AUSTIN MED SCHOOL: UT STILL NOT DOING ITS CREDIBILITY ANY FAVORS

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Some rumors are a lot like relatives staying over the holidays.  It just seems like they'll never leave. The ever-present rumor that the University of Texas System is planning to move UTMB to Austin appears to have some staying power, as well, if this story in the Galveston County Daily News titled "Officials: Austin Med School No Threat to UTMB" is any indication.  Administrators are throwing their hands up in high dudgeon and making quite a show of their exasperation.  Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Kenneth Shine went so far as to say, "I think people who are worried about it should be ashamed of themselves." 

The problem is that some of the statements offered up by ol' Kenny & Co. just don't add up.  For instance, Shine states, "“There has never been any such plan to move any portion of the medical branch any place, with the exception of a clinical program south of Houston."  Ok. So Shine isn't talking about Austin here, but would UT buy 64 acres in League City, south of Houston, after all, to move a little ol' clinical program?  (Open the link below to view a proposal to buy 29 acres on top of the 35 acres UT already owned at the time. Both tracts are discussed in the document.)

Download 29 Acres Project Briefing Sheet 1st page

Shine really should have just let sleeping dogs lie all over those 64 acres this time.  The "clinical program" angle just doesn't have any traction in and around Galveston.  (By the way, has anyone heard UT commit to building the Jennie Sealey hospital on the island yet? That goes a bit beyond a clinical program, doesn't it?) In any event, trying to say that all he wanted to do was move a clinical program to League City doesn't build Shine's credibility when he speaks of Austin. 

Then there's this little gem of a quote from Dr. Shine:

Shine said regents had shown deep commitment to the island campus since the hurricane.

“It’s really getting frustrating,” he said. “We’ve worked our tails off to protect that campus when it would have been easiest to sit on our hands.”

Texas State Senator Steve Ogden, powerful chair of the Senate Finance Committee, all but said they were, indeed, sitting on their hands.  In a story titled "Emergency!" in the Texas Monthly, Senator Ogden had this to say:

“For whatever reason, [the university] is not asking the foundations, the Legislature, and the voters for help, and I can’t understand why,” Ogden says. “The financial issues are not insurmountable. I don’t understand the politics. I don’t understand what’s driving a decision that I would consider a political disaster.”

At one point, I even asked the UT System for any emergency funding requests it made on behalf of UTMB.  Nada.  Open the link below to see UT's admission that it asked for nothing.

Download Chatterjee-Reamy 090218 (2)

Oh yeah, UT was really out there hustling for UTMB.  Again, Shine didn't do UT's credibility with the Austin story any favors. 

So, do I believe UT is moving UTMB to Austin.  No.  UT Southwestern is already the heir-apparent to the Austin throne.  As for UT's pledge not to divert resources away from UTMB, well now, that's a whole other story, eh?  So far, UT doesn't exactly have gold-plated credibility, either. 

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