Posted on 01/05/2005 6:00:32 AM PST by MedNole
Faculty members say they are afraid to question the chiropractic school because they fear retribution from either top administrators or the powerful state lawmakers who support it.
The atmosphere is grim, said Marc Freeman, a distinguished research professor in the biology department. "We feel as if something is being shoved down our throats that we don't want."
The growing frustration comes just weeks before votes by FSU's board of trustees and the Florida Board of Governors that could decide the school's fate.
If the school dies, professors should think about the consequences, state Sen. Jim King, an FSU graduate who championed the school, warned Monday.
Legislators may ask FSU to cut millions from its budget next year to pay back the $9-million allocated last year for the chiropractic school.
"I would also suggest that (professors) evaluate with their department heads what kind of cuts there will have to be," said King, R-Jacksonville. If professors derail the chiropractic school, he added, "I think the Legislature would be angry."
In the spring, the Legislature set aside $9-million a year for the chiropractic school. But in recent weeks, hundreds of professors have signed petitions against the idea, angered by the lack of faculty input and egged on by charges from the medical establishment that chiropractic is not grounded in real science. A handful of professors in the fledgling College of Medicine have even threatened to resign.
Now, some faculty members are denouncing the my-way-or-the-highway mentality they say has permeated the debate.
"I've been depressed by the number of people who feel they have no say," said Kent Miller, professor emeritus in psychology. "The message about (the chiropractic school) being a done deal is very real."
Freeman said in 2002, he asked FSU president T.K. Wetherell, then interviewing for the job, what he thought about the chiropractic school.
The former state House speaker told him it was something the Legislature wanted, and that criticism could result in sanctions against FSU, Freeman said.
"The faculty is intimidated by that," Freeman said, noting his department is on the verge of getting a new building. "We have everything to lose.
"I'm happy here, I like this place," Freeman continued. "I just don't want to see it torn apart" by politics.
Wetherell could not be reached for comment Monday, but provost Larry Abele said he could not imagine how the university could retaliate against a professor, even if it wanted to - which it does not.
"There are very few more protected classes than a faculty member at a university," Abele said.
If professors feared for their careers, he said, why would they put their names on the petition opposing the chiropractic school.
"I have been at the Florida State for 30 years, and I have never noticed a reticence on the part of faculty members who disagreed with the university," said Abele, who will formally ask the Board of Governors to approve the school at the end of the month.
J. Stanley Marshall, a former FSU president who sits on the board of trustees, said he's heard indirectly about scared professors. He urged anyone who feels threatened to come forward.
"The university should never be a place where people are not able to speak out on any topic," Marshall said.
"I do not believe the university administration would engage in that activity," he added.
In recent weeks, the chiropractic controversy has taken on a life of its own, so much so that fact and fiction can be difficult to separate.
According to one widely retold story, King tongue-lashed medical school students who confronted him about the chiropractic school.
King said the conversation never happened. He said he won't retaliate against any individual, either, if they help kill the school.
"Would I be disappointed? Yes," King said. "Am I going to be vindictive? No."
He added: "I'm a Scorpio. I'm much more subtle than that."
Dr. Ed Shahady, professor of family medicine and rural health in the College of Medicine, acknowledged that much of the fear comes from "rumor, rumor, rumor." But even rumors can prompt faculty to curb their comments because "you don't want to jeopardize the medical school."
Full-time medical faculty have been quiet about the chiropractic school because they have decided it's a fait accompli, Shahady said. "Did anyone in authority say that to us? No. But that's what we read."
Political interference in academic affairs is exactly what critics feared would happen when the Legislature, encouraged by Gov. Jeb Bush, dismantled the state Board of Regents in 2000.
Bush's right-hand man in that effort, then House Speaker John Thrasher, now chairs the FSU board of trustees.
By overseeing all of the state's universities, the regents prevented the creation of unnecessary programs and suppressed a law-of-the-jungle mentality that pits universities against each other for scarce funding, supporters said. Now a two-tiered system is in place, with the Board of Governors sharing power with trustees at each university, and the governor making all the appointments.
Critics say the new system isn't working. When a group of educators, lawyers and politicians sued the Board of Governors two weeks ago, saying it had failed to use its constitutionally granted powers, the group pointed to the chiropractic school as an example.
Shahady, the medical school professor, said the process for the chiropractic school may turn out to be counterproductive for its supporters. Chiropractic may have its merits, he said, but they won't be heard in the current environment.
"What you're seeing," Shahady said, "is what happens when there's the lack of a forum."
The legislature hired MGT to write a report justifying a chiropractic school in the state. They never said that Florida needed more chiropractors, and there only justification for a school in Florida was that many students leave the state to attend chiropracic schools in other states. The MGT report is available online at http://www.fsu.edu/~chiro/reports.html
Recent studies show that Florida has a HUGE need for physicians in most specialties, and that need will only increase in coming years.
It's more of the faculty at FSU that despise the chiropractic program. Most physicians, I believe, don't care either way.
The Federal government already has a lid on the number of doctors being graduated, most at a huge expense of taxpayer dollars. Yet they allow quotas of foreign trained doctores in and most cannot speak English. The reason is that we do not have to spend tax dollars to send them to school. Throw money away here and save money there. Hell of a way to run a government.
I hate to break it to the professors, but the school DOESN'T BELONG TO YOU. You are employees. If you don't like it, start your own school, then you can run it.
MD's are okay as long as their pharma reps keep them "informed" as to what to prescribe for the next fad disease.
Osteopathy.
Thank God I went to a chiropractor instead of listening to my orthopedist.
I think it is shameful the way you approach this subject. Indeed you make the case for those that find your diatribe less than honest. You bandy around words that are not fitting for this thread or anywhere else.
If you take a closer look at the Chiro profession, you'll discover they have a "society" that awards various levels of "Knighthood" based on earnings (which are driven by repeat visits). This is not the kind of incentive I would expect from a medical professional.
Although chiropractic is a sham business with laughable medicine show practices, people indeed have the RIGHT to visit chiropractors. Thank goodness I can still use my own money to go to the witch doctor of my choice.
They also have the right to wear magnetic jewelry to ward off various diseases I use this as part of my pain relief regimen. It is cheaper and safer than Celebrex.
Chiropractic is a moderately successful business technique based on the (extremely powerful and very real) placebo effect Too bad Mainstream Medicine can't seem to figure out the placebo effect.
to get back to the point of this thread, which is does the afford said congressman have the right to put this school on this campus. I say yes.
Of course he has a right to seek a chiropractic school at FSU, but it doesn't change the fact that it is a waste of money and hurts the university's overall academic reputation.
Acupuncture has a lot more legitimate science backing it than chiropractic.
I notice that is a very outdated paper. I also don't know anything about the organization that produced it. However, there are quite a few studies published in legitimate medical journals, showing strong results for acupuncture in controlled trials, for particular conditions (which does not, of course, mean that every condition that acupuncturists have claimed to treat successfully, is really helped by acupuncture). Search PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi for abstracts of these papers. Most of these studies have been conducted with the participation of MDs, and included placebo subjects, in which patients were subjected to sham acupuncture treatments involving the placement of needles into locations different from the ones actually used in acupuncture. Some of these studies used animals as test subjects.
There have also been a quite a few studies of veterinary acupuncture (again, done by, or with the participation of regular veterinarians), showing strong effects, and it's hard to imagine that animals would display a positive "placebo effect" from having needles stuck into them at the vet's office. Many regular veterinary practices now offer acupuncture services because the veterinarians believe them to be effective. On the other hand, I've never heard of any respectable veterinary practice offering chiropractic treatments.
No aspect of my education [after high school] was taxpayer funded. Private college, private medical school.
I have difficulty understanding the rest of your post.
"I think it is shameful the way you approach this subject. Indeed you make the case for those that find your diatribe less than honest. You bandy around words that are not fitting for this thread or anywhere else."
My post was very specific. Yours is not. If you can cite specific points you wish to refute, I would be happy to address each issue. A general charge of shamelessness and word bandying doesn't lend itself to discussion.
If they already have a School of Education, they cannot complain about a lack of academic standards.
I am glad you obtained relief. We will have to just disagree about WHY you obtained relief, and about your predictions of what may have happened had you instead chosen to see a physician.
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