tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78155648747224968082024-03-13T10:05:40.001-05:00The Periodic TablePeriodic submissions related to chemistry, education, research, academic life, rankling the feckless or anything else of interest to Bill Gleason (aka the Whining Dinosaur, Graffiti Monster, and mere mouthpiece for the education/industrial complex).
"Raise that tuition, dig that gravel, buy that Coke, push that credit card, sell that soul..."Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.comBlogger1545125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-24326028896058886902018-08-16T21:22:00.002-05:002018-08-16T22:27:46.426-05:00State Senator John Marty's letter to the Board of Regents Regarding Separation Payment to University of Minnesota President Kahler<br />
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<b>The Periodic Table has obtained a copy of the following letter. It seems relevant to those of us who care about our university.</b><br />
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<b>Senator John Marty at right.</b></div>
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To download a pdf of this letter click the button marked "arrow down." (third symbol from the right.) To get a larger size of the letter to read on screen, click the first symbol on the right (four arrows).<br />
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<br />Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-17427120135315112732018-05-15T18:06:00.002-05:002018-08-11T14:27:04.964-05:00Goodbye, Mr. Chips<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The U of M administration recently presented the 2018 annual report on employee compensation to the Regents. The vice president for human resources "compared higher education to the private sector . . . ." One of the Regents observed that the administration is "paying many employees far higher than the state or county does." The vice president responded that "most employees come from private industry and not from the state." See pp.5--7 of the <a href="https://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/march-2018">March 2018 BOR Docket</a>.</blockquote>
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The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits notes that the public expects that non-profit organizations will avoid paying high salaries and benefits in order to concentrate their funds on the charitable and educational purposes of the organizations. See, <span id="goog_1947464639"></span><a href="http://www.minnesotanonprofits.org/nonprofit-resources/management-hr/performance-compensation/executive-compensation-best-practices">Executive Compensation Best Practices</a><span id="goog_1947464640"></span>.</blockquote>
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The University of Minnesota observed this principle for its first 150 years. Then the U of M was transformed into University Inc.</blockquote>
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In 2003 the legislature cut state appropriations to the University. Rather than making adjustments to the university budget and raising tuition slightly, then President Bruininks adopted (either by design or in effect) a high tuition high financial aid model. See the June 16, 2011 Minnesota Monthly report on <a href="http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/July-2011/The-Man-Who-Slew-The-U/index.php?cparticle=4&siarticle=3#artanc">The Man Who Slew the U</a>.</blockquote>
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The high tuition high financial aid experiment has been a disaster for students and their parents. This was a predictable result of the experiment as college administrators classify student loans as "financial aid."</blockquote>
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In the years that followed tuition increases (for undergraduate and graduate students and students in the professional schools) continued on a sharp upward trajectory. See the U.S. Labor Department chart at the beginning of <a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-bilion-dollar-administration.html#links">The (Over) Billion Dollar Administration</a>. This occurred even in years when the legislature increased appropriations.</blockquote>
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Along the way the dollars required to feed the beast of administration increased substantially. By the end of his term Bruininks was receiving an annual salary of $750,000 plus an annual contribution of $100,000 to his retirement account (plus free housing). Then he gave bonus payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars to each of several departing senior administrators and accepted a $455,000 payment for a one year vacation for himself. See the reports from the Star Tribune and from the Pioneer Press reprinted at: <a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-rounded-up-bruininks-said.html#links">U Execs Paid Handsomely on Way Out</a>; and <a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2012/03/vacation-pay-455000-from-st.html#links">Vacation Pay $455,000</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_592191248"></span></a>.</blockquote>
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The defense to the high spending on administration is that it is necessary to attract "top talent." The senior administrators bring in compensation consultants to show that their compensation is comparable to that of administrators at other large universities. But the comparison is in a closed system that does not consider compensation in other positions of public service that require similar qualifications and have similar duties. And the compensation consultants come from the very few firms that cater to institutions of higher education. So they make recommendations that are very favorable to senior administrators who then refer the firms to their fellow administrators at other universities and who also hire the firms for other matters. The consulting firms know who butters their bread.</blockquote>
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A couple of years ago the U of M administration retained Sibson Consulting of New York to provide a "spans and layers" analysis. At the time the Sibson web site had this description for an upcoming presentation:</blockquote>
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"Incentives are becoming more common in higher education, as institutions seek <b>creative compensation</b> to reward for performance, excellence and attract and engage highly qualified talent. Join us for an interactive discussion on how incentives have been successfully implemented in some institutions, and what <b>you can do</b> to introduce this concept in your organization."</blockquote>
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<b>The New Reality: Incentives in Academia</b></div>
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(Sibson Consulting) (emphasis added).</div>
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There are about 40 vice presidents (at senior, associate, and assistant levels) at the U of M. At the senior level some of the annual salaries are hundreds of thousands of dollars greater than the annual salaries of the commissioners who serve as the chief executive officers of state departments (with annual salaries around $145,000). Here are a few examples: senior vice president for finance at the U of M, $410,000; executive vice president and provost, $446,000; director of the Institute for Health Informatics, $410,000; vice president for equity & diversity, $241,00; general counsel, $300,000. At the associate VP level the annual salaries are tens of thousands of dollars greater than the annual salaries of state commissioners. The total compensation for these senior university administrators, including deferred compensation and other substantial employee benefits, is even greater.</blockquote>
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We need to develop a different way to operate and to finance higher education. <a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2018/03/a-modest-proposal.html#links">See <span id="goog_1549790022"></span>A Modest Proposal</a>.</blockquote>
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Michael W. McNabb<br />
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University of Minnesota B.A. 1971; J.D. 1974<br />
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University of Minnesota Alumni Association life member<br />
<br />Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-53808158839044508782018-03-06T19:09:00.001-06:002018-03-06T21:30:03.482-06:00A Modest Proposal<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>On Operating and Financing Higher Education</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>A Modest Proposal</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">National student loan debt is at $1.3 trillion and rising. See the February 21, 2017 Forbes magazine report on <a href="https://goo.gl/6UV44Q"><b>A $1.3 Trillion Crisis</b></a>. This debt is incurred after students (and their parents) have already exhausted their savings and student earnings.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">More than 60% of the students who received their Bachelors' degrees from the University of Minnesota in 2016 also received a bill for student loans. The median amount of debt was more than $24,000. See p. 20 of the November 2017 Minnesota Office of Higher Education report on <b><a href="https://goo.gl/8FxMF5">Cumulative Student Loan Debt in Minnesota</a></b>.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The reliance on student loan debt to finance much of higher education must end. Tuition should be collected from revenues that the students earn <b>after</b> graduation. The amount of tuition should be a percentage of the earnings of each student for a certain time period, such as five years. This would also inject a much needed dose of accountability into the system.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our current system of financing higher education places all the risk on students, their parents, and the public (by way of state appropriations). It has plenty of financial incentives for advancing into the upper ranks of the administrative bureaucracy at the university and few for providing an education of value to undergraduate students (by either a monetary or non-monetary measure of value).</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University administrators have failed to exercise sound financial management in the use of tuition and state appropriations. In a 2012 report the consulting firm Bain & Co. observed that the operating principle for universities has been the Law of More:</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Many institutions [of higher education] have operated on the assumption that the more they build, spend, diversify and expand, the more they will persist and prosper. But instead the opposite has happened. Institutions have become over leveraged. Their long term debt is increasing at an average rate of approximately 12% per year, and their average annual interest expense is growing at almost twice the rate of their instruction-related expenses (see Figure 5). In addition to growing debt, administrative and student service costs are growing faster than instructional costs. And fixed costs and overhead consume a growing share of the pie (see Figure 6).</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">See p. 3 of <b><a href="https://goo.gl/mpcsM">The Financially Sustainable University</a></b> (emphasis added).</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In fiscal year 2017 the U of M administration spent almost $289 million on "leadership & oversight" and more than $713 million on "mission support" (excluding the costs of facilities and debt service). Those costs of administration exceeded $1 billion and consumed 27% of the $3.7 billion university budget. See <a href="https://goo.gl/NL2RdA"><b>The (Over) Billion Dollar Administration</b></a>.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We can no longer afford to entrust university administrators with hundreds of millions of dollars in unconditional allocations of general appropriations each year. Nor should there be unconditional allocations of additional hundreds of millions of dollars in HEAPR funds to remedy the decades long failure of the administration to allocate sufficient university funds for the maintenance of academic facilities. See <b><a href="https://goo.gl/5DJ8d7">Falling (Far) Behind Part II</a></b>.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The legislature may impose reasonable and effective conditions on state appropriations to the U of M. As the Minnesota Supreme Court has noted:</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Discussing the scope of the legislature's authority in light of the University's constitutional autonomy, we explained in Chase: "At the one extreme the Legislature has no power to make effective, in the form of law, a mere direction of academic policy or administration. At the other extreme<b> it has the undoubted right within reason to condition appropriations as it sees fit</b>." 175 Minn. at 268, 220 N.W. at 955.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Star Tribune Co. v. University of Minnesota Board of Regents, 683 N.W.2d 274, 285 (Minn. 2004) (emphasis added).</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />The Affordable Care Act requires health insurance companies in large group markets to send rebates to customers if administrative costs and profits consume more than 15% of premiums. See the August 17, 2014 Star Tribune report on <b><a href="https://goo.gl/AuB9ZD">Health Insurers Must Pay Up Or Pay Back</a></b>. In a similar manner, the legislature should impose a condition on general appropriations and on HEAPR appropriations that would require the U of M administration to send rebates to the state treasury if the costs of administration (as defined by the legislature) exceed 15% of total expenses.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In fiscal year 2017 the total expenses of the University were $3.7 billion. Spending 15% of that amount on costs of administration would consume $555 million. More than half a billion dollars is more than reasonable for administrative overhead.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Acts of reckless endangerment by the leaders of large financial institutions produced the Great Recession. The federal government (finally) cracked down by imposing stress tests on those firms. The state legislature should impose similar tests on institutions of higher education that receive state appropriations. Those institutions should be subject to annual scrutiny by the legislative auditor and the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. The senior administrators of those institutions should also be required to certify annual reports on financial status and the use of state appropriations to the higher education committees of the state legislature.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We need to establish a task force in order to develop a different way to operate and to finance higher education. The work of the task force should include an analysis of the rise in the costs of administration at the U of M over the past 40 years. If there has been an increase in the number of administrators that is disproportionate to any increase in the number of students or the scope of research, we should ask why. If there has been a substantial increase (in constant dollars) in the compensation of any administrator, we should ask why.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We should also compare the compensation paid to university administrators to the compensation of officials in state government who have similar qualifications and duties. For example, the annual salary of the state commissioner of human rights is $145,000. The annual salary of the vice president of the U of M Office for Equity & Diversity is more than 50% greater at $241,000.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Just as the Wall Street bankers created a housing bubble using other people's money, the senior administrators and the Regents at the U of M have created a higher education bubble using both student loan debt and state appropriations. When this budget balloon bursts, they will walk away unscathed, just as the investment bankers did. The students (and their parents) will suffer harm from the student loan debt that inflated the balloon. They will be shackled with that debt for many years (or even decades for many students in the professional schools).</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Regents do not provide effective oversight. They rely on the senior administrators to sift through the volumes of information about the operations of the university. So (with perhaps a couple of exceptions) they see only the information selected by the administrators. They develop a bond with the senior administrators with whom they spend most of their time on campus. So as a group they tend to dismiss the perspectives of other persons (on the rare occasions when they hear other perspectives).</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Each biennium the citizens of our state invest more than $1 billion in the U of M in general appropriations. With that much at stake the state legislature should appoint a qualified person to monitor the operations of the university and the use of state appropriations on a continuing basis. This legislative liaison (or watchdog) should have the responsibility to review information produced by senior administrators, to collect additional information through independent research, and to meet with all groups at the university so that the perspectives of other well-informed and thoughtful members of the university community are presented to the legislature.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />Michael W. McNabb </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University of Minnesota B.A. 1971; J.D. 1974</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />University of Minnesota Alumni Association life member</span><br />
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Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-61190625134452880052018-01-19T09:40:00.000-06:002018-01-20T10:09:32.065-06:00The Billion Dollar (+) Administration<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The (Over) Billion Dollar Administration</span></b></div>
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In December the University of Minnesota administration released its Administrative Cost Benchmarking Report for fiscal year 2017. The Expense Summary in the Report is a list of expenses for three broad categories: (1) direct mission activities (instruction, research, and public service); (2) leadership & oversight; and (3) mission support & facilities. Here are the administrative expenses for the second and third categories:</blockquote>
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See p. 9 of the <b><a href="https://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/december-2017">December 2017 FIN Docket</a>.</b></blockquote>
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Note that this $1 billion tally of the costs of administration does not include the expenses for the direct mission activities of instruction, research, and public service. Nor does it include any spending on the costs of facilities or for debt service.</blockquote>
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The total operating expenses of the university for fiscal year 2017 were $3.7 billion. See p. 324 of the <b><a href="https://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/december-2017">December 2017 BOR Docket</a>.</b> So the $1 billion costs of administration account for 27% of those total expenses.</blockquote>
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Is 27% in administrative overhead excessive? There is no national system for comparing administrative costs at universities so we have to look to the world outside the campus. With past administrative overhead of 20% American private health insurance companies had the highest administrative costs of any health insurance system in the world. See, T.R. Reid, <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The Healing of America</i></span> (Penguin Press 2009) at pp. 36--38.</blockquote>
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The Affordable Care Act now requires health insurance companies to send rebates to customers if administrative costs and profits consume more than a set percentage of premiums (20% for individual and small group markets and 15% for large group markets). See the August 17, 2014 Star Tribune report on<b> <a href="https://goo.gl/AuB9ZD">Health Insurers Must Pay Up Or Pay Back</a>.</b></blockquote>
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It is likely that there would be an immediate and sharp reduction in the costs of administration if the legislature required the university to send rebates of state general appropriations to the state treasury if the U of M administrative costs exceeded 15% of its total expenses.</blockquote>
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In 2014 the president of the university promised the state legislature to reduce administrative costs by $90 million over a six year period. This reduction is simply slowing (slightly) the rate of increase in the costs of administration which have skyrocketed over the past 20 years. For example, the spending just on personnel in the leadership & oversight category soared from $197 million in fiscal year 2015 to $245 million in fiscal year 2017.</blockquote>
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The administration asserts that the costs of administration are less than 9% of the university budget. This calculation of spending on administration is limited to expenses in the leadership & oversight category. But in calculating any reduction in costs of administration to meet its six year $90 million promise to the legislature the administration counts any reductions in expenses in the mission support category. See pp. 41-42 of the <b><a href="https://goo.gl/qX5ujw">Dec 2016 FIN Doc</a>. </b> And on the U of M web site the administration defines administrative costs as the combined costs for leadership & oversight and mission support. See <b><a href="https://goo.gl/y2AjHc">Cutting Administrative Costs</a>.</b></blockquote>
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In the mission support category the administration spent almost $50 million on administrative consulting and professional services. The administration also spent almost $85 million more on consulting and professional services in the direct mission category. University administrators and consulting firms across the country have created a variation of the military-industrial complex.</blockquote>
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We need to start to imagine a different way to operate and to finance higher education.</blockquote>
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The state legislature should establish a task force with members of the higher education committees, university administrators and faculty and staff members, Minnesota Office of Higher Education staff members, and informed students and parents.</blockquote>
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Each biennium the citizens of our state now invest more than $1 billion in the U of M in general appropriations. With that much at stake the legislature should appoint a qualified person to monitor the operations of the university and the use of state appropriations on a continuing basis. This legislative liaison (or watchdog) should have the responsibility to review information produced by senior administrators, to collect additional information through independent research, and to meet with all groups at the university so that the perspectives of other well-informed and thoughtful members of the university community are presented to the legislature. </blockquote>
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Michael W. McNabb <br />
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University of Minnesota B.A. 1971; J.D. 1974<br />
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University of Minnesota Alumni Association life memberMr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-59921598236157185002017-10-31T15:36:00.004-05:002017-10-31T15:36:54.273-05:00Crumbling Academic Infrastructure<div class="tr_bq">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Falling (Far) Behind Part II</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass (1871)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the 2018 legislative session the U of M administration will submit a $200 million request for HEAPR funds to restore existing facilities--the largest such request ever made. See p. 11 of the <b><a href="https://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/september-2017">SEP 2017 FIN Docket</a></b>.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Almost one-third of the buildings on the Twin Cities campus (7.5 million square feet) are rated in poor or critical condition. See p. 9 of the SEP 2017 FIN Docket (above). </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In February 2016 a University assistant vice president reported</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> that the administration should be spending </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">twice as much</b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> as it currently spends simply to maintain University facilities </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">in their current condition</b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">! See p. 8 of the February 23, 2016 </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/179019/16_02_23_SCFP.pdf">Senate Committee on Finance & Planning report</a></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. It would cost a staggering </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">$1 billion </b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">to restore all University facilities to at least fair condition. See p. 23 of the </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/october-2014">OCT 2014 BOR FRI Docket</a></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The administration acknowledges that the "growing deferred renewal backlog has <b>widespread impacts</b> on academic programs, research initiatives, student experience, and general competitiveness." See p. 41 of the SEP 2017 FIN Docket (above)(emphasis added).</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is the consequence of the decades long failure of the administration to allocate sufficient funds for the maintenance of academic facilities. At a recent meeting the University vice president responsible for infrastructure described to Regents how <b>insufficient stewardship</b> has increased the backlog of necessary maintenance. See p. 3 of the<a href="https://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/october-2017"> <b>OCT 2017 BOR Docket</b></a>.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During those same decades the costs of administration skyrocketed. In fiscal year 2016 those costs exceeded an astounding $993 million. See the January 26, 2017 commentary in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on <b><a href="http://www.twincities.com/2017/01/26/michael-mcnabb-the-u-of-ms-almost-billion-dollar-administration/">The (Almost) Billion Dollar Administration</a></b>. The current chair of the Board of Regents has declared that<b> the current business model is unsustainable! </b> See the final paragraph on p. 14 of the SEP 2017 <b><a href="https://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/september-2017">BOR FRI Docket</a></b>. </span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If it seems difficult to comprehend the magnitude of both the $1 billion backlog of deferred maintenance and the spending on administration, consider that a 50% reduction in the costs of administration would provide the funds to restore nearly all the University buildings in the first two years--even without any HEAPR funds from the legislature! And in the third year we could have a significant reduction in tuition. (Yes, we can. It just takes the will and the leadership to do so.)</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Just as the maintenance of roads and bridges is an essential task for state and local governments, the maintenance of academic facilities should be a priority for an institution of higher education. We need an administration and a Board of Regents that will allocate the substantial resources of the University to the right priorities. See <b><a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-almost-billion-dollar.html#links">The (Almost) Billion Dollar Administration Part II</a>.</b></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Michael W. McNabb</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University of Minnesota B.A. 1971; J.D. 1974</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University of Minnesota Alumni Association life member </span></blockquote>
Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-59865283365626319822017-08-28T17:18:00.000-05:002017-08-30T18:10:49.502-05:00A Penchant for Secrecy Part II<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">A Penchant for Secrecy Part II</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In September 2015 The Periodic Table described violations of the Open Meeting Law by the U of M administration. See, <a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2015/09/for-record-u-of-m-alum-marshall-tanick.html#links">A Penchant for Secrecy</a></span>. </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The violations of the Open Meeting Law are continuing. See, for example:</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">July 13, 2017 No record of discussions during the <b><a href="https://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/july-2017">2017 annual retreat of Board of Regents</a></b> (the second day of their July meeting). </span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">May 4, 2017 The Faculty Consultative Committee (the major faculty committee) closed its meeting for discussion of a previous meeting with the Board of Regents chair and for a discussion of the University strategic plan; see section 2 at p. 2 of the <b><a href="http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/188402">May 4, 2017 FCC report</a>.</b></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">March 21, 2017 The Senate Committee on Finance & Planning held an off the record discussion about the Board of Regents and direct management of the University; see section 4 at p. 6 of the <b><a href="http://usenate.umn.edu/committees/finance-and-planning-committee-scfp">March 21, 2017 SCFP report</a></b>.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A paragraph of the Open Meeting Law requires that meetings of the <b>governing body</b> of a <b>public body</b> must be open to the public. Minn. Stat. 13D.01 subd. 1(b). In 2004 the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the U of M is a "public body" and applied the law to meetings of the Board of Regents (the governing body of the University). <i> Star Tribune Co. v. University of Minnesota Board of Regents</i>, 683 N.W.2d 274 (Minn. 2004). </span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The next paragraph of the Open Meeting Law requires that the meetings of <b>any committee</b> of a <b>public body</b> must be open to the public. Minn. Stat. 13D.01 subd. 1(c). In 2010 the former U of M general counsel attempted to limit the application of this paragraph with the argument that it applies only to committees that have authority to make final policy decisions (a distinction not found in the statute or in the opinion of the state supreme court). See the final paragraph on p. 4 of the <b><a href="https://goo.gl/THgF8X">September 16, 2010 FCC Report.</a> </b>This limitation would exempt most, if not all, committees, as committees usually only make recommendations to the governing body of an organization.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The argument of the former general counsel does not square with the statutory language that includes <b>any committee</b> of a<b> public body</b> in its scope. When the words of a statute are not ambiguous, the letter of the law may not be disregarded under the pretext of pursuing its spirit. Minn. Stat. 645.16. But the administration applies statutory language the same way as Humpty Dumpty, who said to Alice, <i>"When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean--neither more nor less."</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The failure to comply with the plain language of the statute does not serve the University well when the administration goes to the legislature to seek increases in state appropriations.</span></blockquote>
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Mich<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ael W. McNabb</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University of Minnesota B.A. 1971; J.D. 1974</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University of Minnesota Alumni Association life member</span></blockquote>
Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-83775831032542581492017-06-05T09:43:00.000-05:002017-06-05T09:43:56.808-05:00Twenty questions for politicians about healthcare<br />
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Editors Note: The following material has been provided to me by my sister Eileen Gleason. Eileen is a retired federal prosecutor and has also been a judge and in private practice. She lives in Louisiana which currently has extremely serious problems with health care finance. I thought that the points she made in a recent letter to a Louisiana newspaper might be generally applicable and useful points to think about concerning our health care situation in Minnesota.<br />
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Primary Reference: Eileen Gleason, Twenty questions on GOP insurance, The Advocate, May 31, 2017.<br />
link: https://goo.gl/Sok8t3<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Twenty Question for Politicians About Healthcare </b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. Who asked you to strip health insurance from 23 million Americans? Really, exactly who? And why?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. Do Americans want the freedom to not have insurance they cannot afford? They had this freedom all their lives and didn’t like it.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. Why hand out windfalls to the wealthy? Why not write a bill providing the most protection using funds available without a tax cut?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4. Why not fix the problems with the ACA? Why throw the baby out with the bathwater just because the baby was dubbed Obamacare?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. Why rush to vote without a Congressional Budget Office score? Now that it is out, why not repudiate this bill?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">6. Do those with mental illnesses want no coverage for mental illness or lifetime coverage limits?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">7. After this bill, who will care for the uninsured mentally ill? Prisons? Homeless shelters?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">8. Why abolish the Medicaid expansion, which allowed life-threatening conditions to be diagnosed and treated, and saved lives?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">9. Why shift the risk of the expanding population and increasing healthcare costs to Louisiana, which is in dire straits without the burden of reduced Medicaid funding?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">10. The experience of states with underfunded high-risk insurance pools is not good. Will you commit to adequately fund these pools?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">11. Instead of spreading risk through insurance, why are you isolating people in high-risk insurance pools?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">12. Why allow discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions, when 30% of Louisianans have one?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">13. Why leave it to fifteen MALE Republican senators to negotiate behind closed doors about this important issue? Why are birth control and maternity services in jeopardy?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">14. Why defund women’s health services at Planned Parenthood, while funding treatment of men’s health conditions, (erectile dysfunction, prostate cancer), without limiting where men can be treated?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">15. Why are Republicans threatening to withhold cost-sharing insurer subsidies and destabilizing the insurance marketplace?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">16. Why let insurers charge the elderly five times the premiums charged to the young?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">17. Why permit the sale of policies which do not cover the current essential health benefits, thereby sharply increasing costs to those covered?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">18. Why are the AMA and AARP, among others, against this bill? </span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">19. How about a waiting period of one week between finalizing the Senate bill and voting on it? Are you afraid of the feedback?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">20. Many Republicans refuse to hold town hall meetings. Is that because their constituents get mad at them and yell at them? Ask yourself why constituents get mad and yell. </span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Please vote “NO” on the House bill, or I will ask, “Why again did I vote for my senator?” and “What other candidate can I support in the next election?”</span></blockquote>
The twenty questions are available for <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/350352063/Twenty-Questions-About-Health-Care-Law-Proposal">download</a> as a pdf document.<br />
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<br />Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-53699013223515749282017-04-28T12:01:00.001-05:002017-04-28T12:52:43.716-05:00The (Almost) Billion Dollar Administration Part II<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The (Almost) Billion Dollar Administration Part II</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There was some discussion about the January 26 St. Paul Pioneer Press commentary on costs of administration at the meeting of the Board of Regents on March 24, 2017. The vice president for finance "emphasized that items in mission support are not the same as administration, referring to the cost of facilities as an example." See p. 32 of the<a href="http://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/march-2017"> <b>March 2017 BOR Docket</b></a>.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The calculation of the costs of administration in the January 26 commentary does not include the cost of facilities. See <b><a href="http://www.twincities.com/2017/01/26/michael-mcnabb-the-u-of-ms-almost-billion-dollar-administration/">The Almost Billion Dollar Administration</a></b>. Either the vice president did not read the commentary carefully or he intentionally misled the Regents. Neither action (or omission) is acceptable for a person in that position.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In a February 2 Pioneer Press commentary (written by the vice president) the university administration asserts that the costs of administration are less than 9% of the university budget. See <b><a href="http://www.twincities.com/2017/02/02/brian-burnett-u-of-ms-real-administrative-costs-arent-nearly-that-high/">U of M Real Administrative Costs Are Not Nearly That High</a></b>. This calculation is limited to the personnel and non-personnel expenses in the leadership and oversight category. Even with this limitation the total amount is a staggering $289,878,000. See line 24(f) of the Expense Summary in the Administrative Cost Benchmarking Report at p. 32 of the <b><a href="http://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/december-2016">December 2016 FIN Docket</a></b>. (The administration did not include any dollar amounts in its February 2 commentary.)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So the administration does not include any expenses in the mission support category when counting spending on costs of administration. But the administration does include those expenses when counting any reduction in costs of administration:</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">See pp.41-42 of the <a href="http://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/december-2016">December 2016 FIN Docket</a>. The administration uses words the same way as Humpty Dumpty, who said to Alice, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean--neither more nor less."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In its calculation of the costs of administration the administration omits all the expenses in the mission support category. That category includes such items as the personnel expense of $186,944,000 for audit/finance/HR/IT/legal and the expense of $47,081,000 for administrative consulting and professional services (which is separate from the expense of $86,511,000 for consulting and professional services in the mission category). </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The rationale of the administration for omitting all the expenses in the mission support category is that these expenses assist in carrying out the direct mission activities of instruction, research, and public service. The same may be said of the expenses in the leadership and oversight category. But the administration acknowledges that those expenses are properly classified as costs of administration. So the classification of an expense as a cost of administration does not depend on whether the expense assists the direct mission activities.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The issue is not whether the expenses in either the mission support category or in the leadership and oversight category assist the direct mission activities. The issue is the amount of those expenses.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We need to start to imagine a different way to operate and to finance higher education.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The state legislature should establish a task force with members of the higher education committees, university administrators and faculty and staff members, Minnesota Office of Higher Education staff members, and informed students and parents.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The work of the task force should include an analysis of the rise in the costs of administration at the U of M over the past 40 years. If there has been an increase in the number of administrators that is disproportionate to any increase in the number of students or research, we should ask why. If there has been a substantial increase (in constant dollars) in the compensation of any administrator, we should ask why. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We should also compare the compensation paid to University administrators to the compensation of senior administrators in state government who have similar qualifications and duties. For example, the annual salary of the state commissioner of human rights is $145,000. The annual salary of the vice president of the U of M Office for Equity & Diversity is more than 50% greater at $241,000. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Each biennium the citizens of our state now invest more than $1 billion in the U of M in general appropriations. With that much at stake the legislature should appoint a qualified person to monitor on a continuing basis the operations of the University and the use of state appropriations. This legislative liaison (or watchdog) should have the responsibility to review information produced by senior administrators, to collect additional information through his or her own independent research, and to meet with all groups at the University so that the perspectives of other well-informed and thoughtful members of the University community are presented to the legislature. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Michael W. McNabb</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University of Minnesota B.A. 1971; J.D. 1974</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University of Minnesota Alumni Association life member</span></blockquote>
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Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-40261946322243627542016-08-15T11:29:00.000-05:002016-08-15T12:02:03.394-05:00University of Minnesota Athletic Accounting Part IV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Athletic Accounting Part I</b>V</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In December 2015 after the U of M internal auditor released her audit of the administration of the athletic department the president acknowledged that "this university failed to live up to the standards Minnesotans set for us and that we should demand for ourselves." See the December 10, 2015 Pioneer Press report on <a href="http://twincities.com/2015/12/10/umn-president-kaler-promises-closer-watch-on-gophers-sports-spending/"><b>UMN President Kaler Promises Closer Watch on Gophers Sports Spending</b></a>. The Star Tribune declared in its December 9, 2015 editorial that the audit revealed "a department whose spending excesses have undermined public trust." See <a href="http://www.startribune.com/audit-shows-sense-of-privilege-took-over-u-athletics-department/361119481"><b>Sense of Privilege at U of M Athletics Department</b></a>.<br /><br />Now the internal auditor has quietly released a separate audit on the operations of the athletic department. The primary conclusion is that "Athletics needs to improve their control environment with an emphasis on oversight and procedures to address contract management and business processes." See p. 3 of the <b><a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/321155299/2016-Athletics-Finance-Operations-Report-University-of-Minnesota">June 2016 Report on Athletics Finance & Operations</a>. </b><br /><br />This conclusion is a bureaucratic understatement. The report describes a total of 19 "control issues" and makes 23 recommendations with six of those recommendations classified as essential to minimizing operational and compliance risks.<br /><br />Here is a sample of the issues:<br /><br />(1) The auditor noted "continued deficiencies" in management over a broad range of contracts, including vendor, employment, equipment, trade, facility rental, and sponsorship contracts. The auditor specifically determined that procedures are not consistently performed to verify that contract terms are being fulfilled or to use competitive bidding for contracts with a value greater than $50,000 as required by university policy. For example, the department did not use competitive bidding to select Verizon for cell phone service that cost $230,00 for a 12 month period or to select an airline for a $270,000 contract. (Athletics could not even find the Verizon contract!)<br /><br />(2) Athletics alcohol management is not reconciled to Aramark alcohol cost reimbursement. In fiscal year 2015 Athletics purchased $713,000 and in fiscal year 2016 over $1 million was purchased through April 15, 2016. The auditor noted the obvious risks (p. 9): </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is prudent business practice to perform necessary reconciliations to verify University funds and assets are being accounted for. If Athletics is not performing reconciliations it cannot be sure it is recovering its alcohol purchase costs, reimbursements from Aramark are accurate, and that there was no theft. In addition, Athletics' liquor license could be at risk if appropriate due diligence is not performed.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />(3) Athletics payroll processes lack regular and effective monitoring. Among other things, the auditor found that Athletics does not determine if the number of overtime hours is reasonable. The cost of this overtime is substantial: $370,000 of overtime and an additional $56,000 of holiday or double overtime in fiscal year 2016 through April.<br /><br />(4) Disbursement processes are absent necessary controls. For example, in a 12 month period Athletics executed 23 contracts in violation of its own policy by failing to have the sports administrator pre-approve transactions from $2,500 to $9,999 and to have its CFO pre-approve transactions between $10,000 and $50,000.<br /><br />(5) Distribution of "extras" purchased from Nike is not consistently scrutinized. Athletics purchases non-competition items for its athletes, such as winter clothing. There was an increase in Nike purchases above and beyond the complimentary allotment during fiscal year 2015 by $781,099 and for the first half of fiscal year 2016 by $889,098.<br /><br />It is clear that there has been a failure to exercise effective oversight of the athletic department from the U of M president on down the line. Substantial sums have been squandered as a consequence of this failure of leadership. The athletic department has now developed a "management action plan" in response to the issues identified by the auditor.<br /><br />But the plan fails to address the fundamental problem. The major revenue sports programs in our colleges have become part of the sports entertainment industry with $850,000 athletic directors, million dollar coaches, a never-ending athletic arms race, and countless scandals. See <a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2015/12/athletic-accounting-part-iii.html#links"><b>Athletic Accounting Part III</b></a>. <br /><br />There is a solution that would enable the University to disentangle itself from the big business of the major revenue sports while allowing the games to continue. The football and basketball teams should be organized as separate corporations. The University would grant a license to those corporations to use the University name for the teams. The license fee would be a percentage of the revenues generated from ticket sales, broadcasting rights, advertising, etc. The license fee would be used to support the non-revenue sports the University decides to retain, such as track and swimming and gymnastics.<br /><br />This is a solution that would enable the sports fans (including the U of M president and most of the Regents) to continue to enjoy the games. Of much greater significance, it would enable the University to focus on education, research, and public service--the reasons for its existence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Michael W. McNabb <br /><br />University of Minnesota B.A. 1971; J.D. 1974<br /><br />University of Minnesota Alumni Association life member<br /><br /><br /><b><br /></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Editors note:</b><br /><br />The auditors report noted by the author is apparently not yet available on the Univerity of Minnesota web-site. It has been uploaded to the document server, ScribD, as referenced above. For the convenience of readers it may also be found below. Fascinating reading.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/321155299/2016-Athletics-Finance-Operations-Report-University-of-Minnesota#from_embed" nbsp="" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View 2016 Athletics Finance Operations Report - University of Minnesota on Scribd">2016 Athletics Finance Operations Internal Audit Report - University of Minnesota</a> </span></div>
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Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-24000161295835648552016-05-26T08:50:00.001-05:002016-05-26T09:27:05.383-05:00Crumbling Infrastructure at University of Minnesota<div class="tr_bq">
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<b>Falling (Far) Behind</b></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"</i></b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass (1871)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Facing a crumbling academic infrastructure, the U of M administration submitted a $300 million capital request to the state legislature this year. The failure of the legislature to pass a bonding bill means that the administration will no longer be able to avoid the consequences of its own decades long failure to allocate sufficient funds for the maintenance of academic facilities.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One-third of the buildings on the Twin Cities campus are rated in poor or critical condition. See section 2 in <a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-managment-of-university-part-ii.html#links."><b>The Management of the University Part II</b> </a>. In February a University vice president acknowledged that the University should be spending twice as much as it currently spends simply to maintain the facilities in their current condition! <a href="http://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/179019/16_02_23_SCFP.pdf">See p. 8 of the February 23, 2016 report</a> of the <b>Senate Committee on Finance & Planning</b>. It would cost a staggering $1 billion to bring all facilities to at least fair condition. See section 3 in <b><a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-management-of-university-of.html#links">The Management of the University</a></b>.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yet the administration continues to erect new buildings (which generate additional maintenance costs). In February the University opened a $165 million clinics and surgery center. The clinics had been located in the huge Phillips Wagensteen Building which is now half empty. No one knows at this time how that space will be used or where the funds will come after the next fiscal year for the maintenance of all that vacant space (in a building that is already rated in critical condition).</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Just as the maintenance of roads and bridges is an essential responsibility of state and local governments, the maintenance of academic facilities should be a priority for a university administration. In 2015, as the deterioration of the academic infrastructure continued, the University administration spent $80.3 million on "leadership" and $143.6 million on consulting and professional services. See line 4(f) and line 18(b) and (d) of the 2015 Administrative Cost Benchmarking Report at p. 46 of the <a href="http://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/october-2015"><b>October 2015 FIN Docket</b></a>. University administrators and consulting firms across the country have created a variation of the military-industrial complex in higher education.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Students and their parents do not expect that their payments of ever increasing tuition will be used to support highly paid senior administrators and outside consultants. Nor do legislators expect that state appropriations will be used for that purpose. We need a University administration and a Board of Regents that will allocate the substantial resources of the University for the right priorities. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Michael W. McNabb</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University of Minnesota B.A. 1971; J.D. 1974</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University of Minnesota Alumni Association life member</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span>Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-39317906151584178672016-05-09T19:05:00.000-05:002016-05-09T19:05:36.141-05:00For the Record: More on the University of Minnesota Bioethics Center and Retirement of Dr. Steven Miles<a href="http://www.citypages.com/news/u-s-bioethics-center-shrivels-under-influence-of-big-pharma-dollars-8258009"><br /></a>
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<a href="http://www.citypages.com/news/u-s-bioethics-center-shrivels-under-influence-of-big-pharma-dollars-8258009">From City Pages:</a><br />
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When Steven Miles, an endowed chair and full professor at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Bioethics announced his retirement last week, he humbly reflected on his many accomplishments, which include designing MinnesotaCare and investigating the U.S. military’s use of torture during the war on terror.<br />
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After 35 years, he told the Minnesota Daily that he had Voltairian dreams of quietly cultivating his garden.<br />
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Miles also left a bittersweet admonition for the U’s administration.<br />
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Over the last 15 years, the U “has experienced a series of damaging ethics scandals including: ALG, Anafranil, GHB, INFUSE, MCL, Caremark recent issues in psychiatry and others,” he wrote. “All of these have arisen at the nexus of powerful faculty, commercial funding and advances in research. These scandals have led to government hearings, criminal trials, huge university allocations of staff time and [National Institutes of Health] sanctions.”<br />
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Meanwhile, the U slashed the Center for Bioethics’ budget year after year. Faculty who retired or resigned from the center were not replaced. Now, there are only five bioethicists on staff at what was once regarded as one of the best programs for the study of ethics in biomedical research. Ten years ago, there were three times that many.<br />
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“The University needs much more robust programming in bioethics situated proximately but independently of its research enterprise,” Miles pleaded in the letter. “The attrition of the depth and breadth of Bioethics expertise … is counter to the University’s interests.”<br />
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Miles declined to say any more about the future of bioethics at the U. But his colleague, Prof. Carl Elliott, says that while researchers in the medical school dash toward the blinding lure of lucrative new drug studies funded by Big Pharma, the Center for Bioethics has become a nuisance for the University.<br />
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Elliott admits that he and fellow bioethicist Leigh Turner have been huge nuisances for the U ever since they put up a stink over the suicide of Dan Markingson. In need of intensive treatment for his schizophrenia, Markingson was instead drafted into an experimental drug study for AstraZeneca in 2003 by his treating psychiatrist, U researcher Stephen Olson. Markingson killed himself six months into the study. The U denied responsibility for more than 10 years until the Legislative Auditor forced President Eric Kaler to reckon last year.<br />
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In the heat of that fight, the U has been punishing the Center for Bioethics, Elliott says. “The University administration has decided to starve the Bioethics Center as punishment for the sins of Leigh and me,” he says. and investigating the U.S. military’s use of torture during the war on terror.<br />
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Miles stayed neutral about the U’s failings in the Markingson case. While doctors from all over the country urged the U to acknowledge fault, he declined to sign any petitions callings for independent investigations into the young patient’s death. He said nothing critical of the U publicly. When Kaler appeared at a press conference last spring to announce patient protection reforms at the U, Miles flanked him in support.<br />
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“I think a lot of this is not an issue that's uniquely problematic for the University of Minnesota,” Elliott says. “You can look at scandals that have happened in a lot of other places, and look at the way that the bioethics centers that are located in the institutions themselves, and generally they respond by doing very little. I think the reasons are obvious. Bioethicists realize this is not going to go well for me if I do the right thing, essentially.”<br />
<br />Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-70407370766692342012016-05-04T15:08:00.000-05:002016-05-04T15:08:30.312-05:00For the Record: Bioethicist Dr. Steven Miles to take Voltaire's advice: "We must cultivate our garden."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://mndaily.com/news/campus/2016/05/03/u-bioethics-mainstay-retire#.VynqylMwf34.twitter" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From the Minnesota Daily:</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After almost 35 years at the University of Minnesota, Medicine Professor Dr. Steven Miles announced Sunday to medical school leaders that he plans to retire after the 2016-17 school year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While his peers have praised Miles’ work for human rights at the University’s Bioethics Center, some in the center say they worry they’ll continue to lose administration support following his departure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In a letter to administrators and department heads, Miles highlighted his accomplishments at the University, including changes in patients’ end-of-life care and ending the use of restraints in nursing homes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He also noted his work involving short-course tuberculosis therapy in open refugee camps, writing the standard interpretation of the Hippocratic Oath and “accurately excavating United States military medicine’s complicity with torture during the war on terror,” among others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Miles served on the center for Victims of Torture board for several years, which CVT Executive Director Curt Goering said was an asset because of his international reputation and knowledge of medical ethics. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“I would be hard-pressed to find someone who’s had more of an impact,” Goering said. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In his letter, Miles pointed to the importance of the Bioethics Center in the wake of several ethical controversies at the University involving research practices. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the past 15 years, Miles said, these controversies have led to government hearings, criminal trials, huge University allocations of staff time and National Institutes of Health sanctions. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“All of these have arisen at the nexus of powerful faculty, commercial funding and advances in research,” Miles wrote, adding that only one of the University’s scandals has been brought into the public light by faculty at the Bioethics Center.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The center’s long-term operations under interim and year-to-year directors, as well as the University’s denial to conduct a national search to replace faculty, has contributed to its difficulties, Miles said in the statement. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The center’s plight has also drawn the attention of the legislative auditor’s office in the aftermath of the 2004 death of Dan Markingson, who committed suicide after being recruited into a University drug trial. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In a report last year that raised questions about research practices at the University, auditors questioned why University officials did not include the Bioethics Center in research ethics discussions. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“It leaves us wondering why the University of Minnesota has a Center for Bioethics when University officials will not meet with the center’s faculty to discuss the very real and important bioethical questions the Markingson case raised,” the report said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Miles wrote that in the past decade other academic health centers “established and fortified their medical and bioethics centers,” but the University has moved in the opposite direction. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When bioethics professor Carl Elliott came to the University in 1997, he said the Center for Bioethics was viewed as one of the best bioethics units in the world. But in the wake of multiple ethical concerns regarding the University’s research practices, faculty members now run thin. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Now, all that’s left is a skeleton crew.” Elliott said. “The administration has decided that the solution to 25 years of scandals in the medical school is to asphyxiate the center quietly and relentlessly, making the bioethicists so miserable that they leave. It has been a brilliant strategy.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Miles expressed a similar concern and wrote, “The attrition of the depth and breadth of Bioethics expertise at the AHC is counter to the University’s interests.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Miles said he plans to spend his retirement traveling and gardening. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“I love the University of Minnesota and am proud of, and have enjoyed, nearly 35 years on the faculty,” he said. “I just finished a chapter and am going out to garden now.”</span><br />
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<br />Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-39059714918267554502016-04-08T18:36:00.002-05:002016-04-08T18:53:46.049-05:00For the Record: U of Minnesota Faculty Consultative Committee - member calls administration handling of psychiatry scandal "sickening" <div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/307482593/Faculty-Consultative-Committee-of-the-University-of-Minnesota-minutes-of-the-meeting-of-March-16-2016">From the 16 March Faculty Consultative Committee Minutes:</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Members of the committee proceeded to have a very candid discussion about the issues surrounding the Department of Psychiatry, the consultant’s report and the management plan. Themes that came out of this discussion included:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">• Disappointment in how the administration is handling this controversy with a member going so far as to characterize it as “sickening.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">• The alleged conduct in the Department of Psychiatry goes so far beyond the level of responsible conduct that it calls into question how the University could have recruited, trained and sustained people who would act this way. What kind of environment allowed this to happened? It would be naïve to believe this is the only place in the University where these kinds of things are occurring. How can the precursors be identified before something like this happens again?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">• The administration is taking a very defensive posture/position by categorically denying allegations in the report rather than taking responsibility and being accountable. If the University is going to spend the money to hire an outside consultant, it needs to accept the findings, even when they are findings the administration does not want to hear. This speaks to the credibility of the institution, and minimizes the trust employees and students have in the institution. What can faculty do to hold the administration accountable? A number of faculty are not necessarily behind the administration. What </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">should the faculty response be given there is so much distrust.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">• The administration continues to operate in crisis and damage control mode, and fails to see the underlying issues that caused the problems in the first place, which are often structural and systemic, e.g., the environment and culture. A culture change needs to happen; it is difficult to overcome administrative practices and procedures that are in place that do not foster a culture where people feel they can speak up without being retaliated against.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">• There exists a lack of consultation on the part of the administration. It is not uncommon for the administration to make important decisions without proper consultation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">• Serious misconduct can lead to federal consequences. Should certain lines of work be discontinued in order to restore the University’s reputation? There is a serious accountability problem for those on the front line and up the hierarchy as well. Violators should be subject to greater scrutiny going forward.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">• The institution as a whole has a culture of non-compliance, which, at least in part, is due to a lack of institutional commitment to ensuring compliance occurs and because there are so many rules it makes it hard to get anything done. The University makes it hard to do the right thing, and easy to not do the right thing. Studies should be systematically or randomly audited. More auditors need to be hired. Taking a course on research ethics does not make a person ethical unless the person really works on ethical reasoning. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">• The administration is not forthcoming with information and gives it too late, e.g., timing of distribution of the report.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">• The institution should function as one university and not the AHC and everyone else. Breaking down the boundaries will be critical if the University going to do well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">[I thank my colleague, Carl Elliott, for calling this link to my attention.]</span></div>
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Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-62795201210186607002016-04-08T09:47:00.000-05:002016-04-08T09:47:43.413-05:00For the Record: University of Minnesota's new psychiatry head seeks to heal wounds with families<br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Benton Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.1px; line-height: 21px;"><b>Dr. Sophia Vinogradov will become head of the psychiatry department in August.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Poynter Serif RE', Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -0.3px; line-height: 21px;">In her first visit since being picked to lead the University of Minnesota’s embattled Psychiatry Department, Dr. Sophia Vinogradov spent an hour this week with a relative of Dan Markingson, who died by suicide in 2004 amid complaints that he had been coerced into a U schizophrenia drug study.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Poynter Serif RE', Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -0.3px; line-height: 21px;">“I intend to have a full and open dialogue with every single person that I possibly can,” Vinogradov said in a phone interview Thursday after returning to the University of California-San Francisco, where she teaches in the medical school.</span></div>
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“I see a place [in the U] that has just incredible potential, both for me as an individual researcher who is interested in serious mental illnesses and in nonpharmacological approaches,” she said, “but also as someone who has been developing ideas and visions about where the future of psychiatry needs to go.”</div>
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On Tuesday, Vinogradov met with Mike Howard, a close friend of the Markingson family, and offered him a spot on a consumer advisory counsel intended to keep researchers honest regarding the needs and concerns of patients and their families. A similar council at the VA hospital in San Francisco has been meaningful in her work, she added.</div>
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They also discussed the possibility of an annual research ethics lecture in Markingson’s memory, according to Howard, who said he was impressed by Vinogradov’s commitment to “learn from this and never repeat the same mistakes.”</div>
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Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-71847168767016573462016-04-01T09:40:00.000-05:002016-04-01T09:40:38.641-05:00For the Record: Costs in coaching contracts are hardly where the troubles end at University of Minnesota<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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[The following letter appeared in the Star-Tribune today. Regular readers will recognize that the author, Mr. Michael McNabb, is a regular and valued contributor to this blog.]<br />
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<b>UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Costs in coaching contracts are hardly where the troubles end.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In questioning the $7 million buyout provision for the University of Minnesota basketball coach, the two newest regents refer to “a university bubble where logic doesn’t quite look the same as it does for the rest of us.” (“Change is urged on big U coaching deals,” March 31). </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This should be just the beginning of such questions. The 2015 administrative cost report includes some astounding total amounts in several general categories, such as $80.3 million for “leadership,” $77.5 million for consulting and professional services for “mission,” and $66.1 million for consulting and professional services for “mission support.” </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The March 31 issue of the Star Tribune also includes a report on student loan debt (“Tales of student debt aired at Capitol,” March 31). There is a connection here.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just as Wall Street bankers created a housing bubble using other people’s money, the senior administrators and the older regents have created a higher-education bubble using student loan debt. When this budget balloon bursts, they will walk away unscathed, just as the investment bankers did. The students (and their parents) will suffer harm from the student loan debt that inflated the balloon. They will be shackled with that debt for many years. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Michael W. McNabb, Lakeville</span></blockquote>
<br />Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-67739234652340091482016-02-19T12:12:00.000-06:002016-02-19T12:49:22.264-06:00For the Record: Signatories to “University of Minnesota research lapses show self-reform is failing," Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 18, 2016<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Professor Carl Elliott has kindly provided me a copy of his article (with professor Matt Lamkin, U Tulsa Law School) which appeared in the Star-Tribune <a href="http://www.startribune.com/university-of-minnesota-research-lapses-show-self-reform-is-failing/369355421/">recently</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another year, another day, another damning indictment of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Psychiatry. If anyone was surprised by last week’s blistering assessment of psychiatric research at the university (“New lapses in U psych studies,” Feb. 12), they probably weren’t paying attention to the previous five. Those reviews found evidence of coerced study recruitment, troubling conflicts of interest, shoddy scientific review, deep mistrust of U leaders, and a climate of fear and intimidation in the Psychiatry Department. The difference with this latest review is that it comes nearly a year after U leaders solemnly promised the people of Minnesota that they were finally going to clean up the mess.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For more than a decade, U leaders brushed aside revelations that their Psychiatry Department was mistreating vulnerable patients, including Dan Markingson, a mentally ill young man under a civil commitment order who killed himself while in a U drug study. Last year, the state’s legislative auditor released a scathing report that not only confirmed these research abuses, but laid bare the U’s strategy for avoiding responsibility for its misdeeds. U leaders “have made misleading statements about previous reviews and been consistently unwilling to discuss or even acknowledge that serious ethical issues and conflicts are involved,” the legislative auditor wrote. “This insular and inaccurate response has seriously harmed the University of Minnesota’s credibility and reputation.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This latest debacle shows the administration falling back on the same old playbook. When Jan Dugas, the external consultant hired by the U, reported alarming problems in Psychiatry Department studies, the acting department chair responded, “This is nothing new; it happens all over the university.” On two occasions, Dugas said, she was intimidated and “verbally abused” by department faculty members. The director of the Human Research Protection Program refused to let Dugas see study records.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When Dugas uncovered more than 40 “critical or major” safety problems, legal violations and incidents of unethical conduct in just three weeks, officials abruptly pulled the plug on her investigation, saying it was no longer necessary. Leaders of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute told her “not to write a report” of her findings. When she was finally allowed to produce a report, she was told that no one else would be allowed to see it. U officials kept the report on ice for more than a month, stonewalling open-records requests while they prepared to spin its findings (now conveniently relabeled “allegations”). It is not clear when the report would have been released had it not been leaked to the news media last week. At that point, U President Eric Kaler explained: “We wanted to clarify the record before we released the report.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is understandable why U leaders did not want anyone to see the report. Research in the Psychiatry Department is portrayed as a dangerous, disorganized mess: unlicensed study personnel operating MRI and TMS machines; children approached for research studies without the permission of their parents; urine specimens collected from patients in fast-food restaurants and coffee shops.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last summer, only two months after U leaders announced a reform plan they called “Markingson’s legacy,” a faculty member in the Psychiatry Department was found to have forged federal research documents. Now we learn that research personnel admitted to altering study documents when they prepared for audits. “We go behind the scenes and fix things up,” one interviewee said. “What people don’t know won’t hurt them.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The response of U leaders has been utterly predictable. Just as before, they have disputed the consultant’s findings, minimized the significance of the report, and cloaked their response in a bureaucratic fog of euphemism and circumlocution. But no amount of double talk can hide the report’s main conclusion: “Practices in the Department of Psychiatry demonstrate a profound lack of knowledge about how to conduct clinical research and an intentional lack of adherence to requirements.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This latest fiasco makes clear that the pathology at the University of Minnesota lies not just in the Department of Psychiatry, but in an administration whose overriding goal is to avoid accountability. The Board of Regents has responded to this latest scandal exactly as it has responded to all of the others — with a shrug. The U’s dysfunctional culture can’t be reformed by the same people who created and sustained it over so many years. The question now is: when will the Legislature bring the U’s leadership to heel?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Matt Lamkin is a professor at the University of Tulsa College of Law. Carl Elliott is a professor at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota. The views expressed here are their own. This article was submitted on behalf of a group of 83 University of Minnesota alumni and scholars in health law, bioethics, psychiatry and medicine.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/299715924/Signatories-to-University-of-Minnesota-research-lapses-show-self-reform-is-failing-Minneapolis-Star-Tribune-February-18-2016" nbsp="" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Signatories to “University of Minnesota research lapses show self-reform is failing,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 18, 2016 on Scribd"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">S</span><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">ignatories to “University of Minnesota research lapses show self-reform is failing,” Minneapolis Star Trib...</span></a><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> by </span><a href="https://www.scribd.com/user/46708299/MarkingsonCase" nbsp="" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; text-decoration: underline;" title="View MarkingsonCase's profile on Scribd">MarkingsonCase</a></div>
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<br />Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-89471280985724632352016-02-18T17:28:00.001-06:002016-02-18T18:30:11.084-06:00For the Record: Chad Hartman talks with Former Gov Arne Carlson on WCCO. Carlson is critical of the U of M President & Regents. <br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The original posting - see above - contains about twice the material where Governor Carlson was interviewed.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The full link to the above page is <a href="http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/audio/the-chad-hartman-show/2-18-16-12p-chad-hartman-show-arne-carlson/#.VsY1uXcDBxk.gmail">here</a>. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The video below contains only the relevant discussion between Carlson and Hartman:</span><br />
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<br />Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-88867804001252046632016-02-14T11:52:00.002-06:002016-02-14T13:00:58.817-06:00For the Record: Latest report documenting noncompliance in psychiatric clinical research at the University of Minnesota<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Selected Examples:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>See below for further examples. Appendix B is missing but I am trying to locate it. </b></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/299259373/UMinnesotaAssesmentReport-12-31-2015" nbsp="" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View UMinnesotaAssesmentReport 12-31-2015 on Scribd">UMinnesotaAssesmentReport 12-31-2015</a></div>
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<br />Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-49469193199103183432016-02-09T10:27:00.003-06:002016-02-09T11:24:45.553-06:00Tone Deaf at the U of M? <div style="text-align: center;">
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rising Temperature</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As a result of all this, we now have a reading of the American political temperature. What we've learned is that it's burning a lot hotter at the grass roots than either party's leadership seems capable of understanding.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Talk of the Town at p. 35 of the February 8, 2016 issue </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of The New Yorker magazine.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm not going to tell [my children] that college will eventually become affordable without a political revolution to change this ghastly situation. . . . I'm not because it's delusional to believe otherwise.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Letter to the Editor in the February 5, 2016 issue of the Star Tribune.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The high tuition high financial aid experiment has failed a vast majority of students and their parents. In 2014 65% of U of M graduates had student debt. The median debt was $24,728. Then there is the unconscionable economic burden placed on students in the professional schools. In 2014 88% of the graduates from the U of M professional schools had student loan debt. The median debt was $152,793.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> See pp. 15, 21 of the October 2015 Minnesota Higher Education Report on </span><b><a href="https://www.ohe.state.mn.us/pdf/CumulativeStudentLoanDebt12-14.pdf">Cumulative Student Loan Debt in Minnesota.</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tone deaf remarks about student loan debt ("less than a new car") by the U of M president and the 2014 chair of the Board of Regents demonstrate a failure to acknowledge the overall cost of a college education and a remarkable lack of empathy for the students and parents struggling to pay that cost. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The senior administrators and the Regents responsible for a decade of skyrocketing tuition in 2002--2012 never had to deal with that financial burden when they were starting their careers and their families after graduation. How much different would their lives have been if they had been shackled by student debt?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Just as the Wall Street bankers created a housing bubble using other people's money, the senior administrators and the Regents at the U of M have created a higher education bubble using both student loan debt and institutional debt. When this budget balloon bursts, the senior administrators and the Regents will walk away unscathed just as the investment bankers did. The students (and their parents) will suffer harm from the student loan debt that inflated the balloon. They will be shackled with that debt for many years (or even decades for many students in the professional schools). And the citizens of Minnesota will pick up the tab for the huge institutional debt. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Michael W. McNabb</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University of Minnesota B.A. 1971; J.D. 1974</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">University of Minnesota Alumni Association life member</span><br />
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Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-26770641919595164982016-01-12T17:55:00.001-06:002016-01-12T17:56:14.548-06:00Another Fast Shuffle at the University of Minnesota? "Driven to M Health"<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Driven to M Health?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On October 9, 2015 the Regents approved a non-binding letter of intent to explore combining University of Minnesota Physicians and Fairview Health Systems into an integrated health system to be called M Health. The letter of intent provides for Definitive Agreements to be reached by March 2016. See pp. 63-64 of the <a href="http://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/december-2015">Dec 2015 AUD Docket</a>.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On November 3, 2015 President Kaler sent a letter to four Regents requesting emergency approval to retain Deloitte & Touche LLP to provide consulting services for the proposed integration. The fees and expenses are estimated at $1,500,000. The rate is apparently three times the normal rate charged by Deloitte for its separate services as the external auditor for the U of M. The contract with Deloitte will be executed by the U of M General Counsel in order to "preserve attorney client privilege for the work product." See pp. 61, 63-64 of the <a href="http://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/december-2015">Dec 2015 AUD Docket</a>.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On November 3, 2015 Kaler also sent a letter to three Regents requesting emergency approval to retain Clifton Larson Allen LLP to "facilitate" the process necessary to effectively reach the Definitive Agreements by March 2016. The fees and expenses are estimated at $425,000. See p. 67 of the <a href="http://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/december-2015">Dec 2015 AUD Docket</a>.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On November 12, 2015 Brian Steeves, the executive director of the Board of Regents, informed Kaler by letter that emergency approval had been granted. See pp. 60, 66 of the <a href="http://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/december-2015">Dec 2015 AUD Docket</a></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">University policy authorizes emergency approval when delay in obtaining approval poses a significant health, safety or financial risk to the University. See p. 61 of the <a href="http://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/december-2015">Dec 2015 AUD Docket</a>.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This process raises several questions:</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(1) Is there an emergency regarding the proposed integration? If so, was the emergency created by the administration itself in setting March 2016 as the date to execute the Definitive Agreements? Is this yet another example of the failure of the Regents to provide effective oversight of significant decisions of the administration?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(2) Has the process been engineered to produce the result desired by the administration? If so, why spend $1.9 million on consulting services? If not, why has the administration already launched an advertising blitz on local television stations and newspapers for M Health? And how much is the administration spending on the advertising campaign?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(3) How can Deloitte maintain independence when it serves as both an external auditor and as a consultant for multi-million dollar University projects? How effective will Deloitte be as a watchdog (external auditor) of the decisions of the administration when at the same time it seeks large fees from the administration for consulting services? How many questions will Deloitte raise as a consultant about the proposed integration when it wants to maintain a lucrative contract to serve as the external auditor and when the administration has already given clear signals that it wants the integration to be accomplished as soon as possible? </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(4) Why is the administration apparently attempting to prevent disclosure of the terms of the contract with Deloitte by having the General Counsel execute the contract? How does the administration think that the attorney client privilege prevents disclosure of the terms of the contract (as opposed to any advice it may receive from the General Counsel)? How does the administration think that the work product doctrine prevents disclosure of the terms of the contract? (The work product doctrine protects material that has been prepared by the attorney or the client in anticipation of litigation.)</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(5) Is spending by the U of M administration on outside consultants out of control? In fiscal year 2015 the administration spent $66,123,000 on administrative consulting and professional services. Why is this necessary when the U of M has well qualified professors in virtually every field of endeavor and highly paid senior administrators? </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Michael W. McNabb</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">University of Minnesota B.A. 1971; J.D. 1974</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">University of Minnesota Alumni Association life member</span><br />
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Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-56902511965775157012016-01-04T12:40:00.000-06:002016-01-04T12:40:46.835-06:00For the Record: State Legislator responds to Star-Tribune editorial about U of M non-resident Tuition<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2015/07/student-debt-fiction-v.html">link</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">F</span><a href="http://www.startribune.com/editorial-counterpoint-moving-all-u-tuition-to-the-big-ten-midpoint-is-best/363960111/" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">rom today's Star-Tribune</a><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Editorial counterpoint: Moving all U tuition to the Big Ten midpoint is best</span></b><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Move would be fairer to Minnesotans, align with labor and enrollment trends. </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">By Bob Barrett</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While I appreciate the Star Tribune Editorial Board’s attention to the very important issue of nonresident college tuition (“Don’t weaken U’s role in drawing talent,” Dec. 22), readers would benefit from a closer examination of all the facts.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: yellow;">Foremost, tuition for Minnesota residents attending the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities is too high</span>. High school seniors from Chisago Lakes, North Branch or St. Paul Central have to pay <span style="background-color: yellow;">32 percent more to become a Gopher than a Wisconsin high schooler currently pays to become a Badger and 70 percent more than an Iowa student pays to become a Hawkeye.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With student debt by all Minnesota college students fifth-highest in the country, this problem cannot continue to be ignored by U leadership and needs to be fixed immediately. <span style="background-color: yellow;">There is absolutely no reason to minimize the value of a University of Minnesota degree and penalize in-state students by charging nonresidents $8,000 less than the Big Ten average.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: yellow;">Second, tuition rates charged to nonresidents are at the absolute bottom of the Big Ten.</span> I appreciate university President Eric Kaler responding to the feedback from me and from other legislators who believe this to be an opportunity for improvement. <span style="background-color: yellow;">Each year, there’s a waiting list of qualified Minnesota students who are turned away — let’s help those kids instead of worrying about kids from other states.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">By moving tuition to the middle of the Big Ten for out-of-state students, we can use these resources to ensure a better deal for Minnesota residents, lower their student debt and put a quality University of Minnesota education in reach for potentially thousands of middle- and lower-income Minnesota families.</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Minnesotans support the U with their hard-earned tax dollars each year and should receive the best possible deal when they send their students to our flagship institution of higher learning.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: yellow;">Raising out-of-state tuition could reduce resident tuition by more than $3,000 per year.</span> What a great thing this would be for the Minnesota students and families, and what a positive message it would send to other universities across the country about how U leadership is putting their students first.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Too many news articles from this year have portrayed the University of Minnesota in a bad light. <span style="background-color: yellow;">Reducing resident tuition is not only right but would give the U the positivity it needs right now.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, to address specifically some of the points made by the Editorial Board:</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: red;"><b>The editorial stated that “the share of undergrads from Minnesota” has not diminished with the recent increase in nonresidents.</b></span><span style="background-color: yellow;"> </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: yellow;">According to U documents, resident undergraduate enrollment has declined at the Twin Cities campus even though there is a waiting list of Minnesota high school seniors. In fact, even though taxpayers from every county in Minnesota contribute their tax dollars to the U, enrollment of students in well more than half of the counties has declined at the Twin Cities campus. The U should be an institution that focuses on being a destination school for Minnesota students first, rather than catering to students from out of state.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="background-color: red;"><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="background-color: red;">The Editorial Board also voiced concern about a future labor shortage in Minnesota, which it feels would be worsened by raising nonresident tuition to the midpoint of the Big Ten.</b> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: yellow;">A closer look at the facts shows that labor studies are actually projecting a glut of college-educated workers (http://tinyurl.com/z8moohk). Minnesota’s projected labor shortage is in jobs requiring a high school degree or less</span>. Instead of concentrating on nonresidents to fill a job void, our colleges should be doing more to graduate students in majors that are marketable, and working to keep them here in Minnesota after graduation.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s been my experience that some solutions proposed by government leaders are very elaborate and too complex. This one is very simple. <span style="background-color: yellow;"><b>The University of Minnesota should bring both resident and nonresident tuition to the midpoint of the Big Ten by lowering tuition for in-state residents and raising it for out-of-state residents. It’s the reasonable thing to do.</b></span></span></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bob Barrett, R-Taylors Falls, is a member of the Minnesota House.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-79597008296367386932016-01-01T08:44:00.002-06:002016-01-01T08:54:56.391-06:00For the Record: Regent Darrin Rosha on University of Minnesota Non-Resident Tuition<br />
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The almost completely irrational cut-rate price of a University of Minnesota education to non-residents has been commented on many times before in the Periodic Table and on the Star-Tribune.<br />
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For example:<br />
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<a href="http://www.startribune.com/u-tuition-bargain-gets-review/185239522/">DECEMBER 30, 2012</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For years, Bill Gleason, an associate professor at the U, has been arguing that the strategy causes the university to miss out on tens of millions in revenue each year -- "and that's not chump change."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> "I think it's fair to say the University of Minnesota should be charging at least the average delta in the Big Ten," Gleason said. "Why are we giving this away?"</span></blockquote>
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For further background:<br />
<a href="http://www.startribune.com/university-of-minnesota-has-lowest-out-of-state-tuition-for-bigten-publics/106038848/"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.startribune.com/university-of-minnesota-has-lowest-out-of-state-tuition-for-bigten-publics/106038848/">University of Minnesota Has Lowest Out of State Tuition for BigTen Publics</a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Appeared in the Star-Tribune: October 30, 2010</span><br />
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<a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2013/01/state-rep-blows-whistle-on-out-of-state.html">State Rep Blows Whistle on Out of State Tuition Give Away</a><br />
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<a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2009/10/on-maximizing-tuition-revenue-at.html"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2009/10/on-maximizing-tuition-revenue-at.html">On Maximizing Tuition Revenue at the University of Minnesota</a></div>
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And if you are really curious about the reasoning that went into the original tuition giveaway plan, please see:</div>
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<a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2007/06/httpwww2bloggercomimggllinkgif_27.html"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2007/06/httpwww2bloggercomimggllinkgif_27.html">What's It Going To Be at the University of Minnesota, a Medallion or a Yugo?</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />"<span style="background-color: yellow;">Out of state (non-reciprocity) tuition is to be set at $2000 per semester higher than in state tuition. This is a cut of about $8000 per year.</span> It will be interesting to see how much traffic this generates from out of state students. Needless to say the new rate is significantly less than out of state tuition at so-called medallion schools that the U would like to emulate."</span></blockquote>
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Finally, a University of Minnesota Regent <a href="http://www.startribune.com/readers-write-dec-24-candidates-gifts-black-lives-matter-protest-u-tuition-real-id-miss-universe-mixup/363428131/">wrote in the Star-Tribune on December 24, 2015</a>:</div>
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<b>UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TUITION</b></div>
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When to make it affordable and when to leave it to the market<br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">The recent editorial “Don’t weaken U’s role in drawing talent” (Dec. 22) calls for facts to illuminate the University of Minnesota nonresident tuition discussion. I agree.</span><br />
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The Minnesota Territorial Constitution established the U to educate “the inhabitants of this Territory.”<span style="background-color: yellow;"> Minnesota residents are roughly twice as likely as nonresidents to stay in Minnesota after graduation.</span> Minnesota’s growing population produces graduates with the highest ACT scores in the nation.<span style="background-color: yellow;"> The Minnesota Legislature supports the university better than virtually all our peers, yet the U’s resident tuition is among the highest in the Big Ten. Nonresident tuition is the lowest.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Tuition for Minnesota residents should be based on affordable access for rural, urban and suburban residents. Tuition for nonresidents should be market-based. If our university is equal to or better than the University of Michigan, its nonresident tuition should be doubled to the Michigan rate. As Michigan and our other peers increased their nonresident tuition, their nonresident numbers and quality actually increased.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Both DFL and Republican legislators want their constituents to have affordable access to the university. Minnesota’s business community wants a quality workforce. We all want a world-class flagship university. Aligning the university’s nonresident tuition with its peers serves all three purposes.</span><br />
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Darrin Rosha, Independence<br />
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The writer is a member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents.<br />
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Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-67558791859356377682015-12-30T08:08:00.002-06:002016-01-01T07:55:53.852-06:00Athletic Accounting Part III<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Athletic Accounting Part III </b></span></div>
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<br />A December 9, 2015 Star Tribune editorial declares that the recent financial audit of the U of M athletic department reveals "a department whose spending excesses have undermined public trust." See<b> <a href="http://www.startribune.com/audit-shows-a-sense-of-privilege-took-over-u-athletics-department/361119481/">Sense of Privilege at U of M Athletics Department</a></b>.<br /><br />This financial audit is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. It was limited to the financial activities of the administration of the athletic department. The U of M internal auditor is working on an audit of "sports related activities." See p. 711 of the <b><a href="http://regents.umn.edu/board-meetings/december-2015">Dec 2015 BOR Special Docket</a>.</b> This next audit should include information on the operations and financing of the teams and facilities.<br /><br />The public saw the dark gray uniforms that the football team used this year for one game (against Michigan). The public did not see the $2,928,985 expense for uniforms and equipment on line 26 of the <b>2014 U of M report to the NCAA</b>. Nor did the public see the $3,306,483 for severance benefits on line 23 of the report or the $7,378,442 for guarantees (for visiting teams) on line 18 of the report or the $17,663,000 for "athletically related facilities annual debt service" on p. 2 of the report.</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/275007007/UMN-NCAA-Financial-Report-FY14" nbsp="" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View UMN NCAA Financial Report FY14 on Scribd">UMN NCAA Financial Report FY14</a> by <a href="https://www.scribd.com/user/56752094/Bill-Gleason" nbsp="" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Bill Gleason's profile on Scribd">Bill Gleason</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />The U of M reports $0 for student fees (line 2) and $0 for direct state government support (line 6). This ignores the student fee for the construction of the football stadium that generates more than $1 million for the University each year and the $10,250,000 that the University receives from the state each year to pay the bonds issued for the stadium. For more detail on the complex (and opaque) financing of the athletic department and its facilities see the March 2013 post on <b><a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2013/03/athletic-accounting-1-report-to-faculty.html#links">Athletic Accounting</a>.</b><br /><br />The principal cost of the construction of the football stadium was $288 million and the principal cost of phase 1 of the "Athletes Village" will be $166 million. Those amounts do not include the interest that will be paid on the bonds issued to pay for part of the costs of construction. In the case of the stadium those bonds will be paid over more than 20 years (adding tens of millions of dollars in interest).<br /><br />Michael W. McNabb</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">University of Minnesota B.A. 1971; J.D. 1974<br />University of Minnesota Alumni Association life member</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Editor's note:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mr. McNabb properly notes that the expansion of money going toward athletics departments at universities is a seemingly never-ending business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yesterday's Washington Post contains yet another example of this phenomenon:</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/as-college-sports-revenues-spike-coaches-arent-only-ones-cashing-in/2015/12/29/bbdb924e-ae15-11e5-9ab0-884d1cc4b33e_story.html">As college sports revenues spike, coaches aren’t only ones cashing in</a></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is an outstanding piece and includes much interesting and useful information about university athletics departments and money:</span></div>
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Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-26702998090734321322015-12-11T10:55:00.000-06:002015-12-11T11:00:41.844-06:00For the Record: Non-resident U of Minnesota tuition to be raised: Better late than never?<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This topic has been covered on numerous occasions both on The Periodic Table, as well as the Star-Tribune.<br />
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From The Periodic Table:<br />
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<a href="http://ptable.blogspot.com/2013/01/state-rep-blows-whistle-on-out-of-state.html">State Rep Blows Whistle on Out of State Tuition Giveaway</a> January 10, 2013<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This post contains links to background information</span><br />
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From the Star-Tribune:<br />
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<a href="http://www.startribune.com/university-of-minnesota-has-lowest-out-of-state-tuition-for-bigten-publics/106038848/">University of Minnesota Has Lowest Out of State Tuition for BigTen Publics</a> October 30, 2010</div>
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Today the Star-Tribune reported on plans at the University of Minnesota to fix what is obviously another money sink at the U, by finally attempting to set out of state tuition at the median of that charged by BigTen schools, instead of current bargain basement prices, e.g.</div>
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What follows are some selected quotations from the Star-Tribune. Please see the<a href="http://www.startribune.com/university-of-minnesota-may-boost-nonresident-tuition-by-12-800-in-four-years/361511411/"> complete article for more information.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.startribune.com/university-of-minnesota-may-boost-nonresident-tuition-by-12-800-in-four-years/361511411/"><br /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -0.3px; line-height: 21px;">After years with the lowest rates in the Big Ten, the University of Minnesota is considering raising tuition for nonresident students by $12,800, more than 60 percent, by the end of the decade.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -0.3px; line-height: 21px;">Kaler has been under increasing pressure from lawmakers and other critics who say the current rates favor nonresidents at the expense of students from Minnesota. At the U, in-state students pay $13,380 a year in tuition and fees, a higher rate than half the Big Ten schools.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">State Rep. Bob Barrett, who has called for a significant increase in the rate for out-of-state students, said that Kaler’s proposal is a start. “Nonresident tuition has been and currently is way too low,” said Barrett, a Republican from Lindstrom who sits on the House higher education committee.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But he said raising that rate is just the first step. “They need to use that money to lower resident tuition,” he said. “They have an opportunity with these millions and millions of dollars they’ll receive from nonresidents, and they need to apply it to resident tuition.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">University spokesman Steve Henneberry said that “any extra funds would be used to minimize in-state tuition increases.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“I think being at the bottom, in terms of sticker price, hurts us,” said Regent Michael Hsu. “We’ve got to be concerned with our brand. … Otherwise, we’re talking about Lexus and Toyota. And we’re Toyota.”</span><br />
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Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-89744567541141048652015-12-07T09:45:00.003-06:002015-12-07T10:43:07.021-06:00For the Record: Governor Arne Carlson - Maybe the enemy is us?<div class="tr_bq">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">What follows are selections. Please see the entire post for more information.</span></div>
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From former Governor Arne Carlson's <a href="https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2015/12/maybe-enemy-us">post in Minnpost</a>:</div>
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When I was in college, the most popular commentary on the human condition was a cartoon character named Pogo. And his most memorable line was, “We have met the enemy and he is Us.”</blockquote>
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We [The University of Minnesota] have a most competent faculty, excellence in research, and an eager-to-learn student body. But this commitment to excellence does not extend to Morrill Hall.</blockquote>
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For instance, we have learned that in the area of testing drugs for large pharmaceutical companies, the oversight process was corrupted by the presence of university professionals who were on the payroll of the very companies whose drugs were being tested. We also know that the former chief counsel of the university wrote the language claiming exhaustive investigations by entities that never engaged in such endeavors. Further, we know that President Eric Kaler, his management team, and the Board of Regents used those false claims to beat down critics, including faculty members who called for an independent review. They simply buried the truth.</blockquote>
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Now, we have a growing scandal in the athletic department where Kaler and the Board of Regents hired an athletic director and associate without proper review and the result has been a very public sex scandal and the usual cries of shock from the appointing authorities. This was followed by the revelation of extraordinary misspending and waste in the athletic department.</blockquote>
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There is a reason for this and that is there is no oversight of university management. The sad reality is that the Board of Regents is little more than a band of cheerleaders for the president and regents are content as long as they are accorded praise from the administration and receive a variety of perks including box seats at the football games, etc.</blockquote>
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And then we have the Minnesota Legislature, which appoints the Regents but fails to conduct any meaningful public oversight.</blockquote>
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... it is time for all of us to recognize our responsibility to speak out and insist on a thorough housecleaning at Morrill Hall. If we fail to do so, then Pogo’s truth becomes our reality and we fail our children.</blockquote>
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Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.com0