Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 6, 1995 TAG: 9505080069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
By a 6-4 vote, the Radford Board of Visitors on Friday awarded a five-year contract to a two-year-old Connecticut company, Collegiate Health Care.
The decision represented a major coup for Collegiate because Radford, with 9,100 students, will be its biggest contract yet. But it's a defeat for Dr. Maria Mandelstamm, who heads the university-funded center and now plans to take the state's employee buyout this summer after 21 years of service.
In a written report, Mandelstamm contended the health center's staff had performed well despite being targeted by budget reductions. Cutbacks, though, made it difficult to take steps to improve services.
"We were made perfectly ready for takeover," Mandelstamm said. "This was all orchestrated."
Radford made the change in the face of unhappy students and concerns about the center's cost in recent years.
"The students weren't happy with what they were getting," said Kristi Nelson, a junior who served on a panel that studied the issue. Last month, the Student Government Association endorsed privatization with Collegiate. Though there had been complaints in the past about service at the health center, "This year is the first year we've actually taken it upon ourselves to do something," said Freddy Bozzuto, an SGA vice president
Collegiate, headed by entrepreneur Brett Prager, said it could provide better, cheaper service. That effort begins with $150,000 in renovations to the current health center this summer.
"By hook or by crook, we are going to get the renovations in," Prager said.
George R. Smith Jr., a Shawsville physician, headed the board of visitors committee that recommended Collegiate. He said university officials assured the committee the young company was financially solid. Moreover, he said, Radford can end the contract with 60 days' notice.
Board member Ginger Mumpower was skeptical. "I still don't feel comfortable about an organization I don't know anything about," she said.
Board Rector Bernard Wampler of Pulaski continued to question the move. "It makes no sense to me to give a five-year contract to an organization that's been in business two years," he said. Sarah Furgurson of Danville and Nancy Wilson of Salem joined them.
Also on Friday, the board called for binding arbitration to settle allegations of abuse made by a staff member, Carole Spencer, against acting university President Charles Owens.
The move followed a 90-minute, closed-door session. No new details of the alleged abuse were released. In a letter from her lawyer to Wampler, Spencer alleges Owens "verbally, mentally and physically abused her" while she worked for him in 1993 and last year.
Earlier Friday, the board approved Owens' return to the $99,100-a-year job of vice president for academic affairs - with a 3.5 percent pay raise. Spencer continues to work as an assistant to the vice president in that office. Owens will return to his old job when Douglas Covington is installed as Radford's president next month.
"There hasn't been abuse as it's been charged," Owens said afterward. "I look forward to public knowledge of that, public vindication."
Spencer's lawyer, Arthur Strickland, questioned what authority an arbitrator would have to resolve what is essentially a personnel matter. He hadn't yet talked the proposal over with his client.
The board's resolution says if Owens and Spencer cannot agree on an arbitrator within 30 days, then the "serious allegation procedures" included in the faculty handbook will kick in and an administrative officer will be named to hear and rule on the case. Either party could later appeal the hearing officer's ruling to the board of visitors.
by CNB