Embattled Dean Loses Post at UCI Medical School

Dr. Stanley van den Noort, the UC Irvine College of Medicine dean who made friends and enemies by the score in more than a decade of stubbornly advocating his dream of an on-campus teaching hospital, was informed Friday by UCI Chancellor Jack W. Peltason that he will not be returned to his post when his term expires June 30.

The decision, a UCI spokeswoman said, came after completion of van den Noort’s standard five-year performance review, a 5 1/2-month process overseen by the campus Academic Senate that leaves the ultimate decision up to the chancellor.

Peltason, citing university regulations on personnel matters, said he could not reveal why he decided to remove van den Noort as dean. He said the decision was made “in the best interests of the institution,” adding, “I appreciate what he’s done for the university.”

A national search will be launched for a replacement, Peltason said.

Will Return to Professor’s Post

Van den Noort, who took the reins of the once-undistinguished medical school in 1973 and helped turn it into a national leader, will return to his former post as a professor of neurology July 1. His salary will not be affected, he said.

He will leave his post with prospects for the on-campus hospital barely alive. His rivals in what had been dubbed the Irvine hospital war, a coalition of Irvine residents backed by the Irvine Co. and a $5 million foundation grant, have broken ground for the Irvine Medical Center on Sand Canyon Road, several miles from campus.

Interviewed Friday, van den Noort said he believes his drive to build the on-campus hospital, and the highly political fracas stirred up by the battle, played a role in Peltason’s decision. Asked how much of a role, he responded: “I didn’t make the decision, so I can’t say.”

Van den Noort said the letter he received Friday informing him of the decision did not state why he was being removed. He said he had spoken with Peltason and was aware the letter was coming, but he would not elaborate on what had been discussed.

Reaction Was Mostly Cautious Asked if he was unhappy with the decision, van den Noort said: “I’d have to qualify that. I don’t agree with the decision but I accept it. For me personally it’s OK--this is a very hard job, and being a professor of neurology is easier than being a dean.”

Reaction on and off the campus was mostly cautious Friday, though many of those interviewed expressed support for van den Noort.

Ed Buster, chairman of the medical school’s board of trustees, said he was “personally in strong support of the dean” when his comments were solicited during the recent performance evaluation.

“I’m sorry for him, because I think he’s been a very outstanding dean. . . . If in the process of doing his job he’s made himself unacceptable, I’m sorry about that,” Buster said.

Larry Stein, chairman of the medical school’s Department of Pharmacology and head of the medical school departmental chairmen’s group, said he and the head of the medical school Academic Senate will meet with Peltason early next week to discuss the move.

Interested in Chancellor’s Plans “I’ve always been a supporter of the dean. I think he’s been a very good dean. I’m looking forward to that meeting--I’ll be interested to hear what the chancellor has to say and what his plans are,” Stein said.

Longtime campus hospital supporter and former Irvine Mayor Gabrielle Pryor said van den Noort’s removal is an even larger blow to the poor and their efforts to secure adequate medical care.

“I think it’s a shame, not just because the medical school is losing the person who made that school what it is today, but I’m even more disappointed because of what Dean van den Noort has been able to do for medical care for the poor in Orange County. There isn’t a minority group in the county or a group that is supporting and trying to help poor people in Orange County that doesn’t know Dean van den Noort and what he’s done for Orange County.

“Quite frankly, I consider this the result of lengthy agitation by the selfish and status-seeking people in Orange County who were determined to get rid of Dean van den Noort,” Pryor said.

Van den Noort survived while he did in part because he enlisted the aid of some powerful allies.

One of them, state Controller and former Orange County Assemblyman Ken Cory, issued a statement through his office Friday saying he was “shocked and appalled” by van den Noort’s removal.

“In my opinion Stan van den Noort is clearly the best medical dean in the UC system,” Cory said.

The removal of deans after one or two five-year terms, including deans who have performed well, is not unusual in a university, said medical school Trustee John Rau.

But Rau said he had advocated a two-year interim appointment for van den Noort this time in order to avoid the appearance that van den Noort’s removal was “a successful power play by some people in this county.”

Rau said local business and conservative political interests have long been “gunning” for van den Noort. He said the interim appointment would also give Peltason, who became chancellor last September and who Rau described as “his own man,” a chance to evaluate the dean on his own.

Doggedness Attracted Ire Van den Noort’s dogged pursuit of his goals had attracted the ire of his superiors in the past. Former UCI Chancellor Dan Aldrich, saying he wanted to end the discord over an Irvine hospital site, abruptly withdrew his support for an on-campus hospital in mid-1983.

Aldrich said in an interview later that year: “I do feel the manner in which he pursues some things are a problem for the institution.”

Aldrich said he had received many comments asking “why I don’t stop what the dean is doing,” and said: “I have put up with it because that is the nature of the university as I know it . . . all kinds of people make up this world who function differently from me.”

Van den Noort, who said 16 months ago that he would eagerly return to medicine full time “if I could solve that hospital problem,” seemed ready to abandon his quest when interviewed Friday.

Asked if he would continue to work for an on-campus hospital when his administrative role is through, he said: “That’s hard to say. I think I’ll just do my neurological thing.”

Asked if he believes there still is a chance for a hospital on campus, van den Noort replied: “I don’t know.”