Not all of it good!

The University of Louisville just can’t catch a break. In today’s paper were two back-to-back reports commenting on entrepreneurial activities of University faculty and employees. In one, a faculty-associated private company gains an exclusive license for a potentially new cancer treatment at the Brown Cancer Center of University Hospital. No details are given regarding ownerships, nor discussion of the obvious potential conflicts of interest. The University has referred to its indigent and Medicaid patients as “teaching material.” At the very least, some public discussion about when using captive patient populations for commercial activities is appropriate.

A second report detailed the University’s hopes to recover some half-a-million dollars that were stolen by one of their Equine Industry Program employees over a four-year period. Lax oversight of one more of the University’s programs is reported to have allowed the ongoing theft to occur. Does anyone else see a pattern here?

The article by Chris Otts noted that the funding for the program came from “special state sources” related to the racing industry. I was still a lobbyist for UofL when that enabling legislation was passed. As I remember, funneling some money to the University was added to some racing legislation as a sweetener to help ensure passage. There were few restraints on the use of this windfall, and like some of the other earmarks the University received, it became vulnerable to theft, to waste, to misdirection, and for activities peripheral to the University’s principal mission.

With all this going on, I remain stunned by the audacity of the University’s demand for more secrecy rather than the transparency appropriate for a public institution. It seems to me, we are being taken for a ride.

Peter Hasselbacher, MD
April 4, 2012