An important story about UH by Will Caron appeared in the Hawaii Independent on Tuesday. It ties the current budget freeze directly to the demand that UH “do whatever it takes” to significantly boost the number of highly paid Cancer Center researchers (“Apple cored: business as usual at UH“).
Caron reported:
…during a Saturday meeting in June between the president, chancellor, (Cancer Center director) Carbone and several key power players including (Medical School dean) Hedges, Apple was confronted with a demand that the CRC receive an additional $9-10 million in order to hire 16-25 new faculty over the next two years (salaries would average in at close to $400,000, based on the $9-10 million figure).
The reasoning was that without new hires to diversify its research, the CRC could lose its federal National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation and P30 grant funding from the Office of Cancer Centers. “In order to meet this demand [Apple] felt obligated to institute the freeze and budget reductions for M?noa, which will result in approximately 75 faculty positions not being filled this year on the M?noa campus,” reports our source.
Caron’s sources identified several outside “players” who took part in this pressure-filled session.
In addition to Baker and JABSOM Dean Jerris Hedges, the Independent has been informed that three additional key power players present at the June meeting were Art Ushijima, CEO of Queens Hospital, venture capitalist and part-time Hawai‘i resident Barry Weinman and former UH Board of Regents (BOR) Chair John Holtzman.
The article quotes an email from Carbone which includes the “do whatever it takes” quote.
You’ll need to read Caron’s article for the details.
I have to wonder: Although the cancer center and medical school may be important to the state, they certainly are not absolutely essential to the core mission of the UH Manoa Campus. That’s the standard being set for exceptions to the hiring freeze. Can you imagine UH without a medical school? Certainly. How about without a cancer center? Again, I think the answer is certainly in the affirmative. So why should the needs of these programs take precedence over all the other programs that make up the system’s flagship campus? If these are state priorities, rather than UH Manoa priorities, shouldn’t the legislature be stepping in to provide the needed funds?
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Thanks for the link to that informative article.
I don’t know how many people showed up to this morning’s sit in at Bachman Hall. But let me tell you: when people’s focus shifts from support/sympathy for an ousted chancellor to concerns over how student tuition and fees are being spent, that’s when you can expect fires to be lit under some okoles at Manoa and the state Capitol.
The quality of health care in Hawaii is very dependent on having a thriving teaching hospital and hence both a medical school and cancer center.
Check it out. Without UH’s school of medicine, we’d be better off hopping a plane for New York or California where the quality of care is supported by the close relationships between major hospitals and medical schools.
Doctors at Queens are very close to the latest research, and that is reflected in the quality of care available on Oahu.
Having said that, I would think that the Legislature would support the medical school as necessary, but look, they should support education (including special ed) better. And others may have their own priorities, of course.
Dr. Apple’s response to Ass-ner, provided by Hawaii News Now:
“These are hard times for the UHM, and they call for hard decisions. I am confident that each and every one of the initiatives I have spearheaded has been in the best interests of UHM, even though some have been unpopular with certain vested interests who profit from things as they are. You seem to have forgotten that you personally voiced support for my vision for UHM on many occasions. I stood up and took the knocks that inevitably come with such hard decisions, so I admit that I am very disappointed by the absence of support shown by you when controversy arises.
“So, by contrast to your very general and un-specific criticisms of my performance, all of the above strategic initiatives show specific accomplishments that I either started or continued and then helped to achieve along with my team. It is unfortunate that you chose to ignore all of them in my evaluation. It appears that this was deliberately done to get the result you wished to achieve — support for a false claim of unsatisfactory performance.”
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Full Disclosure: I once had to interview Lassner about an serious problem at UH. His response was classic passive/aggressive. So I pushed harder for better information elsewhere. To keep it simple, Lassner is a perfect Hawaii puppet.
If Lassner remains in power at UH, we all should get a spanking.
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And life at usual goes on at UH. So sad.
Everyone please vote.
In higher education, it is understood that there is a synergy between professional programs. If a state or country or university wants to pursue software development (Ireland) or biotech (Hawaii), the education system in those societies devotes resources not only directly to those objectives, but commits funds as well to upgrading professional programs in general. This is widely understood as absolutely critical. This is especially true of law and medical schools, which are seen as twin anchors of excellence that raise up the entire university and educational system (much the way shopping malls are anchored with two large department stores at either end). What’s so shocking in the case of the UH is just how unprofessional its medical school is, when one of its prime functions is to broadcast professionalism. Let it be known, however, that dysfunction is a norm in comparable institutions. Among universities, the UH may be below average, but it is not a failure. There are places that are much worse.
I don’t know if it will be “business as usual.” The outcry over Apple’s termination has swung the spotlight towards the parties involved in the ousting. Med School dean Jerris Hedges, State Sen. Roz Baker, and Cancer Research Center director Michele Carbone. Now that they have been exposed for their strong arm tactics, they’re going to experience greater public/media scrutiny from here on out. Every new grievance and complaint filed against Carbone will be pounced upon by reporters. Reports of the med school running in the red will draw criticism towards Dean Hedges. Sen. Baker will have to have to carefully measure her future involvement with UH matters lest she be accused of micromanaging and meddling.
The whole business of the medical school moving off campus into Kaka’ako was a political maneuver in itself. That move encouraged and cements the school’s air of autonomy.
Concur with another comment: Close the school if it can’t respect the school leaders
Kate you are so right! Why move the Cancer Center into a tsunami zone that is not close to the rest of the campus? It would have made much more sense to make a Cancer Center part of an existing hospital to develop synergy and a stronger program if the Center could not be located on UH land.
“Among universities, the UH may be below average, but it is not a failure. There are places that are much worse.”
how inspiring. and convincing too. all parents in Hawaii should feel most assured. no worry about UH! University of Phoenix is much worse.
— Homer Simpson