MUSC Rumor Mill separates fact from fictionPresident Street garage parkingRumor: I park in the President Street garage and have become very uncomfortable walking alone to my car in the dark. Is it possible to get on the shuttle bus and have it drop me at the corner by the garage? Truth: The MUSC Shuttle will stop at the corner of President and Bee streets (across from President Street Garage booth) on demand. When you board at the Jonathan Lucas stop, alert the driver that you want to get off on President Street. In addition, Public Safety has an officer working in the G-lot area, and will provide escorts upon request. E-mail spam Rumor: Is it true that IT can’t do anything about the huge influx of new spam in student (and presumably others’) inboxes? Truth: Spam is a challenge for everyone and it will only get more challenging. It is estimated that there are 50 billion spam e-mails generated every day worldwide. The spammers like the hackers continue to get more clever. MUSC continues to refine and upgrade the spam e-mail filters. There has to be a balance between what is blocked and what is allowed to pass through the spam filters. Drug Discovery Building Rumor: There are several different rumors going around about the types of research or medical care that will be conducted in the Drug Discovery Building. Truth: The university plans to break ground on the Drug Discovery Building in late 2007, most likely in the G-lot adjacent to the Basic Science Building. The facility will house interdisciplinary teams of researchers who will work together to develop new therapies for diseases of the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, renal, and neurological systems, as well as for various cancers. The work will focus on molecular models of disease. No human studies or clinical care are slated to be conducted in this building. Although final plans for the building have not been completed, it likely will contain six floors of research laboratories, classrooms, and offices, and a large auditorium, as well as the pre-clinical laboratory of the College of Pharmacy. The building will contain approximately 100,000-125,000 square feet. Full funding has been identified from federal grants, philanthropy, and South Carolina Life Sciences Act funds. The final design is subject to a number of approval steps that will occur during the next year. Speed limit Rumor: Is it true that MUSC vehicles do not have any speed limits? On occasion when I am leaving after working night shift I end up following the courtsey shuttle through the Ashley/Rutledge parking garage as I exit. Oftentimes, I start following the shuttle, paying more attention to it than to my speed only to look down and realize we are often doing over the posted speed limit for the garage. Why is it acceptable for the shuttle to speed in the garage? Truth: It is not acceptable for courtesy carts to speed under any circumstances. Drivers are trained on the safe operations of the courtesy carts in the MUSC parking system. Drivers will and have been disciplined for failure to comply. If you observe unsafe operations of the courtesy carts, call 577-6860 and report the time, location, and the unsafe condition you observed. Your information will be given to the MUSC fleet safety officer for action. Transplants Rumor: Is it true that all liver transplants are going to be done at night? Truth: There will be no change in the process of when transplant surgeries are done. The Transplant Center will be adding a registered nurse position to the night shift to take calls for the new national organ allocation process, DonorNet. Roper parking Rumor: I heard about several employees who came from Roper but still park in the parking garage. They do this free, because they keep their card. If this is true, does Roper do a check every so many months to rid these cards? Truth: Both MUSC Parking Management officials and Roper administrators are aware of this issue and periodically review methods to control potential parking abuse. The current control method is financial. Roper must pay a premium when their usage in any given month exceeds the contracted allotment of spaces. Our records indicate that such overage charges on a monthly basis is rather small. Nevertheless, the potential for abuse is such that this remains an area of interest for both parties. Parking Management is currently working on technological enhancements for card access to our parking resources that we believe would assist greatly in limiting any abuse. The approval for the purchase of that technology is in the works and could be implemented by the early Fall. Lottery Rumor: I have heard conflicting information about MUSC benefits from the South Carolina Education Lottery. Does any of this money help support the educational mission of MUSC? Truth: Lottery scholarships are mainly intended for undergraduate students. Because the vast majority of our students are professional or graduate students, few MUSC students are eligible for lottery scholarships. However, the institution does benefit from the lottery in the form of eligibility for matching funds for the Research Centers of Economic Excellence program, which has allowed MUSC to recruit seven prominent scholars from top-tier institutions. Cafeteria Rumor: I hear that McDonalds is planning to open in our cafeteria. When is this planned to happen and is this at the Ashley Avenue campus? Truth: There are no plans to open a McDonalds on campus. Ashley garage parking Rumor: People are starting to say that parking management is not looking into the day-employees parking in the Ashley/Rutledge garage. This illegal parking takes place everyday and has been going on since they opened. Truth: The Office of Parking Management (OPM) is vigorously pursuing a solution to the abuse that occurs in the after-hours parking program. What typically occurs is an employee registered in the after-hours parking program parks in the Ashley/Rutledge garage while working days. These employees are circumventing the system and violating the administrative policy of MUSC. OPM has identified a significant number of employees who appear to be abusing the after-hours program, some of whom appear to be repeat offenders, and have provided that information to MUHA administrators so that managers and supervisors can take appropriate action. Where the abuse is substantiated, those employees will be subject to disciplinary action for these violations. Bus drivers Rumor: I heard it is against the rules for a bus driver to use a cell phone, but I have noticed this being done while a bus sits empty for 10 minutes prior to pulling up to a stop and taking on passengers. Truth: The MUSC policy for cell phone usage is that drivers should use cell phones only when not actually operating the bus, and in a safely parked condition. Transportation Management has reiterated this policy as a result of this inquiry. Bereavement Rumor: I heard that if an employee's stepmother, stepfather or stepchild dies, MUSC will not pay bereavement to that employee? Why doesn't it count like a biological parent or child? Truth: For purposes of bereavement leave, an employee can only have one set of parents. The employee can elect to use bereavement leave for a step parent, but cannot then subsequently request leave for the biological parent. For information, contact Human Resources at 792-2072. New hospital Rumor: Once the new hospital opens, what is going to happen to the old Charleston Memorial Hospital? Truth: CMH and McClennan Banks will continue to operate essentially as is. The emergency room will remain open and Kindred will continue to function within CMH. The TCU (transitional care unit) activity may also continue for some period of time before it moves to the main MUH facility. Reproduced from http://www.musc.edu/rumor/. Friday, Feb. 2, 2007 |
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