Chronology of USC School of Medicine Governance Documents

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The Keck School of Medicine Governance Document
1980-1998 2005 2011 2015-19

GOVERNANCE DOCUMENTS AND THE
KECK SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA:
CHRONOLOGY 2011

1.     May 26, 2011: KSOM faculty members receive an email from the President of the Faculty of USC, Peter Conti. Attached is a document entitled “DRAFT KECK SCHOOL OF MEDICINE GOVERNANCE DOCUMENT May 2011” and a letter dated May 23, 2011, informing the faculty that
     A. A Task Force was created in June 2010 and charged with updating the School’s Governance Document and creating a slate of Keck faculty candidates to serve on a Medical Faculty Council which would replace the Medical Faculty Assembly
     B. Feedback regarding the draft could be given via email (fadean@usc.edu) or at a Town Hall Meeting to be held on June 3, 2011.
     C. Ballots will be emailed to all full-time faculty on June 6, 2011 “for the purpose of endorsing the new Governance Document.”
     D. Balloting will close on Monday June 13, 2011.

2. June 3, 2011: At the Town Meeting, President Conti states adoption of a new Governance Document is urgent because the University’s Academic Senate will consider issues impacting the medical school during the summer, and it is important that KSOM faculty be represented during that process. In response the suggestion is made to separate the two issues: specifically to first elect representatives and then rewrite the document over a period of time that allows faculty to make and consider proposals to improve the document.

3. June 3, 2011: A letter signed by 28 faculty is emailed to President Conti stating that the period of time allotted for discussion of the proposed Governance Document is not sufficient and the process does not meet minimal standards of collegial academic governance. The letter states that from June to August many KSOM faculty are away and requests balloting be deferred until all KSOM faculty have had a real opportunity to consider and discuss proposals to improve the document.

4.     June 6, 2011: Faculty receive an email from President Conti with a document attached entitled, “DRAFT KECK SCHOOL OF MEDICINE GOVERNANCE DOCUMENT June 2011.” A letter from President Conti is attached stating discussion at the Town Meeting provided useful suggestions to further improve on the draft Governance Document, and, “Those changes are currently being incorporated into the draft.” The letter states “the Task Force has agreed to extend the time-line for approval of the Governance Document and release of the slate of candidates to serve on the new Council. The sequence of events will be as follows:
            “Posting of final draft for comment          June 15
            “Posting of final document for voting       June 20
            “E-mailing of ballots to faculty                   June 20
            “Balloting ends                                              June 24
            “Results posted                                             June 27”

5. June 8, 2011: An email from Herbert Meiselman (Physiology and Biophysics) is sent to Dean of KSOM Puliafito and USC Provost Garret summarizing the above events with the June 3 letter from the 28 faculty attached. Dr. Meiselman points out the time-line from President Conti (above) allows faculty only four days to consider the final document and respectfully requests a process be developed for all KSOM faculty to fully consider, discuss and debate this new document.

6. June 8, 2011: As the Provost is at meetings, Martin Levine, USC Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, emails Herb Meiselman and states the timing of the process regarding the Governance Document is internal to the Keck School, and he has discussed the concerns with the Dean’s office.

7. June 13, 2011: President Conti emails faculty a draft KSOM governance document marked June 13, 2011 and requests comments be emailed to fadean@usc.edu. President Conti states the final draft for comments will be posted on June 15, and final document will be posted on June 20 for voting.

8. June 13, 2011: Joseph Landolph (Microbiology and Immunology) submits suggested revisions to the June 13 draft governance document with rationale for suggested revisions and a request that consideration of the document continue into September.

9. June 13, 2011: Harvey Kaslow (Physiology and Biophysics) submits suggested revisions to the June 13 draft governance document via an email explaining the rationale for some of the revisions.

10. June 15, 2011: Gene Albrecht (Cell and Neurobiology) submits suggested revisions to the June 13 draft governance document via an email explaining the rationale for some of the revisions.

11. June 15, 2011: President Conti emails faculty adraft KSOM governance document marked June 15. President Conti thanks faculty for helpful and constructive comments that have strengthened the document significantly, requests final comments be sent to fadean@usc.edu, and states the final version for voting will be posted on June 20.

12. June 16, 2011: Harvey Kaslow submits suggested revisions to the June 15 draft governance document via anemail explaining the rationale for four key issues: responding to faculty recommendations in writing, faculty representation via distinct constituencies, an annual fiscal report, and review of department chairs. The email states that if a suggestion is not incorporated into the draft the reasons should be explained to the faculty.

13. June 17, 2011: Faculty receive an email from the Office of Faculty Affairs stating:
     1. There will be a Town Hall Meeting at 9 AM on Monday June 20 to discuss the proposed Governance Document.
     2. Posting of the final document is scheduled for the evening of June 20.
     3. Ballots will be provided to all faculty at that time and voting will continue until noon, June 24.

14. June 20, 2011: President Conti emails faculty a letter, a draft governance document marked June 20, 2011, and a ballot. The letter states balloting will end at noon, June 24. The ballot states:
“In June of 2010, the Keck School Medical Faculty Assembly (MFA) was dissolved, and the Executive Committee of the MFA established an interim Faculty Council for the Keck School of Medicine consisting of past presidents of the MFA. This Committee constituted a TASK FORCE, who were charged by the President of the MFA to revise, update and streamline the Governance Document of the Keck School of Medicine. This task has been completed….We are asking the faculty to now vote on acceptance of the new Governance Document.” A separate email from the Office of Faculty Affairs provided instructions regarding the balloting process. These communications provide no discussion regarding any of the suggestions offered by faculty to improve the document, nor any explanations as to why suggestions either were or were not incorporated into the draft.

15. June 28, 2011: President Conti emails faculty stating, “I am happy to announce that the faculty has voted to endorse the proposed Governance Document. There was not a large turnout (129 in favor, 29 against), but the percentage voting to approve was 81.6%. We will be providing a slate of candidates to vote on in July to serve on the first Medical Faculty Council. You will receive an update soon.”
(The KSOM web site states that in 2009-2010 the school had over 1,200 full-time faculty.)

16. July 22, 2011: President Conti emails faculty a letter dated July 19, 2011 stating, “We are now formulating the slate of candidates who will run for the 9 council positions (3 basic scientist and 6 clinicians)…. Please note the following timeline:”
    Deadline for write-in candidates (25 signatures) July 29
    Posting of final slate August 1     Voting Starts August 1     Voting Ends August 10
    Results posted August 11             Senate Retreat (all new councilors invited) August 16

17. July 25, 2011: On behalf of Peter Conti, Judy Garner, Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs, emails faculty a correction to President Conti’s July 19 letter: the number of signatures required for a faculty candidate to be placed upon the ballot is 10 not 25.

18. August 5, 2011: By email, the KSOM Office of Faculty Affairs notifies faculty balloting will begin Monday August 8 for members of the Medical Faculty Council and provides a final slate of candidates with information about each.

19. August 8, 2011: From the KSOM Office of Faculty Affairs faculty receive instructions and balloting begins August 8 to end August 12.

20. August 12, 2011: The KSOM Office of Faculty Affairs reports names of faculty elected to the Medical Faculty Assembly.

The above summary prepared by Harvey Kaslow.
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