Power Corrupts - So Does Money

Yesterday Kelly Quinn and I sent out a letter to students at UNC School of Public Health. While we both have serious concerns regarding the terms of the donation, including the renaming of the School, the primary intent of the letter was to provide students with objective information, to raise awareness, and to encourage discussion about the Gillings Gift.

All of your comments are appreciated, and we couldn’t agree more with those of you who are concerned about issues beyond the naming rights to our school. However, the renaming is important in that it is symbolic of a transformation that is taking place at UNC, and not just at the School of Public Health. Dean Rimer has mentioned in her blog that other schools on the Chapel Hill campus are in search of donors interested in purchasing naming rights.

As a publicly supported institution of higher learning with tax-exempt status, the University is supposed to serve the public interest while preserving academic freedom and integrity. The lack of transparency and exclusion of faculty, students, and alumni in the process of reviewing and negotiating the terms of the agreement with the Gillingses is not consistent with this charge.

An article published in the Charlotte Observer last month describes an award of $1 million given to UNC-Charlotte from BB&T. The agreement was brokered in 2005 by a former dean, with the stipulation from BB&T that students read Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. The article included quotes from faculty, who were rather concerned about outside control over the curriculum. It also states that Meredith College rejected an offer from BB&T in 2006 because the agreement violated their academic freedom.

The Gillings Gift and the concerns that it raises are not isolated events within the UNC system, or within academia. Several books and articles have been written about this, including University, Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of American Higher Education by Jennifer Washburn. She provides a great deal of evidence to support the argument that universities have compromised their integrity by associating themselves too closely with private industry.

Thank you for your interest in these issues. I will continue to read your comments and to add posts as often as I can. Please check back frequently to see what’s new, including the comments of others.

I also encourage you to discuss your opinions and concerns with faculty, administrators, students, and alumni. Students have been invited to meet with Deans Rimer and Mebane on Thursday, April 17th from 12:00-1:00pm in Rosenau 171. You can RSVP here: http://cfx.research.unc.edu/res_classreg/browse_single.cfm?New=1&event_id=21524

For those of you who did not receive the e-mail on April 8th, I have included the letter in its entirety.

April 8, 2008

Dear Colleagues:

Questions and concerns have recently been raised regarding the Gillings Gift and the name change slated for UNC School of Public Health. There is no doubt that this will have a major and lasting impact upon our School. We want to be sure that it is a positive one.

It is important that students, faculty, and alumni be kept well informed and that they voice their opinions. We encourage you to read this letter in its entirety, to consult other sources of information, and to participate in a dialogue about these important issues.

In February 2007, the administration at UNC School of Public Health announced that Dennis and Joan Gillings had agreed to donate $50 million to the School, as well as plans to rename the school Dennis and Joan Gillings School of Global Public Health, in honor of the benefactors. The extent to which faculty were invited to participate in reviewing the agreement between the School and the Gillingses is unclear, although it is a requirement of University policy. It appears that no attempt has been made to solicit feedback from students or alumni about the donation or plans to change the School’s name.

An Acceleration Advisory Committee (ACC) has been established to provide guidance to the Dean, the School, and the Managing Director of Carolina Public Health Solutions (CPHS). Dennis and Joan Gillings will serve on the ACC, along with at least eight others from the private sector including Derek Winstanly, an Executive Vice President at Gillings’ corporation, Quintiles, and Louise Winstanly, presumably his wife. Three professors from UNC have been named to serve on the Committee, only one of which is from the School of Public Health. Dean Barbara Rimer and Julie MacMillan, Managing Director of CPHS and former Senior Vice President at Quintiles, selected the committee members. There is no representation from the student body at UNC on the ACC and committee members have no fiduciary responsibility to the School.

Plans are underway to select Gillings Innovation Laboratories through a competitive application process, which will provide funding for public health research. Grants will be awarded to faculty at the School for projects that may involve faculty from outside institutions and/or the private sector. There is no stipulation for how much of the funds awarded must remain within the School. Reviewers will include members of the School of Public Health Research Council, while others have yet to be selected or publicly announced. Priority will be given to projects directed at addressing obesity, drinking water, global health, and health disparities. The first grant has already been awarded to the Center for Innovative Clinical Trials.

Awards, prizes, and visiting professorships have also been named after the Gillingses.

Dennis Gillings is a former biostatistics professor from the School, and is the founder and CEO of Quintiles Transnational, which runs clinical trials and is the largest pharmaceutical contract research corporation in the world. His wife, Joan, has reportedly worked within public health and commercial real estate.

As a student, future alumnus, and member of the academic community at UNC School of Public Health, you have a voice and a responsibility to uphold the reputation, and to ensure the integrity, of our fine institution. Its reputation will surely reflect upon you.

Visit http://carolina-savethename.blogspot.com where you will find links to additional information, post your comments in the blog, and talk to your colleagues about these important issues. Read the Op-Ed articles from Steve Wing (Epidemiology) and Dean Barbara Rimer that appeared in the News & Observer, and consider writing a letter to the editor of your favorite newspaper and to UNC administrators (Dean, Chancellor, Provost, etc).

Remember that your ideas and involvement contribute to the uniqueness and excellence of UNC School of Public Health.

Sincerely,

Dustin Petersen
MPH Student
Health Behavior & Health Education
petersen at unc.edu

Kelly Quinn
PhD Student
Epidemiology
kaquinn at email.unc.edu