Legislators want more answers about UConn’s funneling millions to private foundation

UConn campus file photo © 2009 by Brenda Sullivan.

University of Connecticut officials met with state legislators this week to discuss the “common practice” of giving funds to a private foundation that raises funds for the university.

The meeting took place Monday [Oct. 5] with UConn officials, UConn Foundation staff and representatives from the state legislature’s Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee present.

Committee Co-chairs State Sen. Mary Ann Handley, D-Manchester, and State Rep. Roberta Willis, D-Salisbury attended.

$50 million

UConn officials recently came under fire when news broke they had given more than $50 million to the private UConn Foundation to raise money for the university.

Former state Rep. Jonathan Pelto from Mansfield first contacted state media in September about what he called this “mysterious” practice.

According to Pelto, UConn officials have been funneling millions of dollars to the foundation since at least fiscal year 2000. He called upon state and university officials to halt the practice. He said it is “truly incredible” and “fiscally irresponsible” to transfer student funds to the Foundation.

Willis said today that the meeting – which took place in Hartford and lasted an hour and a half – was productive, but still left some questions.

“What’s challenging for us as legislators, right now, is the university – as with other constituency units – [is] seeing more cuts and less and less contribution from the state,” she said. “With that in mind, it’s difficult for us to be critical of the situation.”

She said she and Handley – who could not be reached for comment this morning – wanted to meet with UConn officials when they learned of the transferred funds.

“We felt we really needed to ask them some questions,” she said. And committee members plan to meet with other state agencies to get a “complete handle on what’s going on,” she added.

A “complicated” relationship

Willis said the meeting consisted of going line-by-line down the “laundry list” of allegations Pelto made against UConn.

According to Willis, the purpose of the meeting was to clarify the relationship between the university and the UConn Foundation.

“The connection between the university and the Foundation is complicated by the fact (the Foundation is) private,” she said.

Willis said she and Handley discovered the relationship – and lack of total transparency from the Foundation – has resulted in a “gray area.”

“You don’t get the entire picture,” she said. “There isn’t complete transparency.”

As a private organization, the UConn Foundation is not required to make complete disclosure of how its funding is handled or spent.

University spokesman Michael Kirk said the meeting between legislators and UConn officials was cordial and productive. He said university officials were glad to meet with Willis and Handley to answer any questions they had.

Although Willis said she now feels more “comfortable” with the practice of UConn giving funds to the UConn Foundation, the issue was not yet resolved.

“Before we close the book on this, we have to ask more questions,” she said, adding she and Handley would continue mulling over the practice before February’s legislative session.

Posted Oct. 9, 2009

[Edited - and reprinted in partnership with The Chronicle.]

Folk icon Arlo Guthrie flashes back to the Woodstock-era with UConn students

The Guthrie Family. Photo courtesy of Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts

University of Connecticut freshmen in the “Connecting with the Arts” class had the rare pleasure of talking with folksinging icon, Arlo Guthrie, at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday morning.

The get-together precedes his performances this weekend,  tonight [Oct. 9] and Saturday 10 at 8 p.m. – “The Guthrie Family Rides Again,” in Jorgensen’s “cabaret,” a cozy, candlelit nightclub setting that offers food and drink.

His was a distinctive voice in the 1960s, with his recording of “Alice’s Restaurant” and “Coming into Los Angeles.” The year 2009 is the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock, and Guthrie was there.

The students studied the political, social and cultural impact of the 1960s before meeting with Guthrie, and one of the students asked what it felt like to have been part of an event that made history.

UConn students chat with folksinging icon Woodie Guthrie at a "Connecting with the Arts" class held at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on Oct. 8, 2009. Photo by Carol Davidge.

Guthrie replied that he is always surprised to think that he was “part of history,” and said he hopes each generation will have its own brush with history.

He added that he believes each individual can contribute far more than they expect of themselves. “Expand your awareness,” he said. “Be open to experiencing all people, all cultures and all forms of nature.”

The year of Woodstock, 1969, Guthrie also married his wife, Jackie, and they bought a farm in western Massachusetts where they brought up four children who travel and sing with them.

Guthrie said he’s had a happy life. The key, he told the students, lies is the oft-told advice to figure out who you are and be true to yourself.

Guthrie was invited to the class by Jorgensen Director Rodney Rock, who collaborates in teaching with Lesa von Munktin-Smith of the FYE program and Frank Mack of the Connecticut Repertory Theatre.

Guthrie will visit only one other college class (at UCLA) this year.

The Guthrie legacy

Arlo Guthrie grew up surrounded by music greats like Pete Seeger, Leadbelly and his own father, Woody.

At 13, he gave his first public performance and was quickly involved in the earth-altering sounds of the ’60s.

He was a fixture in folk venues as balladeers and blues-men gave way to new singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Phil Ochs.

Arlo grooved with beat poet Allen Ginsburg and picked guitar with Doc Watson; he learned something from everyone and yet, developed a distinctive voice among a crowded chorus of musical activists.

Arlo Guthrie established The Guthrie Center, a not-for-profit, interfaith foundation addressing environmental, health care, cultural and educational issues. Courtesy photo.

His most famous work, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” is a talking-blues song that originally lasted 18 minutes and 34 seconds – the exact length of a famous gap in the Watergate tapes.

This satirical protest against the Vietnam War draft is based on his rejection by the draft board as unfit for military service because of a criminal record – for littering and creating a public nuisance.

For four decades, Arlo Guthrie has toured the globe to a wide, popular following.

Folk Music Guide’s Kim Ruehl calls his songs “strikingly beautiful and earnestly poignant.” Critic Dave White says he can “captivate an audience, not by grabbing them by the throat, but by gently slipping them into his pocket.” A natural storyteller, Arlo weaves his anecdotes into his performances.

Besides launching Rising Son Records, making TV appearances and writing an award-winning children’s book, he established The Guthrie Center, a not-for-profit, interfaith foundation addressing environmental, health care, cultural and educational issues.

The Guthries have been called the “First Family of American Folk Music.” Three generations gathered onstage performing favorite songs and newly-scored, previously unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics, prove that the legacy endures.

For information about this weekend’s performances, or to purchase tickets, go to www.Jorgensen.uconn.edu or call (860) 486-4226. Tickets are also available at the Box Office one hour before the performance.

Posted Oct. 9, 2009

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Is committee 'overstepping its bounds'?

The Four Corners village of Mansfield, CT - where Routes 195 and 44 intersect. File photo © 2009 by Brenda Sullivan.

The charge of the town’s Four Corners sewer study advisory committee has been questioned and town council members will review it at their next meeting.

“I don’t know where other council members stand,” said Council member Helen Koehn at the last town council meeting. “But, I think this committee is overstepping its bounds.”

Specifically, Koehn said she was concerned members of the committee – the group overseeing the potential for re-growth at the intersection of routes 195 and 44 – are suggesting bringing public water lines to the intersection.

She said she originally thought the committee’s focus was solely on sewer issues. The intersection isn’t served by public sewers and that is seen as a key hurdle to Four Corners development.

Koehn told council members Sept. 28 she was concerned the committee was meeting with University of Connecticut and Connecticut Water Co. officials about the water situation when sewers are considered a major issue.

Committee chair and Council member Gene Nesbitt said he did not agree with Koehn. He said the committee is doing what they were charged to do.

“I think the charge was very clear,” he said; the group’s charge did include probing water project possibilities. “[Water] was not added after we voted on it.”

Koehn said when the council voted to form the advisory committee, water was not discussed.

According to Nesbitt, committee members were talking to both UConn and CT Water only to get information on the current water situation at the busy intersection – currently served with well water.

“Sewer, alone, is not going to be satisfactory or a sustainable way to attack this,” he said. “Water is, obviously, a major challenge.”

He said committee members were not negotiating for the town, just asking questions about ways to bring better water to the area.

“We’re just an advisory committee trying to gather information,” said Nesbitt.

However, Koehn said she had not been presented with information and would hope work done at the committee level would be brought forward to the council.

Nesbitt said Koehn is welcome to attend committee meetings and he would try to gather information for the council.

Despite concerns raised by Koehn, Nesbitt said he is confident the committee wisacting within the confines of its charge.

“Water is a very hot issue,” he said. “It could come back to bite the next council in the whazoo (sic).”

Posted Oct. 10, 2009

Republished in partnership with The Chronicle

Connecticut among first states to get H1N1 vaccine

The CDC’s Dr. Terrence Tumpey, staff microbiologist and a member of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, examining reconstructed 1918 Pandemic Influenza Virus inside a specimen vial. Dr. Tumpey recreated the 1918 influenza virus in order to identify the characteristics that made this organism such a deadly pathogen. Work such as this enables researchers to develop new vaccines and treatments for future pandemic influenza viruses. The 1918 Spanish flu epidemic caused by an influenza A (H1N1) virus, killed more than 500,000 people in the US, and up to 50 million worldwide. (Photo by James Gathany/CDC)

With the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that there is now “substantial flu in virtually all states” – and a majority is the H1N1 strain – states are finally receiving their first shipments of H1N1 vaccine.

According to the CDC, as of last Friday, Oct. 3, approximately 3 million doses were available to order, and a total of 6-7 million doses were expected to be available to order by the end of this week.

In a CDC press conference held last Thursday, Rear Admiral Dr. Anne Schuchat said that the first courses of the vaccine would be arriving in 23 states by Tuesday, Oct. 6. And that these first shipments would be the nasal inhalant form, because it could be formulated more quickly than the form that is injected.

Dr. Schuchat, who heads the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, stressed that “there was no cutting corners” in clinical trials that preceded distribution of these first batches of H1N1 vaccine.

She added that clinical trials are continuing and, “so far, there have been no red flags, in terms of safety.”

Dr. Schuchat also repeated information announced in September, that this vaccine takes effect much faster than expected – in 8 to 10 days – compared to the three weeks initially expected, and that only one dose will be needed instead of two doses separated by four weeks.

The new vaccine has been described as “very robust” and this means people who get the vaccine will be protected much sooner.

Dr. Schuchat also stressed that “you cannot get the flu from the vaccine.”

Vaccine arriving in Connecticut

Photo by James Gathany/CDC.

On Oct. 9, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced that an initial shipment of more than 20,000 doses of the intranasal H1N1 vaccine has arrived and another 20,000 doses, which will include the injectable form, are due next week. The vaccine is being distributed directly to providers who have placed orders with the state Department of Public Health.

Gov. Rell expects the state to receive more than 500,000 doses of both the injectable and intranasal H1N1 vaccines by mid-October and then several thousand more in weekly shipments thereafter.

28 deaths among pregnant women

Dr. Schuchat also reported that the H1N1 flu is already having an especially serious impact on pregnant women.

As of  late August, she said, about 100 pregnant women throughout the US infected with H1N1 had been reported admitted to intensive care, and 28 of them died.

“These are upsetting numbers, I know,” she said. “I want to remind women, doctors and midwives that antiviral medication can be a very important protection.”

Her comments underline the strategy the federal government is recommending for administration of the H1N1 vaccine, and that is to encourage healthcare workers and employees who work with children to get immunized – thereby lowering the risk of infecting those they care for.

Complications of pneumonia

Dr. Schuchat also reported that autopsies performed on 77 people who died after contracting the H1N1 virus revealed that more than one-third also had developed pneumonia. What this means, she said, is that someone with a history of respiratory health issues, or with a weakened immune system might benefit from getting a pneumaccocal vaccination in addition to the H1N1 shot.

Tamiflu also available

In addition to the H1N1 vaccine, 300,000 courses of liquid Tamiflu – which is administered after someone has come down with the flu – is also being made available. “Each state will receive its proportion,” she said.

In addition to the H1N1 vaccine, 300,000 courses of liquid Tamiflu – which is administered after someone has come down with the flu – is also being made available. Pictured here is the capsule form.

In order to provide as much of this medication as possible, tests were run on supplies that have expired to determine if some might still be effective enough to distribute. “The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has extended the expiration dates of some of the liquid formulation, after careful testing,” Dr. Schuchat said.

She said these supplies were found still to be potent and safe to use. “It’s not just changing the label,” she said.

Like the H1N1 flu vaccine, distribution of Tamiflu will be prioritized, with supplies going first to people with underlying illnesses such as diabetes and asthma, to pregnant women, and to “the very old and the very young,” Dr. Schuchat said.

Warning signs in children

Dr. Schuchat also outlined some warning signs for parents that may indicate the need to ask their doctor if their child might be in need of Tamiflu. These signs include fast breathing, “looking a little blue or gray,’ getting better and then getting much worse, and trouble being woken up.

Updates post on Fridays

Beginning last week, the CDC began posting updates on how much H1N1 vaccine is available and how much was shipped between Wednesday and Friday.

As of last week, there were 6 million doses available, “but more is being produced,” Dr. Schuchat said.

“We’re planning to have enough vaccine so that anybody who wants to be vaccinated can be,” she said.

“It is important to say that we are just in the beginning… but we are starting much earlier than expected,” she said. Last month, the CDC said it expected to receive vaccine in mid-October.

“The first doses will be the nasal spray, live attenuated influenza vaccine [LAIV], which we expect to be for those age 2 to 49, and for those with chronic medical conditions or who are pregnant,” Dr. Schuchat said.

“We are targeting the priority groups… which is more than half the country,” she said.

What Connecticut is doing

The Connecticut Department of Public Health, in accordance with the state’s H1N1 vaccination distribution plan, advises that the first shipments of the intranasal vaccine be used for healthy children 2-4, who are at greater risk for severe illness if they contract the H1N1 flu.

The first round also is being made available to caregivers and household contacts of children younger than 6 months, and hospital healthcare workers and Emergency Medical Services personnel with direct patient contact.

The second round of vaccine will expand the priority groups to include pregnant women and people under the age of 18 with high-risk medical conditions.

Colorized transmission electron micrograph of Avian influenza A H5N1 viruses (seen in gold) grown in MDCK cells (seen in green). The current H1N1 virus includes avian, swine and human flu strains. (Photo by Cynthia Goldsmith/CDC)

DPH Commissioner Dr. J. Robert Galvin says, “People who belong to these priority groups should contact their healthcare provider to find if their provider will be getting the vaccine.  If somebody does not have a healthcare provider or if their provider is not getting the vaccine, they should call the H1N1 Hotline at 800-830-9426.”

He adds, “It is important that people understand that the vaccine is just now beginning to arrive in the state and we expect to receive more vaccine every week.  People may need to be patient and persistent to get the vaccine in these early rounds of vaccine supply.”

DPH has established outlets where the public and providers can get information on the vaccine:

H1N1 hotline – 1-800-830-9426 or www.ct.gov/ctfluwatch The H1N1 hotline is staffed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday (except Mon. Oct. 12 which is the Columbus Day holiday.)

Doctors and other health care providers interested in registering with the DPH to place orders for the vaccine can get information at:

www.ct.gov/ctfluwatch/providers or 860-509-7929.

Also get the seasonal flu shot

The H1N1 vaccine is only effective against the H1N1 virus and does not protect against seasonal influenza.  Public health officials encourage Connecticut residents to get their seasonal flu vaccination, in addition to the H1N1 vaccination. That vaccine is available in a number of locations, including clinics held at pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreen’s, as well as doctor’s offices and some walk-in clinics.

More information is also available at www.flu.gov .

Posted Oct. 10, 2009

[Also see other stories posted here concerning the H1N1 flu, including, “Pregnant women first in line, age 65-and-older last for new H1N1 vaccine,”  http://mansfield.htnp.com/?p=4726 and “Good news about the H1N1 vaccine,” published on Sept. 17, 2009 http://mansfield.htnp.com/?p=6025