School, A Staff Study Prepared at the Request of the Provost of the University of Massachusetts,” July 22, 1960, Box 46, fol. 571, Lederle, UM/A. For a more detailed discussion of the UMass faculty study, sometimes known as the Maher study, see Chapter 1, above. 30
Lamar Soutter, “A New Medical School?” The Donahue Commission was authorized just a month or so after this editorial appeared. For example, Soutter’s article on medical students’ financial plight in the BU Medical Quarterly was reprinted in the Journal of Medical Education and widely read and discussed. Even Senators Hubert Humphrey and Lister Hill read it, and it contributed to the legislation passed as Title II of the National Defense Education Act of 1958. Lamar Soutter, “More about Student Finances,” Boston Medical Quarterly, 1958, 9:84, pp. 84-85. 31
32
Oddly, the official history of Boston University School of Medicine lists Soutter among all the deans, but gives his title as “Acting Dean.” McNamara, Generations, p. 103. My deep thanks to Ms. A’Llyn Ettiene, archivist and Head of Technical Services, Boston University Medical School Library, for locating a Boston University Medical School press bulletin (No. 170-60) dated April 10, 1960, that announced Soutter’s appointment as Dean. A subsequent press release announced his last day as Dean as Aug. 1, 1961. Both documents are in the catalogued holdings of BUSM’s Alumni Medical Library. Personal communication from A’Llyn Ettiene, July 23, 2010. Background information was also supplied by Dr. Aram Chobanian, interviewed by Ellen More; and, Nicholas Soutter, Esq., Oral History telephone interview. Soutter’s successor at BU, Dr. Sidney Gellis, was given the title of Acting Dean for the two years he remained at the school. McNamara, Generations, p. 103. 33
Quotation in “Informal Meeting of Board of Trustees,” Dec. 11, 1965, p. 5, Box, “Board of Trustees, Minutes of Meetings of Full Board and Trustees, 1965 (Oct.-Dec.) and 1966 (Jan.-Mar.),” fol. “Trustees (Full Board), Minutes, Agenda, etc. (Dec.) 1965,” Trustees, UM/A. 34
Soutter, “Curriculum Vitae,” p. 3; [John W. Lederle, Criteria for Dean], handwritten note, n.d., but c. Jan., 1963, in Box 45, fol. 550, “Medical School Dean, 1962-1970,” Lederle; Ian Forman, “State Med School by 1966?: Opposition Lingers; Search for Dean Narrows to 15,” Boston Sunday Globe, March 10, 1963, n.p., in Box “Other Campuses: Medical School, Worcester, Newsclippings, 1951-1965,” fol., “Newsclippings, 1951-1964,” Other Campuses; all at UM/A. 35
Not everyone was impressed with Dr. Soutter at the beginning. President Lederle recalled that he had been unimpressive in his initial interview: “Well…all I can remember is Bimi didn’t make the best impression during the interview. The one thing he was interested in was that they usually didn’t have enough cadavers for a medical school. And at a certain point I remember Judge Fox saying, ‘Don’t ever mention that again. I will guarantee you that you’ll have all the cadavers you want.’ Well, I don’t know…where he was going to get them. Fox had a pipeline to cadavers and Bimi wasn’t supposed to worry about it…But this was a serious thing to Bimi.” Robert J. McCartney, Oral History Interview with John W. Lederle, 1975, p, 53, Box 1, fol. 14, “Oral History Program Interview Transcript,” UM/A. 61