Medical Faculty Assembly President Kaslow called the meeting to order and offered some introductory remarks regarding the purpose of the school, and the role of faculty in governance. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Applying this thought to the School of Medicine suggests that the School of Medicine exists to advance the free search for truth and its free exposition particularly in the field of medicine. In its School of Medicine, the University has created a community of medical scholars, which sustains scholarship in part by providing education and service.
Universities spring from a different culture.
Faculty are citizens of their institutions as well as employees, citizens who deserve loyalty of the institution even as the institution asks for theirs. Whether universities adapt successfully to the present environment will, in my view, depend on whether individual faculty members correctly read the needs of the era and take personal responsibility for the success of their institutions. I can think of nothing more important or rewarding than to help preserve our research universities for the next generation so that they may continue to represent the highest aspirations of the American people. Dr. Kaslow suggested that the personal responsibility of faculty is not limited just to teaching, research, or the delivery of clinical care, but extends to governance. He urged the faculty to participate, and the administration to embrace that participation.