MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF VISITORS
OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
January 17, 1974
A regular meeting of the Board of Visitors of Virginia Commonwealth
University was held on Thursday, January 17, 1974, at 9:00 a.m. in the
Board Room of Sanger Hall.
Present were Drs. Blanton and Thornton; Messrs. Bradley, Dabney,
McGehee, Norris, Scott, Seaborn, Sheffield, Shumate and Turnbull; and
Mrs. Stone. Dr. Gwathmey, Miss Keyser and Mr. Obenshain were absent.
Also present were Drs. Brandt, Brooke, Neal, Willett, Wilson and Woods;
Messrs. Holmes, Imirie and Temple, and Miss Cosby.
Mr. Scott called the meeting to order in the absence of the Rector.
On motion made and seconded, the following minutes were unanimously
approved: Special Meeting of the Board of Visitors, held December 3, 1973;
Special Meeting of the Property Committee, held December 14, 1973; Special
Meeting of the Student Affairs Committee, held December 12, 1973; and
Special Meeting of the By-Laws Revision Committee, held January 8, 1974.
Mr. Shumate reported on the Hospital Liaison Committee meeting held
on Tuesday, January 15, 1974. Several department heads reported on their
duties, and it was very enlightening. The meeting was also very well
attended.
Dr. Blanton welcomed Mr. David B. Bradley, a VCU graduate, to the
Board of Visitors to complete the unexpired term of Mr. John H. Temple. Mr
Page 2
T. Edward Temple was welcomed as the new Vice-President for Development
and University Relations. Dr. Blanton also congratulated Dr. Neal on his
new daughter, born January 17, 1974.
Following the report of the President, there was a very lengthy dis-
cussion on the proposed Health Maintenance Organization. It was moved
and seconded that the Board accept the feasibility study and grant a authorization to proceed with the development of a working plan. The HMO plan will
be presented to the Board for its approval before its implementation. The
motion was passed with Dr. Thornton dissenting.
Mr. Sheffield reported that members of the student media would like
to be invited to Board meetings. Following discussion, it was m moved,
seconded and approved that, when deemed appropriate by the Rector, repre-
sentatives of student groups be invited to attend Board meetings from time
to time.
On motion made and seconded, the proposed revisions of the By-Laws
Concerning the audits of hospital quality, Dr. Neal explained that
the Board will be asked to attest to the accountability of the medical staff.
Dr. Blanton suggested that the Board appoint a three-man committee to review
were a approved as presented.
the reports prior to Board meetings and make their recommendation to the Board.
Dr. Neal distributed and described a sample report. From criteria developed
for good medical care, one is able to judge those charts which have derivations
from standard practice. It was suggested that the reaction to an action taken,
Page 3
e.g., a letter sent, be shown on the report. It was moved, seconded and
approved that a committee composed of the Rector, a physician member of
the Board and a non-physician member of the Board be appointed to review
the reports on hospital quality.
On motion made and seconded, the following resolution was adopted
unanimously:
RESOLVED, that the income received from the Estate
of Isaac Davenport has been applied strictly in accordance
with the terms of the Will during the calendar year 1973;
FURTHER RESOLVED, that all future remittances from
said Estate will be applied likewise.
on motion made and seconded.
The report of Gifts, Grants and Contracts was accepted unanimously
The Faculty Appointments and Changes of Status were approved unani-
mously on motion made and seconded.
Dr. Warren H. Pearse, Dean of the School of Medicine, reported on
the development of the School during the past two years. The Family Practice
Department is the second largest program in the country. Mr. Sheffield
suggested that a specific objective of the School of Medicine be the recruiting
of minority faculty.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:35 p.m.
APPROVED:
Chairman Secretary
Report of the President to the Board of Visitors
January 17, 1974
Dr. Brandt reported that the administration was asked to submit estimates
for the establishing of a school of veterinary medicine. Because of the
overlaps between schools of medicine and schools of veterinary medicine,
it is much less expensive to establish such a veterinary school in conjunc-
tion with a medical school.
The enrollment for next fall probably will be significantly below our projec-
tions. We will probably have approximately the same number of students
next year as we have this year.
We do not yet have a good analysis of the 1974-76 budget as it was pre-
sented to the legislature. We had requested $12 million increase overall,
and the Governor recommended about $4 million. The support of faculty
positions has been cut considerably. Computer operations were funded at
the 1972-73 level, and we are currently operating at about two times that
level. We will be making our budget presentation to the legislature on
February 11. The Health Sciences building is not in the budget; we did
not think it would be. Our chances will be much better next year, but we
are going to work on it with Governor Godwin, Senator Willey and Delegate
Lane to see what the possibilities are for this year.
The proposed Faculty Planning document was presented to the University
Assembly at its meeting on January 10. Dr. Brandt is asking for the
Assembly's reactions to the document. We hope to bring it to the Board
at its February meeting. If there are strong objections to it, some faculty
representatives will be invited to the Board meeting to express their
opinions.
Dr. Brandt then gave a detailed summary of what tenure is and how the
system works at VCU. When a person is granted tenure, he is basically
guaranteed a job until age 65. Since most of our faculty members are
quite young, this frequently means guaranteeing jobs for 30-35 years.
In order to have flexibility, a department cannot have all tenured faculty
members. This does not allow for enrollment changes or changes in
curricula. Therefore, a plan must be made now to avoid difficult situa-
tions in the future.
