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[Note: This material is copyright by the Press-Citizen, 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 Iowa City Press-Citizen.]

Shouldn't that have ended the matter?

It did not. Despite the attorney general's conclusion, the Press-Citizen has, in multiple articles, attempted to define Colloton as a "public figure" (i.e. the equivalent of a UI employee), even though he retired from the university six years ago. Under this expansive theory, the newspaper, under the Iowa Open Records Act, would be free to explore Colloton's private correspondence looking for items to sensationalize.

The Press-Citizen has attempted to justify its actions by stating that it received a "tip" suggesting Colloton's correspondence might contain "newsworthy information." But in managing editor Jim Lewers' column ("Keep 'deciders' accountable," Jan. 13), the newspaper disclosed that it wasn't really a "tip" but rather a series of "documents anonymously e-mailed to the Press-Citizen nearly two months ago" that triggered its actions. Lewers further writes: "We did not solicit the Colloton documents. We do not know who sent them to us, and at this point, we cannot be sure that these documents are authentic" -- even though the Press-Citizen continues to describe them as "Colloton documents."

UI Emeritus program

This shaky base notwithstanding, the Press-Citizen has continued to portray Colloton, whom I believe to be an innocent victim of some type of unscrupulous behavior, in a most unfavorable and unfair light. It has done this in a number of ways but, foremost, by not presenting fully and without bias information regarding the UI Emeritus Program. This longstanding program grants the honorific title of emeritus and modest benefits to certain retired faculty and officials who have rendered distinguished service over a long span.

Colloton was accorded this status in retirement when he was designated director emeritus of the University Hospitals. The emeritus title carries with it no responsibilities, but at the discretion of the individual college or major unit involved, office space and secretarial support may be provided to the emeritus designee. UI provides courtesy parking. These benefits are provided in respect for contributions made over a career, not on the basis of what the designee will do for the university in the future.

Fortunately for UI, many move to emeritus status, in part, to free up their budgeted positions to permit recruitment of the next generation of academic leaders. The financial savings to the university from these voluntary moves of senior faculty and staff are huge when compared with the cost of modest benefits the emeriti receive. If the Press-Citizen wishes to question the appropriateness of the emeritus program, it is perfectly free to do so. However, in fairness to Colloton, it should do so in a generic manner, not by focusing on a single individual.

Additional Colloton facts

If the Press-Citizen truly is interested in an objective portrayal of this matter, it should provide its readers with the following additional facts:

• Colloton is a native Iowan who rose to national prominence in the U.S. health sector during his long career at UI. Along the way, he declined multiple lucrative opportunities to accept positions in major metropolitan academic medical centers to devote his entire career to public service at UI for the benefit of Iowans.

The late Dr. Robert G. Petersdorf, one of academic medicine's most distinguished citizens and long-time president of the Association of American Medical Colleges, put it this way: "Colloton was arguably the most effective hospital chief executive of his era. A brilliant administrator, he said grace over a phased building project (none of it at state expense), which left UIHC with one of the best physical plants in the country. He was also a superb organizer, fundraiser and politician, and an articulate spokesman for academic medicine."

• During his 44 years of service to UI, Colloton conceived and led the implementation of a strategy that transformed the University Hospitals from an institution devoted primarily to the care of indigent patients into one of the premier teaching hospitals in the world -- now admirably serving the Health Science Center and patients from all economic walks of life. The impact on economic development in Johnson County and greater Iowa was profound as the hospital operating budget increased from $20 million in 1970 to about $400 million in 1993 and to $700 million today. In essence, the foundation was structured for continuing success of the hospitals for decades to come.

• Former UI President Willard L. "Sandy" Boyd said it best in 2004 when he said that his appointment of John W. Colloton as director of the University Hospitals "was the most spectacularly successful University Hospital appointment made by any University President" and "because of him, we have a 21st century hospital and we had it in place before 2000." Similarly, former Gov. Tom Vilsack, in 2006, remarked that Colloton has been "one of Iowa's true giants."

• Colloton, retired since 2000, has access to a room at the hospital, which contains no desk or computer, where he spends about four to six hours per week reading, conferring with long-time colleagues and new faculty and doing career counseling with young administrative and clinical staff members and students. In his reading and analysis, he stays intimately abreast of state and national health policy issues and trends.

• Given Colloton's 50 years of highly productive association with UI, present university leaders not surprisingly solicit his advice. I am sure that Colloton and others in private life respond to these solicitations with the full expectation that their advice is given in confidence and respect for the manner in which the Iowa Open Records Law protects their privacy.

• Beyond his 44 years of outstanding service to UI and to the state, Colloton, ever the good university citizen, has donated some $1.3 million of his personal earnings to UI, including a $1 million gift in 1997. At that time, the UI Foundation characterized it as the "largest outright gift of any member of the University of Iowa family" and one which "exceeds, by a considerable amount, the aggregate of gifts made in the history of the Foundation by all senior University officials combined."

P-C should put the matter to bed

These facts demonstrate why it was eminently reasonable for the university to provide Colloton with modest retirement benefits, just as it currently does for another 38 emeritus medical faculty at University Hospitals. As the Attorney General has opined, nothing about these benefits converts the private correspondence of Colloton, or any other retired university employee in emeritus status, into public records to be made available to newspapers.

Given these facts, it should be beneath the journalistic and ethical standards of the Press-Citizen to pursue this unsavory matter further. The Press-Citizen now should put this matter "to bed" and move on to legitimate news concerning the future of the university as it seeks to build on the rich legacy of John W. Colloton and many other emeriti who have completed distinguished careers at the University of Iowa.

I continue to have some hope that the Press-Citizen will do just that.
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Reginald R. Cooper is an emeritus professor in the University of Iowa Department of Orthopedics.