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Senate:
Elections, handbook, conflict policies
The Faculty Senate met May 1 and was called to order by Adrian Reuben,
M.D. The next meeting will be held at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, June 5, in the
Administration/Library Building, room 107.
Governance Committee Report
Faculty Senate Elections: Although the bylaws call for elections
in May, they have been delayed in recent years for various reasons and
have been conducted in the fall. Since voting can now be done electronically
using the web, past concerns about faculty with nine-month appointments
not being able to participate in August elections seem less significant.
In discussion, the committee felt that most faculty, if given adequate
warning, could still nominate and vote via the web without being on campus.
The proposal is to have nominations in July and elections during the first
week of school in August. This would provide the opportunity for newly
elected senators to attend the September meeting as observers and take
over officially in October.
In succeeding years, if it is the will of the Senate to bring elections
back to May, we will try to do so.
Faculty Handbook update and revisions: The faculty handbook has
been put in PDF format and will be indexed for easy access on the web.
As soon as it is ready, it will be posted to the Faculty Senate Web site.
Adrian Reuben and Francine Margolius have collated additions and updates
so it will be easier to tell what still needs attention. President Ray
Greenberg promised some help from his staff in identifying inconsistencies
and lacks in the handbook. Tom Higerd, Ph.D., associate provost for institutional
assessment, has also offered to help.
The plan is for a small group of faculty to work from the electronic
version of the handbook on the Web site, noting deletions, drafting additions,
and detailing significant areas that need re-working.
Issues will fall into two major groups: (1) factual, objective changes,
such as inserting new or updated policies which have already received Board
approval and (2) issues which need Senate debate, such as the definition
of tenure, how tenure relates to appointment, mechanisms for non-renewal
of non-tenured faculty, and other faculty rights and responsibilities.
Adrian Reuben has written a letter to Rosalie Crouch, Ph.D., vice president
for academic affairs and provost, explaining the Senate’s plan and asking
for the promised assistance with the handbook revision. He will also write
a letter to the entire faculty informing them about progress with the legal
counsel and asking for help in handbook revision. This letter will be posted
to the Faculty Senate Web site.
Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment
Policies
Valerie West, Ed.D., associate provost for educational programs, and
Ken Roozen, Ph.D., executive director, Foundation for Research Development,
spoke to the Senate about current initiatives to revise the university
policies on conflict of interest and conflict of commitment.
West chairs a broadly-representative task group focusing on conflict
of commitment.
In the current Faculty Handbook, the section on Outside Activities,
which is very brief and vague, covers issues which are commonly called
conflict of commitment elsewhere. The group found diverse approaches to
faculty activities in each college and area of the university. West noted
that the policies need clarity, equity across colleges, and flexibility.
They also need to be mindful of the state ethics law.
The task group has identified three categories of activities:
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Professional activities which are expected and should be covered in the
practice plan or faculty contract; these would not be considered “outside.”
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Outside professional activities which are outside university auspices but
related to expertise; university permission would be required for these
activities.
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“Completely outside” (for example, owning a business); these activities/commitments
would be discouraged and faculty cannot use university resources or do
on university time.
The group is calling for college-level policies to support a general university
policy; all would be approved by the provost. West noted that conflict
of commitment and conflict of interest policies must be brought together
and both should be added to the Faculty Handbook, which serves as the contract
between the faculty and the university. It was noted that there is a second
contract for many faculty, an annual contract which is signed in specific
departments.
Roozen spoke of the effort to reconcile the various conflict of interest
policies currently in use at the universty.
The AAMC is taking a leadership position in this issue nationally and
Roozen offered to send senators the AAMC report upon request. He noted
that everyone has conflicts of interest (for example, the pressure to publish);
they cannot be avoided, but must be managed. Education of faculty, graduate
students, and other appropriate groups regarding conflicts of interest
is very difficult.
Disclosure is the key. It is desirable for faculty and staff to get
someone else to say, “This is OK.” The review process needs to be clarified
and improved and decisions made regarding whose responsibility this is.
Many policies, laws, and regulations address conflict of interest for MUSC:
the state ethics law, the MUSC Conflict of Interest Policy, MUSC’s Significant
Financial Interest Policy, and the FDA Rules for Clinical Trials.
Roozen’s goal is to draft a cogent policy which will allow someone
to disclose and an administrator to make a decision which will stand up
to a challenge. He noted it might be helpful if MUSC, USC, and Clemson
collaborate on a conflict of interest policy and use their collective clout
to see it through the state legislature.
In response to Roozen’s presentation, one senator noted that at MUSC,
disclosure seems to be tied to finances and income rather than the scope
of activities; this is problematic.
Senate Representation on University Committees—Adrian
Reuben
Adrian Reuben reminded all senators serving on university committees
to report back to the Senate on the activities and deliberations of those
committees, so the Senate will remain knowledgeable and can address specific
issues if deemed advisable.
University Affairs Committee: Legal Counsel
for Faculty Senate—Anne Spencer
Anne Spencer announced that faculty will receive a letter of explanation/solicitation
in regard to the legal counsel the week of May 21. A copy of the letter,
written by Reuben, was distributed and Spencer urged all senators to read
it and support this effort. She stressed the importance of each senator
being prepared to answer any questions that might arise and offered to
prepare a bullet list of key points that could be shared with faculty.
The Catalyst for May 4 carried an interview of Adrian Reuben on the
topic of the legal counsel for Faculty Senate.
Senators outside the College of Medicine are encouraged to determine
how best to contact and inform their faculty. In the College of Medicine,
either a senator or a designated member of the Faculty Senate Executive
Committee will contact faculty in each department to ensure all are informed.
If requested, Reuben or Spencer will address college or departmental faculty.
Checks in support of this effort are to be made out to Faculty Senate
and sent to Melissa Foster, 200-I Administration Building.
Chair Evaluations—Adrian Reuben
Adrian Reuben reported on chair evaluations. He stated that his dean
sent a letter to him stating that there would not be a chair evaluation
for the Department of Medicine since Ian Taylor, M.D., is leaving. He emphasized
the importance of chair evaluation and requested that anyone who does not
receive an evaluation form let him know. Reuben asked the senators to make
sure all their colleagues know they should get chair evaluations sometime
in May.
Senators present
Basic Sciences: Ed Krug, Kathryn Meier, Philip Privitera, Michael
Schmidt, Sally Self, Jerry Webb
Clinical Sciences: Narenda Banik, Timothy Carter, Dennis Cope,
Leonard Egede, Leonie Gordon, Mark Lyles, Timothy Lyons, Subbi Mathur,
Terry O’Brien, Adrian Reuben, Philip Saul
Dental Medicine: Luis Leite, Elizabeth Pilcher, Jon Rampton
Health Professions: Richard Hernandez
Library Science and Informatics: Jennie Ariail, Nancy McKeehan
Nursing: Elaine Amella, Tara Hulsey, Sally Stroud
Pharmacy: John Bosso, Kurt Lorenz, Kit Simpson, Anne Spencer
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