More Top Picks Best Misting Fans
player ready...Northwestern University officials are expected to announce Tuesday a proposal to close the institution’s century-old dental school.
Although no official decision has been made, administrators already have stopped taking applications for future dental students. And according to a statement to be released Tuesday, officials also have contingency plans for those currently affiliated with the school: The university would give students money to help pay for transfers to other dental schools, as well as offer faculty members other positions within the university and pay out severance packages for some staffers.
In the statement, obtained by the Tribune, university President Henry S. Bienen said “if the university’s board of trustees approves a proposal under consideration by the Northwestern administration, the dental school would close at the end of the 1998-99 academic year.”
“We have taken a careful look at all of our educational programs and we believe that we should focus our resources on those areas that are central to the mission of the university and where we have a competitive advantage,” Bienen said in the statement. “We intend to have a greater emphasis on research, particularly in medicine and life sciences.”
The final decision on whether to close the school, which serves 350 students at its Chicago campus, will be made by Northwestern’s board of trustees, which is scheduled to meet in February.
Dental school officials would not comment Monday. Bienen could not be reached.
“There will be an announcement made tomorrow, but I cannot comment any further,” said Al Cubbage, a spokesman for the university. “There will be meetings with the faculty and the staff and, most important, the students, and we feel it is better to communicate with those audiences first.”
University officials are scheduled to meet Tuesday morning with the dental school’s students, faculty and staff. Cubbage said the university would make an official statement to the press by Tuesday afternoon.
Last month, sources said, Northwestern’s administration directed the dental school not to admit any more students for the 1998-99 academic year.
And speculation about the fate of the dental school has been swirling since last week, when several of the school’s top deans met. During that meeting, Michael A. Heuer, dean of the dental school, told his staff that a significant announcement would be made Tuesday.
Lester Phillips, assistant dean of business/finance at the dental school, said last week that while Heuer did not officially tell his staff the school would be closing, “the handwriting is on the wall.”
“They are not going to call us in to give us a Christmas bonus,” Phillips said. “I would love that to be the case, but I think a lot of people are going to be hurt by this.”
If the school closes, according to the statement obtained by the Tribune, third- and fourth-year students would be allowed to graduate.
First- and second-year students would be assisted in transferring to other dental schools. The university would budget up to $3,000 for each student to help pay for expenses incurred in transferring, according to the statement.
Of the dental school’s 54 faculty members, it said, some would be offered positions in other Northwestern schools and some “would be offered other arrangements.” Staff members would be offered other jobs at the university or receive severance payments, according to the statement.
Patients being treated at the dental school’s clinic would continue receiving treatment for 18 months and arrangements would be made for treatment beyond 1999, the statement said.
If Northwestern closed its dental school, it would leave only two in the state– one at the University of Illinois-Chicago and one at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Both are public institutions.
Economics and advances in dentistry apparently played a role in Northwestern’s proposal to close its dental school, the statement indicates.
“The issue of school closure comes after a thorough review of the existing program, the dental school’s alignment with the university’s overall educational mission, budget considerations and national trends in dentistry,” Bienen said in the statement.
More Top Picks Best Flannel Jackets For Men With Hoods