SALT LAKE CITY — In a two-page ad published in both Salt Lake newspapers on Friday, Jon Huntsman Sr. defended how much his family has contributed to the Huntsman Cancer Institute and blames the recent dispute over the cancer center on the University of Utah.
The advertisement, which was paid for by Huntsman and uses the Huntsman Cancer Institute logo, says that the Huntsman family, the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, and "almost one million donors" have given $424 million to the cancer institute since it was founded in 1993.
Ad in the Deseret News | Deseret News
The ad also states that the "unnecessary and distracting actions of the past several weeks — instigated by the University of Utah Health Sciences — must not impede our lifesaving work."
Later in the day, Huntsman went on KSL Newsradio’s “The Doug Wright Show” to discuss the ad, taking issue with state lawmakers' questions over state funding versus those of family and private donors with respect to the ongoing governance dispute.
"You have put 7.34 percent of the money for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. You can come in any time you want and audit your 7 percent interest. The other 93 percent has been put up by our family for buildings, for maintenance, for operations, for researchers, for doctors, by our family and by over a million donors. Never before in America has any college or university had this taken place," Huntsman told Wright.
The Huntsman family has demonstrated ongoing commitment to its stated mission to "eradicate cancer from the face of the Earth," he said.
"Most families get their name on a building, whether it's the Eccles or the Marriotts or the Moran Eye Institute, they pay 5 million or 10 million bucks, they get their name thrown on a building and walk away from it. We got our name thrown on a building because we started it and then we paid for the building, and we paid for the next building and then we paid for the next building and then we paid for the next building. We've used bonds. We've paid those bonds off all by ourselves. Some are revenue bonds. Some are research bonds. This is a very,very interesting misconception that the people of the state have.
"Instead of calling for audits on their 7 percent, they ought to be saying, 'Thank you, Mr. Huntsman. Thank you, the 1 million donors who we have around the country. Thank you, thank you, thank you for putting in our state a great cancer center and a research center and a cancer care center unlike any in the world that gives our state tremendous credibility.’ It's the greatest asset we have in the state of Utah," he said.
The University of Utah had no specific comment regarding the advertisement, but spokeswoman Kathy Wilets release a statement that said the University of Utah is committed to resolving all issues related to the institute at the negotiation table.
"As President (David) Pershing stated earlier this week, we will work with key stakeholders to strike a balance between HCI's autonomy as a self-directed research institute and its collaboration and integration with our entire university health system. We will continue to keep forefront in our mind our mission of caring for patients and seeking a cure for cancer, a vision we share with the Huntsman family," the statement said.
On Wednesday, a lawyer representing the university announced the U. will hire an independent auditor to review the "complex financial relationship" between the university and the Huntsman Cancer Foundation ahead of negotiations over the future of the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Alan Sullivan, an attorney with Snell & Wilmer retained by the U. to assist in the negotiations, said the audit will analyze the funds flowing into the Huntsman Cancer Institute and how the institute is using those funds.
David Burton, chairman of the University of Utah board of trustees, following a lengthy executive session of the board on Tuesday described in the agenda as matters of "Character and Professional Competence," said talks are ongoing to develop a new memorandum of understanding between the university and the private, nonprofit Huntsman Cancer Foundation with respect to the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute.
"I think it’s in everybody’s interest to be expeditious but take enough time to do it right so we have a very, very clear document and we don’t have the misunderstandings that perhaps have existed in the past. Easy said, much more difficult to be done," Burton said.
Friday' newspaper advertisement renewed focus on a dispute between the Huntsman family and the university that has been playing out in the press for weeks.
The dispute first flared up when university administrators fired popular Huntsman Cancer Institute Director and CEO Mary Beckerle via email in April. Within weeks, Beckerle was reinstated and U. Senior Vice President of Health Sciences Dr. Vivian Lee, who was one of the people responsible for firing Beckerle, resigned.
On Monday, Huntsman announced that he was taking out the ad in the wake of criticism "by different people who don’t seem to understand who owns it or they don’t seem to understand what the family’s done and what many, many great donors have done."
Titled "A Report to the Citizens of the State of Utah," the ad states that Huntsman Cancer Institute is "wholly owned by the citizens of the state of Utah."
The ad goes on to list a timeline of institute milestones and accomplishments before delving into a financial breakdown of income sources, capital expenditures and surpluses at the Huntsman Cancer Institute and Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
In the financial breakdown, the ad says that the Huntsman family and "family contacts" together donated $656 million to the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Huntsman Cancer Foundation over the years.
The ad also brings up an alleged $54 million that the U. owes the Huntsman Cancer Institute based on a memorandum of understanding signed in 2014.
Also included is a letter from Nevada's former Sen. Harry Reid to "Jon" dated Monday, May 8, in which Reid writes that "it has been brought to my attention that the University of Utah is taking credit for work I did on your behalf and on behalf of the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Nothing can be further from the truth."