History of the Medical College of Georgia

16. Only Yesterday

Chapter 16 Only Yesterday he key to understanding the history of the Medical College of Georgia in the 1970s and early 1980s lies in realizingthat the school has been absorbed with consolidating its earlier gains and reestablishing its old identity. MCG has been deeply concerned with the problem of emphasis: should the main thrust be toward education, research , or patient services—or a happy blending of the three? Should the school continue to underscore its commitment to the state of Georgia and see that it is appropriately and fairly peopled with physicians, dentists , and other health care personnel, or should it reach out in its ambitions for regional status and recognition? Should the school emphasize the old ties it once enjoyed with the community,or should it develop, as many of the more introspective and research-oriented facilities have, as an almost independent entitywithin a city on which it no longer relies for its major political and economic support? Finally, should the curriculum be broadened to include more generous offerings in the humanities and nonscientific studies, similar to that of many other medical schools in the United States? Some of these questions were in the air in 1972 when William H. Moretz was inaugurated as the College's fourth president—just as they still are as this history is being written more than a decade later. That these issues have not been completely clarified and solved should not, of course, be looked upon as a reflection on the Moretz administration for they involve basic philosophical questions that cannot be answered, as the pressing needs of the College in the 1960s were, by an openhanded legislature. In addition, economic developments quite beyond anyone's ken injected themselves into the picture after 1972—developments that not only slowed the seemingly unending growth of the late 1960s, but 214 T 215 Only Yesterday also made the College pause to take stock of itself. Such a moment of self-analysis can only be for the better in the long run. Moretz's inaugural address in 1972 was delivered a scant two weeks after the October 24 death of G. Lombard Kelly, the molder of the modern Medical College. The speech exuded optimism and the belief that the 1970s would continue to show the sort of dramatic gains that the 1960s had. Moretz hoped that in ten years the school could generate about 55 percent of its annual operating budget from internal sources such as fees, hospital revenues, and grants. Although the percentage of the budget expected from the state would be down, the annual appropriation from the people of Georgia by 1982 should rise to $64 million. He projected a total annual budget of approximately $140 million as compared to $35 million for 1972. Enrollment was to increase from 1,650 to 4,000, and the faculty must be more than doubled from 440 to 900. He also suggested the addition of thirty-two more acres to the campus and an added investment in new buildings amounting to somewhere between $80 million and $120 million. Significant growth was expected in both the schools of dentistry and medicine, and notable increases were anticipated in nursing and allied health sciences as well.1 Most of these projections had not been reached by 1983. The demand for physicians and dentists—once so acute—slackened during the period under consideration. New medical schools in Georgia—the first in many years—appeared at Mercer University and Morehouse College and began to compete not just for the public's attention, but for the eyeof the student and for the money of the state and federal government as well. Economic downturns, especially the recession that began in 1973 and hit Augusta particularly hard, were reflective of the national slump that had such a powerful impact throughout the country. Later the loss of grant monies during the Reagan years hurt, particularly in the school of dentistry, although some alternative sources of income were unearthed. Galloping inflation, which seemed to go along so perversely with the economic recession, struck its mighty blow at both the instructional and research dollar and caused hospital expenses to balloon wildly. The situation by the late 1970s had become so serious that the school seemed to find itself trying simply to keep ahead of the most dangerous of the economic indicators. Faculty salaries at MCG fell, just as they did throughout the University System. To cap the climax, economic strin- [3.16.218.62] Project MUSE (2024-04...