FSU public chiropractic college

[Guest guest]

This is an interesting tangential to the current 'licensing'

discussion.....

 

 

Published Monday, December 13, 2004

Opponents Try to Kill Plan For FSU Chiropractic School

 

By STEVE BOUSQUET

St. Petersburg Times

 

TALLAHASSEE -- By the stroke of a pen, Gov. Jeb Bush and the Legislature

allocated millions of dollars this year to create the nation's first

public

chiropractic school at Florida State University.

 

The school is a longtime dream of Republican state Sen. Dennis Jones of

Treasure Island, a chiropractor who hopes to someday play a role in the

school.

 

But now, doctors, FSU faculty members and alumni are trying to kill it.

 

A petition being circulated on the Internet questions the need for the

school, claims it is being rushed through without debate and carries a

familiar tone: Doctors have little faith in chiropractors or the care

they

offer.

 

" Our position is not so much to attack chiropractic itself but to say

there's no need for a doctoral program in spinal manipulation, " said Dr.

Raymond Bellamy, an orthopedic surgeon and FSU graduate leading the

opposition. " I think it would irreparably harm the scientific

effectiveness

and reputations of all the other great programs at the university. "

 

FSU's trustees and the state Board of Governors for higher education

must

approve the school in separate votes in January. Opponents plan to

present

their petition and their arguments to trustees Jan. 14. The Board of

Governors votes a week later.

 

Critics say the new school would devalue other FSU degrees and they call

chiropractic " pseudo-science. " They say critics in FSU's medical school

and

student body were hushed by pressure politics, and that holding two key

votes on the issue soon after the holidays is an attempt to stifle

opposition.

 

Dr. Steve Rothrock, an FSU graduate who teaches at his alma mater's

medical

school, called chiropractic " quackery. " In an email to Bellamy,

Rothrock

said he would consider resigning if the school is established.

 

Dr. Steven Blumsack, a 36-year member of FSU's math faculty and a

faculty

senator, said he had no opinion on the need for the school, but said

too

many education decisions are made in haste.

 

" We need to have a discussion. To my knowledge, it hasn't happened, "

Blumsack said.

 

With little public discussion or debate, the 2004 Legislature

appropriated

$9 million a year for FSU's new School of Chiropractic Medicine in a

deal

brokered by Bush and legislative leaders before the session began.

 

Former Senate President Jim King, an FSU graduate, wanted the

chiropractic

school as part of a package that included millions for then-House

Speaker

Johnnie Byrd's priority, an Alzheimer's research institute at the

University

of South Florida.

 

Bush said Thursday the deal bought peace between King and Byrd, who did

not

get along.

 

" I did so without a love for building a public chiropractic school, "

Bush

said. " I did it because I wanted to make the effort to try and bring

some

harmony in the legislative process. "

 

Even though King is no longer running the Senate, Bush said he will

keep his

word and support the project in his proposed budget. But he said the

Board

of Governors, whose members Bush appoints, have the authority to

approve or

reject the program.

 

King was the chiropractic school's most powerful champion but Jones is

its

true father.

 

" This is not a new issue, " Jones said. " It's been over 10 years in the

making. "

 

Jones calls the criticism " nothing new " and said he expects opposition

from

the medical establishment.

 

" Chiropractic care is some of the safest care that's offered in the

world, "

Jones said. " But any time we've tried to move our programs forward,

they've

always stepped up in opposition. "

 

He said 600 to 900 students leave Florida every year to attend private

chiropractic schools out of state. That may explain why so few Hispanic

and

black chiropractors practice in Florida, he said.

 

After his legislative days are over in 2012, Jones said, he would like

to

play a role in the chiropractic school. He suggested as a possibility a

distance-learning program in which FSU students would work in

chiropractic

clinics in the Tampa Bay area.

 

" I would like to be involved in that, " said Jones, who runs Northeast

Chiropractic Center in St. Petersburg. " But that's looking pretty far

down

the road, if you ask me. "

 

FSU's proposal calls for hiring more than 100 new faculty members for a

graduate level College of Complementary and Integrative Health. Students

seeking a doctor of chiropractic degree would also have to complete a

master's degree in a five-year program in one of five areas: food and

nutrition, movement and exercise science, public Health, Health Policy

Research or Aging Studies.

 

Even if the FSU and state boards approve the new school, it must also

seek

accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and

from

a separate chiropractic accreditation board.

 

" It's not a done deal, " FSU provost Larry Abele said. " There are a lot

of

steps to go through. "

 

Some members of the Board of Governors said they were irked that the

legislative deal seemed to block their involvement in a key decision.

Two

board members wouldn't say whether they would vote to create the school.

 

" When it comes before the board, we will do the right thing, and see if

there's a need for that, " said Zachariah Zachariah, a Fort Lauderdale

cardiologist. He seconded a resolution at a November meeting when the

board

demanded FSU submit the program for its approval.

 

Board member Steve Uhlfelder, a Tallahassee lawyer, said he would be

guided

by what the FSU trustees decide. But he said the chiropractic school

was the

reverse of most state university programs.

 

" Usually you approve a program and then there's funding. In this case,

they

got the $9 million, and the question is, `Do you want to do the

program?'

The cart's before the horse, " Uhlfelder said.