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Regents question perks for retired university faculty

Retired University Hospitals’ director has UI office, secretary

Diane Heldt

The Gazette

January 24, 2007

Faculty Leaders Won't Seek Notice of Information Requests

[Note: This material is copyright by The Gazette, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of The Gazette.]


  IOWA CITY — State regents probably do not need to get involved with the practice of offering office space and other perks to state university emeritus faculty and administrators, two regents said this week.
  But another regent said the practice should be reconsidered. And Regents Executive Director Gary Steinke, responding to questions from regents, said Tuesday he would get preliminary information on the practice.
  If more regents want to look into the practice they should understand the extent of the practice and not just focus on one example, Regents President Michael Gartner of Des Moines said.
  The practice has received attention recently because John Colloton, University Hospitals’ director from 1958 to 2000, is one of about 40 retired faculty members or administrators with offices at the hospital. Many are doctors who still see patients.
  ‘‘I think it’s unfair to criticize one person. Really, if it’s a regents issue, then we need to understand the extent of the practice and the costs of the practice, the reasons behind it,’’ Gartner said.
  ‘‘If it is an issue, it needs to be studied thoroughly rather than just criticize Mr. Colloton or anybody else.’’
  UI officials have refused to release Colloton’s e-mails or other correspondence concerning the hospitals, sought in Freedom of Information requests by several newspapers that include The Gazette, arguing he no longer conducts official UI business.
  But Colloton has an office at UI Hospitals, a UI phone number and e-mail address, and a secretary paid a $58,447 annual UI salary. He could not be reached for comment this week.
  Regent Amir Arbisser of Davenport said some perks should be denied as Iowa’s public universities deal with tight budgets and limited space. He also is concerned that Colloton serves on the Wellmark Blue Cross/ Blue Shield board of directors.
  Arbisser also said Colloton’s use of UI resources lends strength to arguments that his correspondence should be made public.
  Regent Bob Downer of Iowa City said providing space to retired employees needs to be looked at more carefully as space needs intensify on campus. But emeritus faculty and administrators are in a wide range of activity, with some contributing a great deal in research, writing books or seeing patients, he said. ‘‘It seems to me that a one-size-fits-all approach to this really isn’t appropriate,’’ Downer said. ‘‘This is something that is probably best solved at the institutional level. I would encourage each institution to set its own policies to meet that institution’s particular needs.’’
  Steinke agreed to report on practice after Regent Teresa Wahlert of West Des Moines asked about it at an electronic regents meeting.
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The Associated Press and Gazette staff writer Lee Hermiston contributed to this story.
 
Faculty leaders won ' t seek notice of information requests

Diane Heldt

The Gazette

January 24, 2007



  IOWA CITY — University of Iowa faculty leaders will not pursue a policy that would require UI officials to notify faculty and staff when they are the subject of public information requests.
  The UI Faculty Council, a leadership group of the Faculty Senate, decided not to move forward with such a policy at a meeting Tuesday. ‘‘I think we’re chasing after things here’’ that don’t need to be pursued,' Downing Thomas, professor of French and Italian, said. ‘‘It seems ineffectual and sort of beside the point to me.’’
  A faculty committee had been working on a notification policy at the request of Faculty Senate President Sheldon Kurtz.
  Kurtz made the request last month after the state regents office requested information about three UI faculty leaders less than 48 hours after nonregent members of a UI presidential search committee raised concerns about the search.
  The regents office requested information about Kurtz, Katherine Tachau and Dr. Francois Abboud. Regents officials said the request was on behalf of a legislator.
  Kurtz said such a policy would give employees the opportunity to protect themselves, depending on the manner in which the information requested is used.
  Mary Greer, president of the UI Staff Council, also spoke Tuesday in favor of such a policy, saying it is of interest to her when information is requested about her. Marc Mills, vice president for legal affairs and general counsel, said if public information is requested about a UI employee, the university must provide the information. While he understood the policy under discussion only would provide notification to faculty after a request is made — and not the opportunity for UI employees to veto information requests about themselves — he suggested the council think hard about it.
  ‘‘I don’t think anybody, including me, thought that was appropriate in any manner,’’ Mills said of the information requests made by the regents office on the three UI faculty members. ‘‘But I don’t know that we want to get too far down this road to a policy.’’ Sue Buckley, associate vice president for human resources, said the UI handles many requests about employees for issues such as employment verification related to loan applications, reference checks and Medicare eligibility. A notification policy would have a huge impact on her office, she said.
  Such a policy also would have a chilling effect on the public’s right to request information, Buckley said.