and consider it relevant to the subject of the Senate Task Force report,

THEREFOR:

The MFA hereby recommends to the Dean of the School of Medicine that:

1. He promptly attempt to provide to the MFA a copy of the Settlement Agreement dated December 21, 1998 as referred to in faculty contracts issued to some tenured faculty in the School of Medicine, and
2. He report frequently and in writing to the MFA on the results of his efforts in this regard.

Date:  January 6, 1999

To:   The Faculty of the University of Southern California

From: Basic Science faculty involved in settled litigation

Re:   Litigation involving the Faculty Contract and Faculty Handbook

As is well known to many of you, events in 1995 at the School of Medicine triggered a controversy regarding the meaning of tenure as defined by the Faculty Contract and Faculty Handbook.  We are pleased to report that litigation arising from this controversy has been settled out of court.

At the center of this controversy and litigation was the employment relationship between the University and its tenured faculty, a relationship defined in part by the Faculty Contract and Faculty Handbook.  If faculty have questions regarding this litigation or its settlement, these questions are best directed to the University.  We stand ready to work with the University to provide whatever information would help in the resulting dialog.

The Dean of the School of Medicine has written a letter to the faculty of the School of Medicine concerning the agreement ending the litigation. The text of this letter is below.

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USC School of Medicine
Office of the Dean

Monday, January 04, 1999

Dear faculty member:

I am pleased to inform you that the University and the 23 basic science faculty from the School of Medicine who filed a lawsuit against the University have reached an agreement ending the litigation.

The School administration and the involved faculty are pleased to be able to put this matter behind us. We have much to be proud of at the School of Medicine, especially the outstanding accomplishments of our faculty. We can now work together and channel our efforts into furthering this positive momentum.

As part of resolving the litigation, the School will provide a one-time salary adjustment to those litigants whose salaries fall below a certain level. We have applied the same criteria to other tenured faculty in the basic science departments. Those faculty who qualify for a salary increase under these criteria will be informed of this increase by Leslie Bernstein, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs.

I wish you all a successful year.

Sincerely,
Stephen J. Ryan, M.D.