Senator wants UH
to sell med schoolThe proceeds could offset tuition
By Pat Omandam
increases or grant waivers for residents
Star-BulletinState Sen. Robert Bunda wants the University of Hawaii to see if it can get a large infusion of cash by selling its medical school. UH officials, however, say there are other options for the school.
Envisioning a "Mayo Clinic of the Pacific," Bunda (Wahiawa-North Shore) has introduced a resolution asking for a feasibility study, in which UH would divest itself of the John A. Burns School of Medicine by the year 2005.
Preference would be given to Hawaii-based buyers, including local hospitals and any higher-education institutions, such as Hawaii Pacific University. The measure states UH would use the proceeds from the sale to offset tuition increases or grant tuition waivers for resident students.
Bunda explained Monday that if Hawaii truly wants to be the health center of the Pacific, it needs to do more than just turn out doctors. He believes the state needs to let health care providers or others take over the school so its programs, services and research can be expanded.
The state, he said, doesn't have the money to maintain the school's high standards, which could lead to accreditation problems.
Also, UH could benefit from the sale, along with savings in maintenance and operating costs.
The medical school has an operating budget of $55 million, but UH general funds account for only $14 million, Bunda said. The rest of the funds come from the federal government, hospitals and grants.
Any sale would not include a transfer of land or buildings, which the UH would lease to the buyer.
"When you look at the institution as a whole, most of the people are already being funded by private hospitals or private providers," Bunda said. "I think HPU could very well add to the situation, because it should be a joint effort of all the universities, if you ask me," he said.
University faculty and researchers have recommended to the UH administration that the medical school as well as the law school be self-sufficient or eliminated to deal with proposed UH budget cuts.
Oceanography professor Edward A. Laws, speaking for UH Interim Senior Vice President Dean Smith, said yesterday there's been past talk about privatizing the medical school, but he doesn't know if it can be sold.
Taking the medical school off its $14 million general-fund support would immediately offset proposed UH budget cuts, which are estimated at 5 percent, or $13.5 million, next fiscal year.
"If the recommendations of these faculty committees are accepted, obviously one of them is that we either phase out the med school or take it off state support," Laws said.
"That would probably be something that the UH would want to seriously look at. It would certainly be a major decision to phase out the med school," he said.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 78 requires UH to report back to the 1999 Legislature on the study to sell the medical school. The measure now goes before the Senate Education Committee.
Co-chairman Rod Tam (D, Nuuanu) said the committee will consider the measure for a hearing but may instead ask for a comprehensive review of the entire UH system by the legislative auditor to see where it can save money, and whether that includes selling the medical school.
Talk of further cuts brings
By Star-Bulletin staff
‘huge depression and upset’A somber mood has settled over the University of Hawaii's Manoa campus with talk of more budget cuts and academic reorganization, say a student leader and a faculty member. "There is huge depression and upset over here," said Meda Chesney-Lind, professor of women's studies, referring to some suggestedmr6 Meda
Chesney-Lind program changes.
Mamo Kim, president of the Associated Students of the University of Hawaii, said: "Students, I think, are so harassed by now. A lot of them are very angry and very upset. Many of them feel hopeless."
She said students "feel it's difficult to fight the bureaucracy, and they feel their interests are not being considered in the slightest."
UH officials stress that whatever changes are made, the students' interests will be protected.
"They're top priority," Dean O. Smith, senior vice president for research, said yesterday.
UH President Kenneth Mortimer was to meet this afternoon with the Faculty Senate, which is concerned about the recruitment and treatment of students.
Alex Malahoff, Faculty Senate chairman, said it has launched a program to increase enrollment and make students welcome.
Because of budget constraints, two faculty committees are working on recommendations that could result in consolidation or elimination of some academic programs.
University budget cuts proposed at the Legislature range from 5 percent in the House to 8-10 percent in the Senate.
A 5 percent cut is $13.5 million; 10 percent is $27 million.
Committees were formed on the Manoa and Hilo campuses and in the community-college system to reorganize academic units to make the best use of limited funds.
The two Manoa campus groups issued separate draft reports and are now meeting as one committee, with some additional members, to reconcile differences.
Oceanography Professor Ed Laws, heading the reconciliation committee, said the final report should go to the Faculty Senate before it's submitted to the UH Board of Regents formr6 Mamo
Kim approval. He anticipates "a lot of back-and-forth between the faculty and administration. That's healthy."
Smith stressed that the final report will be just one piece of information as the university tries "to chart our course over the next several years."
Laws said committee members have agreed on some changes, such as requiring the law and medical schools to be self-sufficient or eliminated.
Dr. Sherrel Hammar, interim dean of the medical school, said he wasn't aware of the suggestion.
"The deans and many of the faculty had not been informed about the content of the report(s)," Hammar said, "and we found this upsetting."
However, Lawrence Foster, law school dean, said it adopted a plan two years ago to raise 70 percent to 80 percent of its budget from tuition revenue by the year 2000. "The plan has worked very well. Both our students ... and lawyers downtown are very pleased with it."
The law school tuition this year is about $7,000; next year it will be $8,000. Under the current plan, it will go to $9,000 by the year 2000, Foster said.
While faculty members wrestle with reorganization, legislators are looking at budget cuts.
Some faculty and staff are nervous since the overall impact is uncertain, said C. Barry Raleigh, dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology. He anticipates his school will lose people, primarily those without tenure protection.
LEGISLATURE UPDATE
A calendar of tomorrow's hearings -- to be held at the state Capitol, 415 S. Beretania St., unless noted. Hearings marked with an asterisk will be televised live on Oceanic Channel 53 and TCI Cable 23:
HOUSE
Health: Hearing on bills relating to early intervention services, nurse midwives, physician's assistants, drug demand reduction and occupational therapy practice. Decision-making to follow, 8:30 a.m., Room 329.
SENATE
