UT: THE EYES OF TFA ARE UPON YOU!

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM ATTACKS ON TENURE

Why is tenure important? Simply put, without tenure, universities become places of indoctrination rather than education.  Professors and more importantly their teaching, regardless of their political leanings, become susceptible to political influence, popular demands, and other efforts to quash their ideas.  Today's controversial idea becomes tomorrow's truth.  Tenure is about freedom of speech, more commonly called "academic freedom" in the halls academe.  Freedom itself is an idea that tenure protects.  

What is tenure NOT? It is not a "job for life" as much of the public believes.  Tenured professors can be and are terminated.  Administrators, however, must show cause and afford the professor due process.  Cause and due process don't fit in well with hidden agendas and less than pure motives, both of which are much too prolific in the academic community. 

Although attacks on tenure occur across the UT system (e.g., UTHSC San Antonio's actions against Professor Robert Klebe), a major beachhead in the assault is at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, where, most recently, administrators used Hurricane Ike like a club to consolidate their power over faculty.  In total, 3,000 people were laid off or RIF'd (RIF is an acronym for "reduction in force), and 127 of those were faculty, about half of whom were either tenured or tenure-track.  In violation of UT faculty governance policies, neither UT nor UTMB consulted the UTMB Faculty Senate either when organizing or executing the RIF nor when it organized a subsequent faculty appeals process.  In fact, both the members of the initial RIF committee and the members of the RIF appeal panels, while faculty members (UTMB President David Callender himself is a member of the faculty in the Department of Otolaryngology), were members of the UTMB management team.  Every one of them was an associate vice president, chair, chief, or director of one division or another. Not one was a rank and file faculty member--not one.  With such biased teams in place, is it any wonder that the RIF Committee could decide on 127 careers in just two days or that only two faculty members won their appeals (and one of those was notified two weeks later that his contract wouldn't be renewed)? With three of the last five UTMB Faculty Senate presidents as of the date of the November 2008 RIF having been run off, the message to faculty is clear: faculty, even tenured faculty, are second-class citizens in the UT System.  Add to this the fact that UT claims that tenure protects only positions and not compensation, which leaves faculty vulnerable to constructive termination through the manipulation of salaries, it is clear that tenure and academic freedom are in mortal danger at UTMB and across the UT System.  At their core, UT's actions are a threat to the freedom of ideas.

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Click below for a historical perspective of the U.T. System's systematic weakening of tenure written by Dr. Charles Zucker, former Executive Director, Texas Faculty Association.  (The current director is Tom Johnson.)

http://txfacassn.typepad.com/utmb_galveston_chapter_te/files/ut_system_tenure_busting_070223.pdf

For a quick overview of the 2006 UTMB tenure crisis, click on the link below to take you to the article that held top billing on the blog for months:

http://txfacassn.typepad.com/utmb_galveston_chapter_te/2007/04/tenure_under_at.html

In 2006, UTMB administration used claims of a financial crisis to justify its attack on tenure through the new School of Medicine faculty compensation plan.  The link below leads to an article that debunks the claims of poverty put forward by administration:

http://txfacassn.typepad.com/utmb_galveston_chapter_te/2007/01/tales_to_look_f.html

Click here to read an e-mail originated by former UTMB School of Medicine Dean Valerie Parisi, mentioning cutting tenured faculty pay to encourage them to resign. 

TODAY'S THE DAY: THE BLOG'S LAST POSTING

As the old saw goes, "All good things must come to an end," and today marks the end of the blog. In the three and a half years that the blog has been publishing, I believe much good has been done, and there are many things that the Blogmeister is proud of.  Perhaps the most important contribution this blog made to the public good was to expose the duplicitous nature of UT and UTMB  administrators' relationship with the public and with its own faculty and staff.  Administrators are still trying to blame Ike for cutting off indigent care when the documentation on this site clearly shows otherwise.  Administrators are still trying to claim the RIF and RIF appeals were above board when the documentation on this site clearly shows otherwise.  Administrators are still claiming that they'll make a fair decision about the new hospital tower. . . .  

The story continues.

SHRINERS CELEBRATE GALVESTON REOPENING

Image via Wikipedia

The Blogmeister is pleased to see this comeback.  The story linked below describes the treatment of a severely burned little girl from Mexico.  In stark contrast to how the "public" facility across the street, UTMB, would have most likely received her, nobody at Shriners cared if that little girl had insurance or not; nobody cared about her citizenship; all they cared about was healing a 4-year-old little girl. The people at Galveston's Shriners still have their souls.

The Galveston County Daily News

Galveston’s Shriners shortened their budget by $8 million and cut more than half of their staff in the process, but officials are aiming to have the same number of employees as before Ike when the hospital reaches its operational capacity.

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BIG LEGAL ACTION AGAINST UTMB AND UT IN THE OFFING

Image by vaXzine via Flickr

The Blogmeister has now heard rumblings from several reliable sources that something big is brewing in the legal world in response to the faculty RIF.  While TFA is not behind this initiative, I wish Godspeed and good luck to the victims of what can only be described as a patently unfair, rigged process from the selection of those to be terminated right through the sham RIF appeals proceedings.  It is my hope that this blog will have in some way helped lend weight to their cause. 

GET BLOG FILES WHILE YOU CAN

Just as a reminder, readers who think they may want some files that have been uploaded to the blog need to get them on or before December 15th, this site's last day on-line.  To find postings about any particular subject just use the Lijit search engine in the sidebar. 

QUESTIONS REMAIN ABOUT INMATE'S ESCAPE

2nd prison worker fired over escape as security gets a boost | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Livingston said prison officials also have asked Correctional Managed Care at the University of Texas Medical Branch to explain why Comeaux was in a wheelchair.

U.S. District Judge John Rainey in 2007 threw out a lawsuit by Comeaux about inadequate medical care after watching prison system video of Comeaux walking around his prison cell.

HUFFINES RESIGNS AS CHAIR OF UT BOARD OF REGENTS

James Huffines, the leader of the band that still refuses to commit to building the new hospital tower in Galveston, has thrown down his baton, although he says he'll remain on the board of regents.  The Blogmeister has to wonder if this won't help Galveston's cause vis-a-vis the tower just a tad.  The Blogmeister also has to wonder if the fight surrounding UTMB since Hurricane Ike doesn't have a little something to do with his being "burned out," as Mr. Huffines put it in the article linked below. 

Please see "UT Board of Regents Chairman Resigns" on the Click2Houston website. 

UTMB ADMINISTRATOR RAISES--AND THEY DID GET RAISES

The Blogmeister just received this report, linked below, from UTMB in response to a Texas Public Information Act request.  (I've also linked the FY09 report for those who care to compare.)  Most notably, the new Executive Vice President and CEO of the UTMB Health System, Donna Sollenberger, is missing from the report, yet she gets an FY 2010 salary.  The Blogmeister will get that information, as well.  Most of the raises are relatively modest, in the 2-4% range, although there are some raises bigger than that, like the 10% raise UTMB's top legal eagle got.

The REAL story here lies in the funding sources shown for these administrators' salaries.  In the vast majority of cases, big chunks of administrators' salaries have been shifted to general revenue,the money the state outright gives UTMB. "Other E&G income," which readers will see in the report, includes tuition, which, in theory, the state appropriates, but it's theoretical money until students pay up. 

Now, let me ask my gentle readers this question: Do you believe that when Callender and his troupe of Chicken Littles were running about the halls of the Legislature shouting, "Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Ike!" that any of them said they needed more money from lawmakers to give themselves raises?  I never heard it, but that's what happened.  Funding sources aside, it seems a bit tacky, if not outright callous, for administrators to be giving themselves raises effective the very first day, September 1, 2009, after RIF'd tenured faculty saw their last day on the payroll, August 31st. The FY 2010 report follows.  Enjoy. 

Download Admin Acct FY2010

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UT REGENTS & SYSTEM STILL LIVING THE GOOD LIFE

UT's regents & high-level administrators, including campus presidents, are feeding at the public trough & living high on the hog again even after the system's piggy bank lost so much money.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/12/09/1209retreat.html

(The Blogmeister is on the road & making this post from a mobile device, so readers may have to copy & paste the link above into their browsers.)

ON THE ROAD

The Blogmeister is on the road today. Please check back tomorrow for any new postings.

REPORT ON AAUP REPORT

The following is an excerpt from a 12/7/09 e-mail from the American Association of University Professors in response to a Blogmeister query:

The investigating committee visited Galveston in early October, and it is in the process of drafting its report. Given that the draft will go through a couple revision stages, will be commented on by principal parties, may be supplemented with additional telephone interviews, and so forth, I would anticipate its eventual publication online sometime in the late winter or early spring.

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UTMB STRENGTHENING MAINLAND TIES

Image via Wikipedia

On the surface, this seems reasonable enough and is probably a good idea.  Somehow or another, however, the Blogmeister has to believe that this is part and parcel of UTMB's plan to move the bulk of its operations to the mainland.

The Galveston County Daily News

GALVESTON — As part of ongoing rebuilding and growth at the University of Texas Medical Branch, UTMB is engaging in discussions with the Texas Medical Center to explore opportunities to enhance collaborations to better serve patients, faculty and health sciences students throughout the Texas Gulf Coast.

MD ANDERSON ADMINISTRATOR COMPENSATION

Linked below is the Fiscal Year 2010 Administrative Accountability Report the Blogmeister just obtained from MD Anderson.  It lists administrators and their total compensation: salaries, allowances, bonuses, and all.  President Mendelsohn tops the list at well over $1.2 million.  On this list, you're an absolute nobody if you don't make half a mil.  Readers who peruse the report will note that some names have "Performance Incentive Payment" in the far right margin with no amount given.  President Mendelsohn has "Deferred" with no amount given.  I've asked the public info officer about that.

Download Admin Acct Rpt 2010 MD Anderson

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TOM JOHNSON RESIGNS AS TFA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Tom Johnson, who began working with the Texas Faculty Association in 2007, has resigned as the TFA executive director effective 12/31/09.  The Blogmeister does not know if TFA plans to issue an amplifying press release or not.  If it does, I will post it on this site. 

A LOOK BACK AT TILLOTSON SPEECH, UTMB, AND UT: WHAT'S CHANGED?

Back on February 1, 2009, over 10 months ago, Dolph Tillotonson, the Galveston County Daily News publisher, wrote the speech linked below.  As the blog reader who sent me this link asked, what has changed between then and now?  For instance, are we any closer to knowing--for certain--where UT will build the new hospital tower?  The Blogmeister strongly suspects that if UT were going to build it on the island, we'd already know it. 

The Galveston County Daily News

I understand that UT’s regents have been shocked by the criticism aimed at them by our newspaper, by the Houston Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News and Texas Monthly magazine and other publications all over the state of Texas.

Serving as a regent is not supposed to be quite so messy, and the regents don’t understand why many people question and criticize them.

I’ll tell you why … Simply put, the regents and UT’s top administrators have not been straight with us, and they still are not being straight with us, at least not yet.

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HARVARD ENCOURAGING PROFS TO RETIRE IN WAKE OF LOSSES

It's a bit ironic that Harvard is trying to induce 127 professors to retire.  UTMB RIF'd 127 faculty members. 

Harvard to offer first retirement plan for professors - The Boston Globe

It follows a financial meltdown that resulted in the university losing 27 percent of its $37 billion endowment last fiscal year, though it remains unclear how much money the program would save the school.

“There are no short-term savings, and we cannot estimate what, if any, long-term savings there may be,’’ said Jeff Neal, a Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesman.

QUESTIONS BEING ASKED OF UTMB AND TDCJ ABOUT ESCAPED INMATE

Records show many believed Comeaux was faking his paralysis | khou.com | Home

Dr. Owen Murray, UTMB’s Vice President of Correctional Managed Care said it “is certainly looking into all the details relating to the clinical care in this case.”
Could an inmate fake a condition such as paralysis for a decade?
Murray said it would be "surprising" and would require someone who is "extremely dedicated."

SHINE ON UT MEDICAL SCHOOL IN AUSTIN

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

This new school is, no doubt, going to happen.  State Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin) said that, among other benefits, this initiative would "provide care to uninsured and underinsured patients."  It's apparent that the good senator hasn't kept up with UT corporate management's behavior. 

Medical school is ultimate goal, UT System official says

A plan to expand medical education and research in Austin through a partnership involving the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and the Seton Family of Hospitals is an important step toward establishing a medical school, a senior UT System official said Thursday.

Kenneth Shine, the system's executive vice chancellor for health affairs, sounded more optimistic about the long-term prospects for a medical school in Austin than he did when the partnership was announced two months ago.

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UT PROFESSOR SPEAKS OUT AGAINST LAYOFFS

If readers haven't already, when they finish reading the article linked below, they need to read the open letter from a University of California professor, as well.  In terms of university priorities, the similarity of administration behavior is striking. Why wouldn't it be since Texas imported its "leadership" in the form of former UT Chancellor Mark Yudof to California? By now, the Blogmeister imagines that UT has pretty much perfected its layoff routine, having used UTMB for field testing. 

Koons: Stop the unconscionable layoffs at the University of Texas

It is immoral and callous to lay off employees in the worst recession in 50 years when these layoffs are the result — not of necessity — but of a calculated choice to sacrifice jobs in order to advance UT's prestige. All such layoffs can be avoided by simply postponing plans to hire new faculty and to raise the salaries of current professors.

Philosophy professor Dr. Robert Koons, the author of the article, offers to forego any merit or other raises to share in the sacrifice and help save someone's job.  It is a fine, fitting gesture, and I believe a sincere one on Dr. Koons' part.  Somehow, I figures he won't have to worry about a raise now. UT is such a forgive and forget outfit, eh? 

UC PROF'S LETTER OF WARNING TO STUDENTS

The Blogmeister ran across a fascinating letter written by University of California Professor Bob Meister, who also serves as President of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, to UC students.  As readers take in the article and the financial sleights of hand it describes, they should keep in mind where UC's current leader came from--the University of Texas.  

The Council of UC Faculty Associations

Why haven’t you been told that UC has been using your tuition as collateral to borrow billions of dollars? The obvious reason is that tuition increases are justified (to you) as a way to pay instructional expenses that taxpayers refuse to pay. If that’s why they’re being imposed, it’s natural to assume that tuition increase will be used to minimize cuts to education. But when UC pledges your tuition to its bond trustee (Bank of NY Mellon Trust), it’s really (legally) saying that your tuition doesn’t have to be used for education, or anything in particular. That’s why it can be used to back UC construction bonds, and why the growth in tuition revenue, as such, is enough to satisfy UC’s bond rating agencies (S&P and Moody’s), whether or not UC can pay its bills. The effect of UC’s pledge is to place a new legal restriction on the use of funds that it must first say it could have used for anything, including education. Thereafter, construction comes ahead of instruction.

Some of UC’s new, and self-imposed, constructions costs will come off the top of its annual budget, despite this year’s “extreme financial emergency.” When UC chose t0 take on $1.35B in new construction debt for 70 projects in August 2009—one month after imposing employee furloughs that “saved” $170M—it committed to spending $70-80M in extra interest payments for years into the future –they’ve just released the interest rates for each new bond series. Earlier in the year, UC had already issued $.8B in tuition-backed bonds in spring 2009, only some of which were for refinancing older projects at lower interest rate. It’s thus likely that the interest due on new projects funded during 2009 alone will have eaten up more than half of UC’s “savings” from the furloughs. Would the furloughs have been “unavoidable” if UC were not secretly planning to incur additional interest expenses for new bond-funded construction? I’ve just today (October 9) received a list of the 70 tuition-funded projects that were not announced until after the furloughs, and that UC decided not to postpone in order to avoid furloughs. These projects are listed at the end of this document. You can judge for yourself how urgent they are, and how high your tuition would go to finance more like them.

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RESPECTED UTMB CARDIOLOGIST BILL JACOBS PASSES AWAY

The Blogmeister had the honor of representing Bill at his RIF appeal hearing.  He was a brave man who will be missed by many.  My apologies for this late listing.  I found out only last night. 

The Galveston County Daily News

William F. Jacobs, MD, respected professor of Cardiology at UTMB Galveston passed away on Monday, November 23, 2009. Born on August 11, 1938, in Chicago, to loving parents Allie and Fred Jacobs, formerly with the Hughes Tool Co. the Jacobs family moved to Houston, Texas, when Bill was eight years of age. Bill was graduated from Lamar High School where he played in the high school band before joining the Texas Longhorn band at his beloved University of Texas.

WHEELCHAIR-BOUND AND NOW ESCAPED INMATE HOODWINKED DOCS FOR YEARS

Image by J. Stephen Conn via Flickr

This fellow apparently fooled everybody, including the docs who approved his wheelchair.

Inmate's escape puts prison system back on defensive

TDCJ officials could answer few questions Tuesday about how convicted rapist Arcade Joseph Comeaux Jr., 49, managed to pull off a daring escape Monday from a prison van in Baytown after pulling a gun and handcuffing two transport officers driving him to another prison, stealing their three guns and walking away. Nor could prison officials explain how Comeaux obtained the gun he pulled on the officers or how he convinced medical personnel he needed a wheelchair for the past decade.

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BLOG GOING DOWN DECEMBER 15TH

Having begun its work of dragging administrators' actions into the sunlight a little over three years ago when Dr. Charles Zucker was the Executive Director of TFA, the sun is setting on this blog. On December 15, 2009, the Blogmeister will make his last post, pack his bags, and move on to his next TFA-related project.  Over time this site posted literally thousands of pages of e-mails, reports, letters, and other documentation in which the public has shown a deep and abiding interest.  I am announcing the blog's demise two weeks early to allow those who wish to retrieve any of these records a couple of weeks to do so.  All readers need do is go to the search engine in the sidebar to the right, key in search terms, and let the good times roll. 

Those who have any concerns about any effects the blog's shutting down may have may contact members of the TFA board of directors or the TFA staff.  TFA will do its best to address those concerns.

It has been a good run. 

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UTMB SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASE SETTLES

Alleged harassment or not, cutting a fellow's salary just about in half is a not-so-subtle shove toward the door.  With UT's position that tenure protects a position and not salary, this sort of behavior can happen to faculty, as well.  The Blogmeister has been involved in at least two cases in which drastic salary cuts were being forced down faculty members' throats. 

Male sexual harassment case against UTMB settles | Southeast Texas Record

Tolpo complained about his employer's sexual harassment in 2006, and claimed that since then he has worked in a developing pattern of retaliation and discrimination and saw his salary reduced from $62,000 a year to $36,000.

According to Tolpo's original complaint, he was a state employee in the hospital's Correctional Managed Care Department. He was a practice manager until he was demoted on Oct. 19, 2006.

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UC CRISIS SOUNDS MIGHTY FAMILIAR TO UT "FINANCIAL EXIGENCY" VICTIMS

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Here's a blog that looks at former UT Chancellor Mark Yudof's record at UC.  The sense of deja vu is almost overwhelming.

Changing Universities: Mark Yudof and the Measure of Worth

This same question of restricted funds relates to all of the revenue-generating sectors of the UC system. For instance, the medical centers clear hundreds of millions of dollars of profit each year, but Yudof claims that this money cannot be used to make up for the loss of general funds. However, this is exactly what the UC did in 1993, and there is no law preventing the university to do it again. In fact, Yudof’s furlough plan is reducing the salaries of many of the people employed in the medical field, so it appears to be highly contradictory for him to insist that they cannot do it. It is also strange that these medical centers have declared that they have no financial relation to the university, but they use the university’s name and pension plan to attract workers and patients. These centers also hide behind the university to maintain their non-profit status, and this brings us to the question of what they do with their annual profits.

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A READER RESPONDS TO WORKPLACE BULLYING DISCUSSION

The following is the text of a comment regarding workplace bullying from Mr. Leonard Nolt. The Blogmeister thinks it deserves the exposure a full posting will give it. 

Greetings; I understand the author who is baffled by the refusal of management to address the problem of workplace bullying. There are reasons, however, for this failure of management. One is that some managers are bullies and secretly admire employees who bully their co-workers. Another reason is that a bully can provide a certain amount of macabre entertainment for witnesses in what may otherwise be a boring workplace. A third reason that managers do not address bullying is because employees who witness bullying usually do not report it to management, perhaps because they are afraid they might also become a target. The isolating impact that bullying has on a victim or target often is subconsciously supported and imitated by other employees who may not actually participate in the direct bullying. Many managers are simply uninformed about bullying and not trained to respond to the problem.

I was the target of a bully for over 2.5 years at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho. St. Alphonsus is a part of the Trinity Health System headquartered in Novi, Michigan. When I reported the bullying to management the first time, I requested a professionally mediated conflict resolution process. It was denied because the bully refused to participate. This is typical behavior of a bully. A bully will refuse to participate in any kind on resolution process. She will also be intentionally vague about her complaints. A bully will also refuse to communicate with the target about the problem.

To get an idea how incompetent management can be, I was diagnosed by my employer as being injured on the job with PTSD as a result of the bullying. Even though I reported the bullying and the PTSD injury to management I was still refused any kind of resolution to the problem, even a change of work schedules. Nor was I offered any treatment for the injury. HR management refused to respond to my reports and even threatened to fire me for reporting the PTSD injury to him. I received no assistance even after reporting the problem to the CEO and to a Trinity Health vice-president.

If you want to read more about my experience check under the heading "Workplace Psychological Abuse" on my blog "The Cambium Level" at www.leonardnolt.blogspot.com Thanks again for the article.

Sincerely,

Leonard Nolt Boise, Idaho

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WORKPLACE BULLYING AWARENESS ON THE RISE

Most workers, at one time or another, have been the object of a workplace bully's attention, and it is  baffling to the Blogmeister why management almost always fails to take action in view of the organizational costs of bullying.  By definition, bullies, most of whom are bosses, are insecure and often incompetent, and they make the workplace intolerable while the target worries about covering herself rather than the job. Worse, the target can eventually develop health problems resulting from a bully's tactics of blaming and gaming them. 

The Blogmeister is aware of an individual right now who faces a bully every day she comes to work.  This particular bully has even injured his hand while he pounded on her desk and screamed at her.  He, of course, has done many, many other things, as well, all of it being steadily documented.  While the bully in question has been known to target others, the Blogmeister believes that he singles out this particular person because she is an older, relatively helpless female and has few employment options at this stage.  Workplace productivity and misery aside, the hostile environment he has created is exposing his institution to an EEOC lawsuit.  Management has been alerted and refuses to act, which is in keeping with the research concerning workplace bullies.  Incredible. 

Please read "Ten Signs You're Being Bullied at Work" on the Forbes.com website. The Blogmeister also encourages blog visitors to read the articles linked in the Zemanta box below. 

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UTMB VP BEN RAIMER GARNERS TFA "BURNING PANTS AWARD"

Over the past three years or so, the Blogmeister has been admittedly stingy when bestowing the prestigious "Burning Pants Award."  To earn this distinction, an administrator has had to engage in exceptionally meritorious meretriciousness.  Such is the case with UTMB Vice President Ben Raimer and his recent claim to the Galveston County Daily News in an 11/27/09 story titled "UTMB Posts Charity Policy Signs."  In this story, the Daily News reports that Raimer made the following claim in his quest to don the Burning Pants:

The medical branch’s Demand and Access Management Program handled the financial screening, but that program closed after Hurricane Ike flooded the program’s off-campus office, Raimer said.

Warming to the idea that he had a strong candidate, the Blogmeister did a little fact checking and found this hot, really hot, August 2, 2008, e-mail.  The Blogmeister then took a page from an old calendar (I believe it was the page reading "September 13, 2008," the day Hurricane Ike struck Galveston) and began polishing up the award.

Accordingly, and without any further adieu, Dr. Ben Raimer, for exceptionally meritorious meretriciousness and absolutely magnificent mendacity, I hereby award you the coveted Burning Pants.  Congratulations, sir! I hope you're proud of yourself. 

INDIGENT AND UNINSURED: UTMB POSTS SIGNS AFTER BEING PUBLICLY EXPOSED

Image by seiuhealthcare775nw via Flickr

Despite UTMB administrators' aggressive efforts to convince the public otherwise, this blog has long established UTMB management's hostile stance toward the indigent and uninsured.  Something is seriously wrong with medical professionals who measure success not in terms of lives reclaimed but in terms of the misery perpetuated.  To quote the $1.8 million Navigant report: "The value of the DAMP program is measured in respect to number and percent of persons denied access to care and in respect to the number of cases budgeted vs. actual." Furthermore, the Cancer Coalition of Galveston County's report, "Clearing the Fog," reported that needs of the medical training programs rather than the needs of suffering human beings determined what cases slipped through DAMP screening and actually got to a physician.  Unfortunately, UTMB is still busily throwing out misinformation and outright falsehoods. 

Take, for instance, Senior VP Ben Raimer's claim in the Galveston County Daily News story titled "UTMB Posts Charity Policy Signs," linked below.  Ben Raimer, the fellow who compared UTMB to Macy's, the fellow who was "pretty certain" that signs were posted before Ike hit, is leaning on Ike yet again, and claiming--falsely--that Ike shut down the DAMP Program.  No, Mr. Raimer, as you had to have known, UTMB shut down DAMP and shut out the uninsured weeks before Hurricane Ike struck.  Ben, is that your name I see as a Cc addressee on this August 2, 2008, e-mail, the one that begins, "Dr. Raimer requested that I forward you the attached DAMP Office Closure Draft Implementation Plan. . . ."?

Please open the link below to read "UTMB Posts Charity Policy Signs" and another manifestation of UTMB's misinformation regarding indigent and uninsured care:

The Galveston County Daily News

The University of Texas Medical Branch has posted signs in its hospital and clinics about the availability discounted health care, and it has launched an audit to review its policies on charity care in response to a report criticizing area health care providers for lacking state-mandated polices about free and discounted medical services.

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PRIVATE AUTOPSIES A GROWING INDUSTRY: BUYER BEWARE

Image via Wikipedia

I know. This story isn't about UT or any college or university, but it's something people working at a medical university should know.

Grieving families disturbed by no regulation of private autopsies | wfaa.com | Health News

Prior is a registered nurse who has witnessed autopsies and knows what the procedure is supposed to accomplish. But when her husband's autopsy report arrived, she thought it was the wrong one.

It never even mentioned the tumor in his stomach, the hemorrhage he suffered as a result, and the fact that he died of both.

"I had paid $3,550 for this autopsy and what I got was a worthless piece of paper," Pat Prior said.

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DAILY NEWS REPORTS ON UTMB LEAGUE CITY LEASE

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Blog readers are already aware of this acquisition.  Still, this would have been a good time for the Daily News to provide new information in the form of a report on any progress or, more likely, the lack thereof, toward building the hospital tower that the Legislature intended to be constructed on Galveston Island.  When the cranes finally do show up on site, Galvestonians will have to drive over to League City to see them, the Blogmeister suspects.  UT's profiteers didn't buy 64 acres in League City to build a clinic here and there.  When UTMB bought the last 29 acres in League City, officials claimed they had no specific plans for the land even as they claimed that purchasing the land was in line with their strategic plan.  Apparently, they didn't see the contradiction.  One can't have a strategic plan and have no plans at the same time.

The Galveston County Daily News

The medical branch, the county’s largest employer, will offer occupational and physical therapy services, along with ear, nose and throat specialties, officials said. The medical branch also has leased space for an oral surgery clinic in Brittany Bay Center, a 24,000-square-foot building.

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STUDENTS AND THEIR FINGERS BENT OUT OF SHAPE AT YUDOF

Image by EvenLee via Flickr

UC to look into police actions at protest

"None of us should have been brutalized," American studies major Marika Goodrich told UC Provost Larry Pitts and Nathan Brostrom, an interim executive vice chancellor, as several students held up bandaged fingers and knuckles. The students said police had broken them with their batons last week during a daylong demonstration against a 32 percent fee increase that will take tuition above $10,000 next fall.

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UNT TO OFFER MD DEGREE

More competition coming to town. . . .

UNT to pursue M.D. school in Fort Worth - Dallas Business Journal:

The University of North Texas System Board of Regents voted recently to move forward in its plan to offer an MD degree at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, according to university officials.

UC EMPLOYEES VOTED NO CONFIDENCE IN YUDOF

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The Blogmeister doesn't know how this 'un slipped by him, but it appears University of California employees delivered a vote of "no confidence" in former UT Chancellor Mark Yudof way back in September.  Nothing like timely news, eh? Many thanks to the alert reader who pointed this out. 

UC workers deliver no-confidence vote to Yudof

The top brass at the University of California say it's "nothing more than a publicity stunt" and a "tantrum" - and they might be right.

But when labor unions said Thursday that about 9,600 UC staff and faculty members at all 10 campuses had signed a vote of no confidence in UC President Mark Yudof, the message was clear: Employees at the public university are angry.

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WORK FOR A BULLY?

The Blogmeister has run across many bullies in supervisory positions over the years.  They make life for employees absolutely miserable and generally get away with it if, for no other reason, management refuses to act. If you think you may be working for one, click on the highlighted text to see a video on the workplace bullying phenomenon and what you should be doing about it. 

Go to the Workplace Bullying Institute to learn more. 

UTMB CONTINUES TO EXPAND ON THE MAINLAND

Galveston's loss, League City's gain:

Commercial | UTMB Leases 15,000 sq ft in League City

The acquisitions are all part of a large push to gain market share in the more affluent Northern Galveston County. UTMB purchased land near Victory Lakes in League City were they are currently building a specialty hospital.

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WHY WASN'T STABBING VICTIM SENT TO UTMB?

The Blogmeister suspects there's more to this story than meets the eye. As the excerpt below says, Mainland Medical Center first came out and said that the victim's physician called UTMB, and then Mainland "corrected" itself later.  I wonder if the victim had insurance.

The Galveston County Daily News

The attending physician didn’t call the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston to see whether the John Sealy Hospital emergency room was accepting patients, Mainland Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Rob Heifner said.

The statement corrected one made last week by a spokeswomen for Mainland Medical Center, who told The Daily News the call was made and that John Sealy’s emergency room was diverting patients.

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LOSING MONEY: BIG BONUSES FOR UT'S INVESTMENT MANAGERS

Want a recession-proof job? Then work for UTIMCO, the University of Texas Investment Management Company.  If the funds you manage make money--big bonus! If your funds lose money, then claim they lost less than others' funds, and--big bonus again!  The scandal over bonuses last year was obviously not much of a deterrent. 

UT fund managers get millions in bonuses | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

AUSTIN — The trustees of Texas' public higher education endowment funds Friday approved more than $3.3 million in performance bonuses for investment managers despite $4.1 billion in lost investment value over the year that ended June 30.

UTMB FACULTY SENATE OCTOBER MINUTES

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The UTMB Faculty Senate met on October 12th and has posted its minutes.  The minutes are more remarkable for what they don't say than what they do. 

First, Provost Garland Anderson, the mastermind of the RIF and RIF appeals processes, the processes that utterly cut faculty out of any input whatsoever, made a statement that UTMB officials had spoken with the AAUP about the RIF, a fact blog readers know well.  Here's the sum total of what the minutes say:

Dr. Anderson reported that he met with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) last week.  They were here to investigate the faculty RIF and the appeals process.  AAUP will send us their report to respond to and then they will publish the report.

Apparently, not a single senator, much less the senate leadership, took the good provost to task for RIF'ing 127 colleagues and shutting faculty governance out in the process, not so much as a whimper.  Judging from another Anderson comment later in the minutes, the good provost stayed for the whole meeting or most of it.  I'm sure that had a healthy effect on any discussion, as well. 

Second, the minutes contain a lengthy and oh-so-innocuous description of a recent UT System Faculty Advisory Council meeting.  The minutes state that UT Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa had this to say about financial exigency:

We need to revisit rules regarding financial exigency; Dr. Cigarroa has appointed a task force to refine rules and they have a 3 month deadline. The task force which includes a UTMB faculty member and President Callender will give advice to the Chancellor and to the UT Regents.

The minutes DO NOT say if that faculty member was nominated by the UTMB Faculty Senate or if Cigarroa used the "Anderson Method" for claiming faculty participation.  

The Blogmeister doesn't hold out much hope for this senate.  After its top leadership was cleared of those who spoke out, this bunch seems to be nice and compliant. 

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NEAR-RIOT ERUPTS OVER YUDOF'S 32% STUDENT FEE HIKE AT UC

When one doesn't involve stakeholders, this is the sort of thing that can happen.  This video reports that 14 students were arrested, and one was tasered.  Note the student chant toward the end of the video: "Whose university? Our university!" These poor kids still think "public" means public.  Click on the highlighted text to view this YouTube video. 

UNIV. OF CA FACULTY ASKED TO GIVE UP STIPENDS

Is asking faculty to give up freshman seminar teaching stipends unreasonable? The Blogmeister doesn't particularly know.  I think it is unreasonable IF UC Davis' administrators aren't making proportional personal, monetary sacrifices, as well.  The general shouldn't be eating steak while his troops slowly starve.  It's called leadership. (As we all recall, UTMB administrators took no salary cuts during the recent 3,000-person reduction-in-force after Hurricane Ike.)

HigherEdMorning.com » Blog Archive » Where do professors draw the line?

The faculty at one university is being asked to teach designated seminars without pay.The University of California at Davis is already looking at a 20% cut in its undergraduate budget. Now, it’s asking faculty to give up the payment professors receive for teaching freshman seminars.

CNN COVERING UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA PROTESTS

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Nope, there's nothing like importing that autocratic, Texas-style leadership to get Californians stirred up.  This time, students, staff, and faculty have taken to the street to protest a 32% fee hike.  A faculty member also reels out a long list of other UC arbitrary actions. The Blogmeister's fav quote: "This is a public university; it's supposed to represent the public." Yeah, we have the same problem in Texas. It's the legacy of former UT Chancellor and current head of UC, Mark Yudof. I see he's hard at work on his legacy in California now.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/11/18/kim.ca.ucla.student.protests.cnn

After readers take in the protest, the Blogmeister invites them to look at the raises Yudof gave his executives. 

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UT WRITES AG ABOUT TFA ER CONTRACT INFO REQUEST

Back on the 15th, the Blogmeister posted what documentation he had concerning administrators trying to shield the UTMB Emergency Room contract from public view. UTMB said it was appealing.  Then, I said that UT was likely "quarterbacking every play."  Gee willikers.  It looks like the ol' Blogmeister was right.  Open the link below to view a November 16, 2009, letter from the UT System telling the Attorney General what UTMB thinks.  

Download Chatterjee-Abbott Appeal 091116

Now, let's all recall that part and parcel of UT's argument that it did not have to use its billions to rescue UTMB after Ike's destruction was that it was a separate legal entity.  I sent that information request to UTMB, but look who is fulfilling the "ten business days" requirement of the law.  So much for being a separate legal entity.   

I am particularly amused by this sentence in UT's letter to the AG:

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston takes no position as to the release of information responsive to this request and seeks only to advise you of possible third-party concerns. We have notified the third parties involved. . . .

Readers who haven't checked out the passionate and quite detailed 3rd-party notification posted on the 15th may do so now by clicking on the highlighted text. 

GOING TO HUMAN RESOURCES WITH YOUR PROBLEMS?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf5h8gkMY4k

TEXAS GULF COAST REGIONAL CONSORTIUM CANCELED

Due to scheduling conflicts, the November 21, 2009, Texas Gulf Coast Regional Consortium, slated to take place in Houston, has been canceled.

DAILY NEWS LETTER TO THE EDITOR BLASTS "UTMB TAX"

The backlash had to start sooner or later. . . . 

The Galveston County Daily News

Too bad that UTMB still doesn’t give a damn about laws and won’t comply by disclosing how it’s delivering care and at what prices (“Report blasts hospital charity policies” The Daily News, Nov 5).

UTMB AND UT FIGHTING RELEASE OF ER CONTRACT--TOO!

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UT and UTMB seem to be employing a new tactic with the Blogmeister and TFA: fight every Texas Public Information Act request I send.  At least that's what has happened the last couple of times I've tried it.  Readers already know that UT is trying to block release of the its component presidents' deferred compensation account information, and now, UTMB, with UT no doubt quarterbacking every play, is trying to block the release of the contract it made with an outside, private firm to run its emergency room.  (Click on the highlighted text for some background on the ER, including UTMB's running off 16 of its 17 ER physicians.)

Now, this isn't the first time UTMB has tried to keep information out of the hands of the Blogmeister regarding its handling of the ER and the private contract.  The first time I sent a request for the contract, administrators claimed they were still negotiating, and to release the contract would compromise their efforts.  Right.  So the ol' Blogmeister waited until the contract had to be settled, and fired off another request.  Open the link below to view my request:

Download Reamy-PIO PIA 091030

Gosh and golly! Wouldn't you know that they have a whole new pack of objections now?  Open the link below to view UTMB's letter to the Blogmeister:

Download Andersen-Reamy Appeal 0911090001

Open the next link to view UTMB's letter to the ER contractor coaching the contractor how to fight release of the information:

Download Andersen-Boster Appeal 091109

Interestingly, the Texas Public Information Act specifically mentions contracts as records the public should have access to.  We'll see how it all sorts itself out, but, once again, a public institution is trying to keep the public in the dark.  These people really have forgotten whom they work for. 

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ROBERT NELSON TO REPLACE CARDENAS AT UT PAN AM

Let's hope Nelson writes his own papers, eh? 

Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Texas/Southwest

In October 2008, anonymous allegations mailed to the University of Texas System and media outlets around the state suggested Cardenas had plagiarized portions of her dissertation. A system investigation was halted before reaching a conclusion when Cardenas announced her retirement.

UT SOUTHWESTERN GETS OVER $42 MILLION & COUNTING FROM STIMULUS

UT Southwestern given $42 million for research | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Breaking News for Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News

All of the funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were received during fiscal 2009, which ended Sept. 30. The school still has numerous applications out for additional stimulus money.

YOUR UNIVERSITY: TOOT ITS HORN OR HOOT YOUR SCORN

Here's your chance to let the world know about your research workplace.  I doubt UTMB, with resentment over the way administrators handled the reduction-in-force still roiling like a barrel of snakes, will be offering a "YouCount" survey this year, eh?  University of California administrators, with their leaders imported from Texas, may not be Johnny on the spot with surveys this year, either. 

The Scientist

Each year The Scientist surveys scientists worldwide to gather their assessments of their places of work, and publishes the results in The Scientist's Best Places to Work reports - one for postdocs, industry scientists, and academics. Now in their eighth year, these reports have become the benchmark for evaluating scientists' places of work.

SHARED GOVERNANCE IN EL PASO

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The El Paso Council of Higher Education is and has been one of TFA's strongest chapters.  Its president, Michael Coulehan, wrote an article about shared governance that's worth a read.  Faculty in El Paso get little to no input in their own compensation, and EPCHE President Coulehan urges action. The title says it all. 

"You're Either at the Table or on the Menu"

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