May 23, 2008
UF dean removed amid meddling charges
Further proof that politics and academics are like vinegar and water: The UF med school admission of a Charlie Crist grassroots organizer's son has led to the med school dean's ouster.
UF President Bernie Machen "relieved" Dr. Bruce Kone (shown left) of his duties, after weeks of controversy over Kone's apparent meddling to get Hollywood opthalmologist Dr. Alan Mendelsohn's son into the school.
Dr. Mendelsohn, a Republican fundraiser, helped Gov. Crist during his 2006 campaign.
Before Kone became dean in May 2007, Gov. Crist sent a letter to UF urging that Benjamin Mendelsohn be admitted. Kone later admitted the student even though a medical selection committee in the college objected.
Late Thursday, Machen reported that Dr. Bruce Kone "has been relieved of his duties as dean of the College of Medicine."
Kone, who was appointed as dean in May 2007, will retain a faculty position in the college.
-Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler
Posted by Times Editor at 12:19:48 PM on May 23, 2008
in
Charlie Crist |
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Comments
who'd he think he was: JEBBA THE FATT??
talk about disgraceful whoring for a price!!
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 12:35 PM
I guess the lesson to Dr. Machen is, being a brown noser doesn't pay off!
you tried to smooch Charlie's rear and got your funding cut.
maybe your buddy Mikey Haridopolous could help get Mendhleson's son in, apparently he has better relations with Machen than Machen has with Chuck Crist.
Posted by: terminator |
May 23, 2008 at 12:55 PM
What is the world coming to when political connections can't help your kid?
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 01:07 PM
Another day at the GOP payoff pig trough. I'll get the spin squad right on it.
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 01:23 PM
Mendelsohn was a big JEB supporter too and all during the JEB reign anything he was behind was a sure thing!
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 01:46 PM
Haridopolois is kissing the educators butts and working against amendment 5! An amendment I want to reduce my property taxes! Do you think I am going to vote for him? NOT!!
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 02:03 PM
So...in addition to my retirement in about 25 years not being what it could be because of the way the current national and state GOP has squandered our economy and put everything on the next generation to clean up....now i have to look forward to having a doctor someday who didn't really have the criteria to be accepted to med school but got in b/c of GOP rich kid connections.
The GOP is truly sickening. Truly selfish. Truly bad for America.
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 02:18 PM
good for dr. machen. as a UF grad, i am glad that he has relieved the dean of his duties. the integrity of the school is based on admitting only qualified applicants. last i checked, those qualifications do not include political connections.
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 02:21 PM
"Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler"
shorten your friggin name. how the hell are your kids gonna fit that on the back of a jersey??
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 02:30 PM
I hope Machen is prepared to handle the fallout of this. It wouldn't shock me to see one of those UF special projects get the line item veto treatment in the upcoming budget.
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 02:51 PM
Don't worry, if he can't get in to UF, his dad will use his connections to get him in UM - after all, look at all the state money that goes to that school (while state universities are being gutted).
Remember in November - Republicans - the party for the privileged and the connected.
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 03:25 PM
You have only an excerpt from Gainesville Sun but this is not the true story.
Mendelsohn and the FMA led an aggressive campaign battle against Rod Smith in 2000 who was the darling of our medical ocmmunity in Gainesville.
They tried to help GOP candidate, Dr Casey, who was felt by the academics to be a baffoon and an outsider. A flyer was distributed by FMA asserting that Rod Smith was negligent on paying his child support. Flyer was accurate but his son and wife rallied to his support in a moving press conference, as did the medical community.
94% of the physicians at College of Medicine are Democrats or Independents.
Support of GOP is ocnsidered distasteful.
Fast forward to the gubernatorial race.
Mendelsohn and key FMA leadership were Crist stalwarts. They were concerned that Rod Smith posed more of a threat to Crist in a General Election and therefore, worked aggressively against Rod Smith in the Primary. This resulted in outrage and disbelief among the physicians and the medical society.
Mendelsohn's children are all bright Ivy Leaguers at the top of their class.
His son was part of a Northwestern University honors program and was slated to start medical school at NW this fall. For climate and girlfriend reasons he wanted to attend medical school at UF instead of NW. His honors program did not require an MCAT test, therefore he applied to UF without this test.
His academic credentials were apparently impeccable. (I was not a member of the Admission's Committee but we are all privy to the details).
His grades earned him the invitation for a day of interviews at the med school. For the record, in excess of fifty percent of interviewees receive an offer of acceptance.
Therefore, this young man had a 50% chance of acceptance if the application merely listed his social security number and no reference to his name or political affiliation. When the Admissions Committee realized that this was the son of the highly political, conservative Republican physician, and that there was a letter on file from the Governor, they opted not to "rank" his application, essentially eliminating any chance of acceptance.
There was palpable outrage directed to the father who had aggressively worked against our favorite son Rod Smith, not once but twice.
The Dean correctly overturned this overt retaliation against a young man who demonstrated a strong committment to pursue a medical education and to remain in Florida as a practicing physician.
This story is not about favoritism to the child of a GOP operative, but rather remediating a very wrongful act of retaliation against the family member of a highly political active physician.
I am troubled by the widespread violations of federal privacy that must be accorded a student's academic record by the Admission's Committee.
They believe that publicizing Rod Smith's lapses in payment of child support as a "low blow", but what do they call the leaks and insinuations to the Gainesville Sun?
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 03:36 PM
We all know that only Democrats are truly humanistic. I believe that it is a relevant question to ask medical school applicants. If you look around you, the Pediatricians, Family Physicians, Internists are all Democrats who accept lower wages in order to better serve society. The Republican physicians are Plastic Surgeons, Neurosurgeons, Opthalmologists, and the other overcompensated specialties who are driven by the money, not by the humanitarian potential.
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 03:43 PM
If a medical school receives state funding, there should be an obligation to train only primary care physicians.
Applicants know that they must BS that they want to go into primary care.
Perhaps, applicants should have to sign a promise that in exchange for a state subsidized medical education of four years, that they must serve the state in an underserved area as a primary care physician for a minimum of four years. The military has this very committment.
As far as political party affiliation matching up with specialties, I have definitely noticed that the most humanistic physicians are almost always Democrats while the business oriented big rollers are hard core Republicans from head to toe.
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 03:51 PM
Benjamin Mendelsohn went to school with my children at Pine Crest. His grades were great, his SAT score was near perfect, he is an excellent athlete, and even in high school he was slaving in the ER doing student volunteer work.
His older brother, Josh, went to Harvard. He is now senior management at Google, earning much more than most physicians.
The suggestion that Benjamin was accepted inappropriately to medical school is ludicrous. The reporter needs to fact find. The kid was accepted to numerous medical schools while in high school as part of the combined college and medical school honors program. UM and Nova both have the same programs - students have their medical school acceptances while seniors in high school. Only the cream of the crop can get accepted via this fashion. My daughter also went to one of these honors programs and they are wonderful.
Why the transfer from Northwestern to UF? Who knows and who cares?
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 04:02 PM
UF College of Medicine Dean, Bruce Kone, was not relieved of his responsibilities due to "meddling".
The above story is a well-publicized and well-orchestrated smoke screen to hammer away at the Dean. He attacked the double-dippers and the triple-dippers among the senior faculty at UF COM. With declining state funding, compensating a handful of physicians at an outrageous level, greatly impeded attracting new faculty and new department chairs who could not be compensated at a competitive level.
Legislation should be enacted against state and federal employees double and triple dipping during these severe economic times.
Posted by:
GATORMD |
May 23, 2008 at 04:10 PM
Does Machen forget who he actually works for? The UF Board of Trustees are appointed by the Governor, essentially making him answerable to the Governor. So Machen not only ignores Crist's letter of recommendation, he fires someone because of it. Tisk tisk. Better back the motorcycle Machen and start looking for employment elsewhere.
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 04:32 PM
My son, like hundreds of collegiates, obtain letters of recommendation from the sitting Governor, local Legislator, or prominent dignitary for their graduate school application.
My son was rejected despite a glowing letter from the Governor. We were later told that these letters are "a dime a dozen" and have no impact on the application process. They are merely the equivalent of sending in a posed picture of the applicant with the dignitary. We wasted the effort to obtain this letter.
A interesting story would be the precise percent of applicants with these dignitary letters who actually are accepted to the college, graduate school, or military academy of their choice.
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 04:38 PM
Bruce Kone is a good man who happened to walk into an ambush.
The well entrenched dinosaurs at the College of Medicine ate him alive and set him up for a brutal fall.
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 04:42 PM
Oh, he attended Pine Crest! How nice the Republicans who are always cutting education for the masses send their kids to elite private schools!!!! Perhaps if their kids went to public schools they would be more interested in adequately funding them!!!! But nooo, public schools aren't good enough for Republicans!
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 05:40 PM
Tuition for Pine Crest - If only the Republicans were this interested in YOUR kids:
Year of: 2008-2009
Includes Tuition, Lunch, and Textbooks:
Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten (full day)
$16,840
Grades One through Five
$17,870
Grades Six through Eight
$19,240
Grades Nine through Twelve
$20,600
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 05:49 PM
TOP 10 LIST: MOST IGNORANT POSTINGS: -"We all know that only Democrats are truly humanistic."
Republicans, both the wealthy and the not-so-rich Bible-belters, give a higher percentage of their incomes to charitable causes than Demonrats. Look it up; - it's something called a book.
Posted by: Cregg |
May 23, 2008 at 06:04 PM
Democrats wouldn't recognize a life-principle if it hit them over their collective heads with a two-ton shovel. They're too busy feverishly pandering to every low-life for a hand-out, seeking revenge for imaginary wrongs, and dragging this country through the political mud.
Now, there's the party of hope!
Posted by: Leila |
May 23, 2008 at 06:22 PM
Dr. Mendelsohn should be investigated.
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 07:20 PM
Maybe you didn't notice - but the Republicans were in charge of the budget last session. THEY cut education while attempting to give $700 million to CSX. THE CUT EDUCATION and spent $110 million for an airport for St. Joe Paper Company, $10 million for St. Joe's road, and $410 million for a private professional sports team!!!
Yep, all that was more important than EDUCATION of the masses. After all, why should the Republican Leadership or the Major Republican Donor's care - all THEIR kids go to PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
After all, if they educate the masses, they might become too expensive to be the hired help!
Posted by: |
May 23, 2008 at 07:43 PM
4:10 - you are aboslutely correct - let's get a law passed making it illegal for ANYONE to work after they retire!!!! Plan well or die - Another pro-life sentiment!!!!
Posted by: |
May 24, 2008 at 01:37 PM
1:37 - great idea AND it should apply to sitting on board of directors or starting your own businesses, AND should include the military!!!
After all, why should any employer have to pay someone retirement if they are going to work AND why should any consumer purchase goods or services from someone so greedy as to work after retirement!!!
Yep, get those double dippers!!!
Posted by: |
May 24, 2008 at 01:39 PM
This Kone ambush was a lot broader and involved many who piled on. The word is that a privacy investigation about how leaked the Mendelsohn name and the admissions committee deliberations was done at UF and squelched so that the students who were guilty of privacy violations while on the admissions committee and in a special society funded by a major donor could graduate. Rather than fire Kone before graduation, they did it after, and when he asked for the results of the privacy investigation and for the Gainesville Sun to retract inacurracies, he was fired. Same happens to most whistle blowers, I guess. Interestingly, the Sun went completely quiet after the announcment, with no faculty or student interviews. I guess UF owns the Sun.
According to sources on the committee, the full admissions committee did not vote on the admission. Only 17 out of 53, and 7 or these were medical students, all under the thumb of the donor and the trance of a quadruple dipper Robert Watson whom Kone did not rehire when he completed DROP. DROP was a scandal that could not be exposed, and unfortunately for him, the dean did. There was a legacy among senior leaders to guarantee jobs to their assistant and associate deans after DROP, give them a bonus, and even a sabbatical in some cases. All of this was illegal, but commonplace.
Kone apparently blew the whistle on this internally to Dr. Barrett, the Sr. VP for Health Affairs, who Machen has also forced to resign, but Barrett and his associate Tom Harris (one of the top double-dippers in the state), approved them all. Now the SVP for administration Kyle Cavanaugh seems to be running the show in the DROP damage control. Obviously this cronyism is coming from much higher up, probably from the Board of Trustees chair to be Mac McGriff, who's best buddy is Dean at UF at Jax and the highest paid double-dipper in the state.
The admissions case caused a student petition and all sorts of nonsense. All the political nonsense that occurred in the admissions committee I've heard was incredibly biased, but somehow UF and its Faculty Senate wants to keep it under wraps.
So, business as usual at UF.
Posted by: jill rabley |
May 25, 2008 at 06:15 AM
Further proof that politics and academics are like vinegar and water: The UF med school admission of a Charlie Crist grassroots organizer's son has led to the med school dean's ouster.
But when I had my interview (late November) Gretchen said I was in the middle. I guess I got bumped which perplexes me since my MD interviewer said word for word, "I think you're going to be a great doctor". Sigh.
