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College of Law MATT LAMKIN

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR THE UNIVERSITY OF TULSA COLLEGE OF LAW

3120 EAST FOURTH PLACE TULSA, OKLAHOMA 74104

Matt-Lamkin@utulsa.edu April 11, 2015 Dear Minnesota Legislator, As alumni of the University of Minnesota and teachers and scholars of medical ethics, we are writing to call on the legislature to open hearings into the University’s mishandling of the extensive problems in its Psychiatry Department and to seek the resignations of University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler and other senior officials involved in covering up that scandal. Although the problems in the Psychiatry Department predate Mr. Kaler’s tenure as president, his failure of leadership in addressing those issues has allowed them to fester for years, inflicting incalculable damage on our alma mater. While Mr. Kaler has stated his goal is to make the University of Minnesota one of “the nation’s best public research universities,” under his tenure it has instead become a global poster child for research misconduct and institutional corruption. The University’s mishandling of these problems is now taught in medical ethics classes around the world. In response to the AAHRP and Legislative Auditor’s reports that confirmed longstanding and widely publicized criticisms of the University’s treatment of vulnerable research subjects, Mr. Kaler has claimed that he was previously unaware of these problems. You do not need to be a medical ethicist to see that Mr. Kaler’s statement is not only disingenuous but false. The ethical breaches in the Markingson case have been glaringly obvious for years. To take only a few examples:

• The problems in the University’s Department of Psychiatry have been the subject of unrelenting media attention, starting before Mr. Kaler entered office and continuing through the present day. These problems have been featured in news locally, nationwide, and across the world, in outlets including The Wall Street Journal, TIME, Science, Nature, The British Medical Journal, The Medical Journal of Australia, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Scientific American, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The St Paul Pioneer Press, Mother Jones, Minnesota Public Radio, MinnPost, and even the University’s own Minnesota Daily.

• When Mr. Kaler took office in 2011, Dr. Carl Elliott – a faculty member at the University’s Center for Bioethics – sent him materials alerting him to the serious issues in

the Psychiatry Department. When Dr. Elliott asked to meet privately with Mr. Kaler to discuss the problems, Mr. Kaler refused.

• In 2012, the Minnesota Board of Social Work found that Jean Kenney, the University employee who served as the coordinator for the study in which Dan Markingson died, had improperly made medical diagnoses and administered prescription drugs, made mistakes about medication dosages, omitted critical information relevant to suicide prevention, kept records “devoid of any clearly articulated, consistent set of treatment goals,” and repeatedly signed a physician’s initials in Markingson’s chart. These serious problems clearly belied the University’s claim that it had done nothing wrong in its treatment of Markingson, yet Mr. Kaler continued to insist the University was blameless.

• In 2013, more than 250 ethicists, physicians, and scholars – including editors of the world’s most prestigious medical journals – signed a petition to Governor Dayton calling for an independent investigation into Mr. Markingson’s death. Mr. Kaler still took no action.

• In December 2013, the University’s Faculty Senate voted for an inquiry into clinical research practices at the University. The “Resolution on the Matter of the Markingson case” expressly stated that the inquiry was to resolve “questions [that] continue to be raised about the policies and procedures followed in the Markingson case.” Yet Mr. Kaler sought to avoid any consideration of that case or other abuses, stating that the inquiry would instead focus solely on “what we are doing now and what we’re going to do moving forward.”

• In May of 2014, Leigh Turner, a professor of bioethics at the University, posed the

following question to the Board of Regents at a meeting at which Mr. Kaler was present: “Are you prepared for the possibility that if a legitimate, independent investigation occurs, the University of Minnesota could be exposed as an institution where research misconduct occurred and you dismissed all requests to investigate possible wrongdoing?” The following month, at the invitation of former Governor Arne Carlson, Turner arrived to discuss the Markingson case with Carlson, Kaler and Richard Beeson, the Chair of the Board of Regents. Kaler and Beeson refused to allow Turner to participate in the meeting and threatened to cancel the meeting unless he was excluded.

Given the foregoing, Mr. Kaler’s claim that he was previously unaware of these problems – including as recently as last month – leaves only two possibilities: either he is not being truthful, or he is far too oblivious to be entrusted to lead the state’s flagship university. In either case, for Mr. Kaler to claim ignorance at this point is an insult to the legislature as well as to the people of Minnesota.

Mr. Kaler’s leadership has failed on every level. Morally, his intransigence has allowed the Department of Psychiatry to continue conducting research on vulnerable subjects with grossly inadequate protections. From a legal and financial perspective, his failure to acknowledge and

address these problems places the University in jeopardy of lawsuits and puts at risk millions in funding – both from the belated suspension of clinical trials and the potential to lose federal research grants. From a public relations standpoint, by allowing these issues to fester he has destroyed the institution’s credibility and subjected the University to an unending stream of negative press worldwide. The fact that the Markingson case required an investigation by the Legislative Auditor at all is a failure of leadership of staggering proportions.

The University needs a leader who understands the gravity of the situation and has the credibility to address it. It is clear that Mr. Kaler is not capable of meeting these demands. Even after all the revelations, he seems intent on continuing down the same path. After announcing his intention to reform, he appointed a review committee comprised of many of the same people who have participated in the cover-up or turned a blind eye to it. We agree with former Governor Arne Carlson that the reputation of the University cannot be restored until Mr. Kaler and other senior officials are replaced.

The Legislative Auditor’s report stated, “The insular culture at the university has shown that it will not address these issues. This culture, manifested in the University’s current leadership, will prevent any restoration of public trust.” James Nobles, the Legislative Auditor, went on to say, “My only hope is that the legislature is now involved and will stay involved.”

We agree. Accordingly, we are writing to call on the legislature to open hearings into the cover-up of abuse and misconduct at the University of Minnesota. We are especially troubled by the growing evidence that the misconduct extends well beyond the Markingson case and that University officials have hidden the extent of the problems. Please hold President Kaler and senior administrators accountable for the damage that continues to be done to the reputation of our university.

Sincerely,

Matthew D. Lamkin, JD, MA, Assistant Professor, University of Tulsa College of Law Emily Smith Beitiks, PhD, Assistant Director of the Longmore Institute on Disability, San Francisco State University Joseph E. Davis, PhD, Director of Research at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia Alicia Hall, PhD, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Mississippi State University James Harold, PhD, Professor of Philosophy and Chair, Mount Holyoke College

Susan Hawthorne, PhD, Associate Professor of Philosophy, St. Catherine University Ramona Illea, PhD, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair, Pacific University Monica Greenwell Janzen, PhD, Philosophy Faculty, Hennepin Technical College Britt E. Johnson, PhD, JD, Assistant Professor of Bioethics, Kansas City University of Medicine & Biosciences Greg Kaebnick, PhD, Editor, The Hastings Center Report Matt McGeachy, MA, Toronto Barton Moffatt, PhD, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Mississippi State University Susan Parry, PhD, Philosophy Faculty, Hennepin Technical College Elita Poplavska, PhD, Assistant Professor, Riga Stradins University Maran Wolston, MA, Philosophy Faculty, Minneapolis Community and Technical College