University of Arizona president Ann Weaver Hart is asking for an independent probe into allegations about the university's health sciences leadership.
In a statement released late Monday, Hart said she was caught unaware by Arizona Board of Regents president Eileen Klein's comments at the beginning of a Regents meeting held in Tucson on Friday.
Klein referred to both misuse of public funds and the "alteration of public documents" when she opened the meeting, which focused on the leadership of the UA's two medical schools โ the UA College of Medicine Tucson and the UA College of Medicine Phoenix.
"I expect the full cooperation and candor of everyone at the University of Arizona in this process," Hart said in her prepared statement.
The special four hour meeting of the Regents' Health Affairs Committee in Tucson, and another one held in Phoenix Aug. 5, were convened after the Arizona Medical Association took a vote of โno confidenceโ in the UAโs health sciences leadership.
Public attention on the executive leadership of the UA's two medical schools began after six key leaders at the UA College of Medicine Phoenix left earlier this year, including its dean, Dr. Stuart Flynn.
Dr. Joe G.N. "Skip" Garcia, the senior vice president for health sciences who earns $870,000 per year, has also come under public scrutiny following an Arizona Republic article that focused on his travel expenses, including $475 chauffeur-driven car rides between Tucson and Phoenix.
The association asked the regents to conduct an independent investigation. And association vice president Chic Older has made it clear that the association wants the investigation conducted at the behest of the Regents, and not the UA.
Hart had told originally told the Regents at both meetings that the UA was hiring a third party to conduct a "climate survey" in the UA Health Sciences colleges and to also do exit interviews with the UA College of Medicine Phoenix leaders who left.
But on Monday she issued a new statement calling for an independent third-party review with no UA or ABOR employees involved.
In her statement, Hart said Klein's comments at the beginning of Friday's meeting went "far beyond" complaints about leadership, style, morale, organizational climate and resource allocations.
"Ms. Klein's allegations, including misuse of public funds and alteration of public documents, were previously unknown to me," Hart said in her prepared statement.
