Comments On My Blog Indicate The MD Anderson Faculty Know The Truth
By
Leonard Zwelling
Sometimes I wonder whether or not the faculty at MD Anderson really know what’s going on, and if the faculty do know what’s going on, are they concerned about the loss of academic freedom, shared governance, and academic excellence. Of course, then I ask myself what the faculty could do with the Board of Regents installing unqualified leaders (see article) throughout the UT System from Chancellor on down? Is the new Chancellor really committed to academic activities or has he been installed to implement Dan Patrick’s agenda of complete dominance by the Republican legislative majority of thinking among the faculty of the UT System institutions? Dr. Zurwas was certainly a successful politician. Does that qualify him for the Chancellor’s job? Is he an academic in any sense of the word? I think not.
But then I read the comments on my blog and feel relieved. Of course, the faculty knows what’s going on.
Here are two comments that landed within the last week:
This one was on August 31:
Starting September 1, the fear of speaking up will escalate with the adoption of new MDACC policies governing Faculty Compensation, Non-Renewals, and the Grievance/Appeals process. Faculty salaries can be adjusted downward for insubordination, Non-renewals (i.e., being fired) can come with only a 30-day notice, and the Grievance/Appeals that used to be by peer-review panels are being replaced by the President having final say in all matters. Peter Pisters will be judge, jury, and executioner in the spirit of efficiency. You are correct in that a number of faculty have recently been non-renewed for nebulous reasons like substandard performance and unprofessional behavior, although the victims have not had a track record of such, and the colleagues in those departments are too afraid to speak up on behalf of those being targeted. MDACC’s Handbook of Operating Procedures should be replaced by Orwell’s 1984!
This next one was on September 1:
Pisters is not interested in shared governance, a senate, or even the opinion of the faculty. This is most clear when the first 10 minutes of any institutional meeting consists of the 2nd tier executives bootlicking Pisters. He has surrounded himself with sycophants and seems to receive no conflicting input. It appears to be identical to the current cabinet in the Whitehouse. Also, like the Whitehouse President, Pisters spends most of his time away, phoning it in as needed.
Sadly posted anonymously to avoid being fired for “unprofessionalism”
These are representative of others I have received over the past few years that can be found on my web site. First, these indicate the tightening of the screws on any hint of shared governance. The faculty have been sidelined, exactly the way Dan Patrick, Chancellor Zurwas, and the Republican legislature want it. Second, it is just as clear that Peter Pisters, a man with absolutely no credentials to be president of any academic institution, has become even more controlling and continues to distance himself from the needs of the rank-and-file faculty.
This blog has made it clear for years that unless and until the clinical faculty turn Wednesday into Sunday this will continue. Throughout the state of Texas, retired legislators move into positions of leadership in the university systems, rank-and-file faculty are further marginalized, and, more locally, the best place for cancer care maintains that designation even as the academic and research missions become secondary to the generation of patient revenue.
Welcome to Texas higher education and academic medicine in 2025. Politicians lead. Sheep-like faculty follow. Progress suffers.
The faculty of MD Anderson know what’s going on. While most of the 26,000 employees are perfectly happy with the way things are, especially the ones working from home in their pajamas, those actually doing the work of the institution—caring for the ill, preventing malignancy, performing research, and teaching, must labor with no input into governance and institutional policy whatsoever. And now, thanks to the Texas State Legislature, in all its vengeful wisdom, there no longer will be a real Faculty Senate to voice the concerns of the rank-and-file faculty.
This goes on until it doesn’t.
For most of my adult life, people have asked themselves what they would have done in past eras when the very foundations of society were being undermined. The very foundations of the government of the United States are being undermined today. So is the fabric of the University of Texas. As the late, great Sean Connery said in his Academy Award winning role in Brian DePalma’s The Untouchables, “What are you prepared to do, Mr. Ness?”
Well, MD Anderson faculty. What are YOU prepared to do?
