Former Chairman of Department of Osteopathic Medicine-UNTHSC
Former Tenured Professor-UNTHSC
Former UNT Health Board Member
Former Director of Physical Medicine Research Institute
I am sincerely humbled and honored to be among such distinguished public servants and I appreciate this opportunity to address the UNT System Chancellor, Board of Regents and this audience. My name is Scott Stoll. I received my DO from TCOM and my PhD from UNT. Upon graduation from TCOM, I was awarded the Wayne O. Stockseth Award for the Most Outstanding Osteopathic Graduate and have proudly worn the watch to this day.
I am an osteopathic physician specialist. I am residency trained and am both MD and DO board certified. Next month, I will complete 20 years of service to the State of Texas through my work at UNTHSC. A little over a year ago, in September 2008, I was promoted to full professor with tenure in recognition of my efforts in teaching, research, clinical service, administration, and community engagement. My wife Myra and I give annually to a UNT College of Arts and Sciences scholarship fund as well as to the UNTHSC Foundation. As a proud alumnus, I bleed Eagle Green and was looking forward to another 20 years of service and retirement from the University of North Texas Health Science Center.
However, as you all know, the events of this last year have been difficult and traumatic for me and my family and left me with no real choice but to resign effective in January 2010.
I held a privileged and unique position within UNTHSC as a longstanding Clinical Department Chair, UNTHealth Board Member, and Institute Director. A comprehensive review of my observations and conclusions is far beyond the scope of my comments today and so I will submit supplemental written documentation. Here is a synopsis of my reasons for resigning.
1. Dr. Ransom’s penchant for deception and manipulation are inherent to his character and leadership style. This was recognized early and consistently throughout his three years as president by a wide variety of leaders who would speak frankly in private about deception, a crisis in trust in our leadership, and fear of workplace retaliation should their opinions become known. This important decision about whether or not to create an MD school on campus has become a public showcase for this destructive leadership style and, unfortunately has poisoned the atmosphere around what should have been an honest, open and thorough discussion of this issue. Because of this continuing atmosphere, there still has been very little honest and open discussion on campus of this issue among faculty or chairmen.
2. I have written at least five distinct documents expressing my concerns not only about the advisability of creating an MD school on campus, but also specifically about Dr. Ransom’s unethical methodology. Each of these letters was copied (mailed) to the UNT System Chancellor and individually to each member of this Board of Regents. These letters include:
- Requested input on possibly offering MD degree at UNTHSC (1/7/09)
- Additional comments to the UNT Board of Regents (3/30/09)
- Resignation from TCOM Dean Search Committee (8/7/09)
- Stoll Resignation as UNHSC Faculty (9/4/09)
- Stoll letter dated 9-29-09 written in response to Ransom letter dated 9-25-09
As the membership of the UNT System changed, I communicated to the new board members and included some past documentation they may have missed. I have not received one phone call, email, or letter requesting further information on my concerns. Considering the profoundly disturbing nature of my escalating accusations and my unique and longstanding insider’s vantage, I found this lack of interest/investigation by the Chancellor and Board of Regents to be indicative of the scope of the problem on our campus. In other words, I began to learn what apparently many of my colleagues instinctively understood, that it was useless and self destructive to speak out in opposition to the predetermined direction of the President, Chancellor and Board. However, as a Clinical Chair and UNTHealth Board Member, I had to choose to join the conspiracy of silence or go the way of my vocal peers and experience retribution in the form of becoming increasingly marginalized. Like others before me, I chose to leave.
3. I have seen TCOM grow into a Health Science Center including the creation/addition of the Graduate School of Biological Sciences (GSBS), Physician Assistant School, School of Public Health, and now the Physical Therapy School. All of these new schools require substantial infusions of resources to get started and to date all have pulled these resources out of TCOM. They all continue to survive on ongoing substantial state income meant by state formula funding for TCOM.
Although general promises are being made to ensure that the MD School does not hurt TCOM, no guarantees have yet been formalized from the President, Chancellor, or Board of Regents. In reality, there probably should not be any promises not to support the MD School with TCOM resources, because such promises and guarantees would only turn out to be further deceptions. Just as the first $100,000 payment to Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) from the UNTHSC Foundation is described as ‘money not budgeted for TCOM,’ if it were not for this costly analysis of the MD Option, these dollars may very well have been invested in TCOM.
I know how money is fluidly ‘budgeted’ within UNTHSC and other academic institutions. As long as leadership is determined that once initiated the MD School must succeed, they will have no choice but to siphon resources out of existing local budgets to ensure its success. As long as external donors perceive that there are internal resources available to siphon, they will restrict donations to minimal amounts to force leverage of local funding. Commitments to not expend ‘TCOM’ dollars on the MD School will be meaningless as long as UNTHSC leadership is committed to its success, in control of the budgets, and accountable to the UNT System.
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