University Times

In his farewell address to the American people, out going President Dwight Eisenhower warned of what he called a “military-industrial complex” that threatened to pervert the country’s economy and foreign policy.

This month, psychology professor James Holland stepped down after three consecutive one-year terms as University Senate president. He warned the University community about what might be called a “medical-industrialist complex” — a combination of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) interests and Pitt trustees out of touch with academic values — which could distort Pitt’s mission and trample faculty rights.

However, Holland also noted hopeful signs, including the recent turnover in Pitt’s top leadership and a record of solid accomplishments by the Senate itself in recent years.

During a University Times interview, Holland elaborated on points he made in his valedictory remarks to Faculty Assembly and Senate Council on June 6 and 12, respectively.

Regarding the medical center, Holland said: “During the three years that I’ve been Senate president, I think we’ve seen a growing trend toward UPMC calling the shots for the rest of the University — I hesitate to call it [Pitt’s non-medical component] the ‘lower campus,’ but that may be an appropriate term in some ways.

“I don’t think there can be any remaining doubt that the high-handed decision by the administration to eliminate HealthAmerica [as a medical insurance option for Pitt employees] was entirely a matter of servicing the UPMC. I think it’s quite significant that the two searches we’ve had so far for a new senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences have failed. Actually, considering the fact that the senior vice chancellor position is so clearly subservient to that of the UPMC president, what’s surprising is that the [senior vice chancellor] searches turned up so many incredibly qualified candidates and that those people thought they could come here and get things done.” Holland continued: “There are serious faculty governance issues that remain unresolved in the dental school. Our Senate tenure and academic freedom committee continues to hear about blatant violations of faculty rights in the medical school. We’ve seen UPMC lawyers and hospital administrators making decisions on academic issues, which they shouldn’t be doing.” In a June 15, 1994, Chronicle of Higher Education cover story on a rash of research misconduct investigations at Pitt, Holland said that administrators here “almost always do it wrong. They’ve had quite a bad track record. The only common thing I can see as to how the University has reacted to all of the most visible ethical cases is that the administration is always on the side of money and power.” At a subsequent Senate Council meeting, Chancellor J. Dennis O’Connor blasted Holland for the remark. But at this month’s Faculty Assembly meeting, Holland said he stands by what he told the Chronicle.

Holland cautioned Assembly members about what he called “a wide gap” between Pitt faculty and trustees, both in terms of academic priorities (Holland cited the trustees’ strong support of Pitt’s new undergraduate business college, which a majority of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences opposed in a referendum) and social issues (for example, trustee opposition to the University’s policy of offering some fringe benefits to same-sex couples).

Holland told the Times that, after meeting with J.W. Connolly and hearing about the new Board of Trustees chairperson from others in the University community, he believes Connolly “may be considerably more conservative on social and political issues than many faculty would like” and that Connolly, “like some other trustees, seems to hold views on organizational policy more appropriate for industrial corporations than universities.” Connolly also seems to be a staunch supporter of the current UPMC administration, according to Holland. “That could perpetuate the organizational problems we already have, whereby the interests of the UPMC hospitals tend to be put above the interests of the medical faculty and other Pitt faculty.

“But that said,” Holland continued, “I think Connolly is an exceedingly capable man and he has been showing signs of being very interested in what people around the University have to say. He’s an activist in the sense that he wants to see things happen. He doesn’t want Pitt to stagnate. Having met and talked with him — at Connolly’s invitation, I might add — I can also say that I like him personally. I appreciated his insights into the University even while disagreeing with many of them.” Holland said he has high hopes for Pitt’s two other new leaders, Interim Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and Provost James Maher. “Personally, I think Mark would make an excellent permanent chancellor for this University. As for Jim Maher, I have a lot of respect for him as an academician and I think he’s the right provost for our current environment of tight budgets. He’s dedicated to strengthening the University where it’s strong and trimming where it’s advisable to trim. As I said at this month’s Senate Council meeting, I think Jim Maher may prove to be the best provost we’ve had since Charles Peake — maybe better.” Peake, provost under Chancellor Edward Litchfield, has been called the key architect of Pitt’s academic advances of the 1950s and 1960s.

Holland said he also is optimistic about the future of the University Senate. “This is an exciting time for faculty to work through the Senate system,” he said. “Looking back over the last three years, even with some of the conflicts faculty have had with the senior administration, faculty and administrators have achieved a lot.” Holland cited the following: * The evolution of the University Planning and Budgeting System, which is intended to guarantee faculty and staff input in Pitt budget-making and long-range planning. “We’re not out of the woods yet on this system, but we’ve made some great strides,” Holland said.

* Faculty have made “outstanding contributions” in the two years they’ve had representatives on Board of Trustees committees, he said.

* The Oakland Master Plan, jointly developed by Oakland residents and representatives of Pitt and other institutions, “would have been a shambles” without the input provided by the Senate’s plant utilization and planning committee, according to Holland.

* In the wake of attacks by the lead industry and rival researchers against Pitt professor Herbert Needleman, a leading authority on lead toxicity, the Senate and administration worked together during the early 1990s to extend the protections afforded to faculty under the University’s faculty indemnification policy. Under the new policy, Pitt will reimburse a faculty member for up to $15,000 in lawyer bills incurred during formal in-house investigations prompted by outside accusers who themselves are represented by lawyers.

Holland noted that Pitt’s three-member indemnification committee (of which the Senate president is one member) last week ruled in favor of reimbursing Pitt professor Carol Redmond, chief biostatistician of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) under its former chairperson Bernard Fisher, for $15,000 toward the legal bills she amassed during the University’s inquiry last year into scientific misconduct charges against NSABP. Redmond would not have been indemnified under the University’s prior policy, Holland said.

Both Faculty Assembly and Senate Council this month approved resolutions thanking Holland for his efforts to promote and protect faculty rights.

— Bruce Steele