BAD MEDICINE

Last week the board of trustees of Michigan State University held a retreat here in Grand Rapids.  The primary reason for meeting here was to see what our city offered as a new location for MSU’s College of Human Medicine.  The Van Andels of Amway fortune fame are anxious to bring the medical school into town to support their Van Andel Institute, and so helped to put on a big dog-and-pony show for the trustees who were suitably impressed.  In the wake of all this hand-shaking and back-slapping, the local media rolled over and gushed how wonderful this development is.

Sure.  Nothing wrong at all with a city the size of Grand Rapids landing a medical school and partnering up with the local research outfit.  Nothing wrong at all, depending upon the why’s and how’s of it.  In short, I’m all for it if we don’t have to pay for it.  But if we do, folks, either through tax dollars or charitable contributions or government guarantees, then a word to the wise:  There’s some bad medicine in this deal.  Consider the following …

[1] The federal government has a huge pile of your tax dollars available for grants to medical research institutions.

[2] These medical research grants are great if you can get, because the government doesn’t monitor their expenditure.  Everything’s on the “honor system”.

[3] The Van Andels have not publicly committed their fortune to their namesake Van Andel Institute, so the institute which dabbles in medicine wants its share of that loosy-goosy federal cash.

[4] However, serious federal money will not flow to the VAI until it partners up with a university research department.

[5] As it happens, Michigan State University has a third-rate medical school, the College of Human Medicine, it would prefer not to carry any longer.

[6] The College of Human Medicine is just what the VAI needs.  The River City players say they’ll take it.  MSU’s new president and the board of trustees say they’re interested.

[7] Only one small detail left:  Who’s going to pay for this?

[8] Answer:  You!

So, you’re thinking that your executive director is just maybe a little too cynical.  Well, that is one of the risks of this job, but the crowd pushing this project is the same one The Fixer works for.  (Click here for that story.)  Am I tarring these players with guilt by association?  No, I’m just keeping in mind their track record.

Plus, I do believe the Van Andel family is breaking a pledge to the public by not committing the bulk of their late parents’ purported $2 billion fortune to the Van Andel Institute, especially when a fraction of it would cover all the costs of transplanting the College of Human Medicine at River City.  Why should we be asked to pony up for this project when the Van Andels remain uncommitted to how much of a stake they’ll put in?

Meanwhile we got one of The Fixer’s former business associates, VAI executive Steve Heacock keeping mum on the financing of the MSU medical school move but promising a lot of construction work out of it.  Ah yes, real estate development – the well-trod path for River City’s vaunted public-private partnerships in which the public pays and the private parties profit.

Then there is an epidemic of fraud in federal medical research grants.  In just the past couple of years, big-name prestigious institutions including Harvard University, the Mayo Clinic, and John Hopkins University have had to pay over $20 million in settlements with the U.S. Justice Department because of misappropriation of federal grant money.  If the big guys cheat with our tax dollars, is it so outlandish to worry about the same with MSU and VAI?

I’ll wrap this up.  I know all of this right now adds up to nothing more than being the skunk at the party.  My attitude does stink about bringing MSU’s medical school to town, but I’ll be the first to say I’m glad that’s all that stunk about this if this project remains a truly private one, bought and paid for by those who will reap the greatest benefit from it – first and foremost, the Van Andel Institute.