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Dealing Responsibly with Conflicts in College Towns
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
Robert Wechsler
How does a council deal with conflicts in a company town? My first
response to this would be, are there still company towns? Well,
certainly not as many as there used to be, but probably most of the
ones that remain are college towns.
That's the case in Loma Linda, according to an article in yesterday's San Bernardino Sun. Four of five council members, including the mayor, work for Loma Linda University or its Medical Center. The university employs 13,000, and Loma Linda has 22,000 residents, so the university is an overwhelming force in town.
Yes, sometimes the council votes against the university (professors and other university types can be pretty contrary), but its members recognize that they have ongoing conflicts of interest, and that they have to handle them as responsibly as they can under the circumstances.
One university administrator said, "We are not working for an organization that has the ability to corrupt a politician. It's a not-for-profit that doesn't make much money and it's not really in the position of buying votes." Sorry, but that simply isn't true. Universities are major political players in local governments across the country.
Here's the Loma Linda council's clever solution to the problem of recusing themselves out of a quorum every time the university comes up in their deliberations, which must be pretty often. The four conflicted members choose straws, and the two that win, plus the one without a conflict, discuss and vote on the matter. That seems as good and fair as any solution.
At least voters know their representatives' affiliation, and many or most of them might very well feel most comfortable with the affiliation. Those who prefer someone affiliated with the university but independent in thought can choose that combination. In this situation, acting in one's personal interest, in terms of furthering the interests of the university, might be acting in the public interest, as well. In a college town, the two are hard to pry apart.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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That's the case in Loma Linda, according to an article in yesterday's San Bernardino Sun. Four of five council members, including the mayor, work for Loma Linda University or its Medical Center. The university employs 13,000, and Loma Linda has 22,000 residents, so the university is an overwhelming force in town.
Yes, sometimes the council votes against the university (professors and other university types can be pretty contrary), but its members recognize that they have ongoing conflicts of interest, and that they have to handle them as responsibly as they can under the circumstances.
One university administrator said, "We are not working for an organization that has the ability to corrupt a politician. It's a not-for-profit that doesn't make much money and it's not really in the position of buying votes." Sorry, but that simply isn't true. Universities are major political players in local governments across the country.
Here's the Loma Linda council's clever solution to the problem of recusing themselves out of a quorum every time the university comes up in their deliberations, which must be pretty often. The four conflicted members choose straws, and the two that win, plus the one without a conflict, discuss and vote on the matter. That seems as good and fair as any solution.
At least voters know their representatives' affiliation, and many or most of them might very well feel most comfortable with the affiliation. Those who prefer someone affiliated with the university but independent in thought can choose that combination. In this situation, acting in one's personal interest, in terms of furthering the interests of the university, might be acting in the public interest, as well. In a college town, the two are hard to pry apart.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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