1/28/05 Florida State board votes against program But 'the saga' may continue, some say By Melanie Yeager DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER GAINESVILLE - Demonstrating its power to decide what graduate and professional programs are taught in Florida, the Board of Governors on Thursday voted 10-3 to turn down Florida State University's proposal for a chiropractic program. "To me, the board did what it's constitutionally approved to do," said John Dasburg, vice chairman of the board, who proposed rejecting the chiropractic proposal. In doing so, the state board goes against the wishes of the Legislature, which authorized a chiropractic degree last year and gave FSU a $9million annual spending tab to start it. The legislation says FSU can use the money however it sees fit until a chiropractic school is in place. What will happen to FSU's $9 million money stream is unclear, but House Speaker Allan Bense says it will be reviewed. "We're going to abide by their decision," FSU President T.K. Wetherell said after the governors' vote. He said FSU will be looking to legislative leaders for guidance. "I'm sitting here with money, and I'm sitting here with a law." Dennis Jones, the Republican senator from Seminole and chiropractor who has pushed the idea of a chiropractic school for years, said that, regardless of the vote, the money for the school stands unless the Legislature repeals the law. A possible $9 million cut in FSU's revenue wasn't the university's only blow Thursday. The Board of Governors surprised university officials by deciding to shave about $15 million off FSU's portion of the board's draft legislative request for construction dollars next year. FSU planned to use much of that - $5.8 million - for its $43 million life-sciences complex. At one time the complex was under consideration as a possible site for a new chiropractic school. The state board may increase its request for FSU at a later date, but many think the possibility of a public chiropractic school in Florida is dead. "They denied approval," said FSU Provost Larry Abele. "It is over. It's really over." The program proposal has consumed the time of FSU and state-board officials as they have fielded passionate pleas for and against a chiropractic program. Dr. Ray Bellamy, a Tallahassee orthopedic surgeon and the lead naysayer against starting the school at his alma mater, couldn't hide his elation after the vote. "I'm delighted. I'm ready for the champagne," he said. He and others have sai d chiropractic medicine lacks needed scientific evidence and will hurt FSU's hard-earned academic reputation. Proponents have argued that having a chiropractic school at a public research university will accelerate efforts to validate best methods of chiropractic care. "We've been 10 years working on this. We're patient and proud," said Jack Hebert, director of government relations for the Florida Chiropractic Association. "If not this university, there will be other universities." Board's power becomes factor Those voting for the motion to kill FSU's project gave different reasons for turning it down, including the lack of a demonstrated need for more Florida chiropractors and limited state resources to spend on new schools. Three members of the state board - Jarrett Eady, Gerri Moll and Ava Parker - voted against the motion, but not because they supported the school. All three expressed concern that the board would take an up-or-down vote without the proposal being fully vetted by FSU faculty, then considered by the FSU board of trustees. "I think the time would be time well spent," Parker said of a faculty review. Moll said she would rather see the issue go through the appropriate process. "This process has been out of sequence from the beginning," said Carolyn Roberts, governors chairwoman, who opposed the school but as chairwoman didn't vote on the issue. "I think after today everyone will understand there's a process to follow." But the lawmakers who authorized the process said the rules for starting graduate programs changed in the middle of the game. "If you were to say what is the iceberg that this Titanic hit, it was the fact that we got somehow into a muscle war with the BOG as to what their powers were and what they weren't," said Jim King, former Senate president, who pushed through millions of dollars for a chiropractic school and other projects at FSU. Voters in 2002 approved a constitutional amendment creating the Board of Governors to manage the universities. The last state board running universities, the Board of Regents, was created, then abolished, by lawmakers. The state board says its state powers to approve programs isn't subject to the Legislature. Still, lawmakers control any state money universities receive. Bense said he's assigned Rep. Dudley Goodlette, R-Naples, to lead a review of the issues surrounding university governance. "The chiro school was the flash point, and that debate will continue," Bense said. "Maybe the saga will continue." The Board of Governors' decision also comes a month after a suit was filed in Leon County Court alleging Gov. Jeb Bush and the Legislature violated the constitutional amendment that created the state board to manage universities. E.T. York, a former chancellor of the university system and a driver behind the amendment and lawsuit, lauded the state board for making a decision Thursday. "They have begun to administer their constitutional responsibilities as they should do," York said. But he said there's more to be done. He said legal action will continue to make sure the Board of Governors takes back other decision-making power that it has passed on to the local boards of trustees. Wetherell wants money reinstated Although several FSU trustees admitted they didn't want a chiropractic school, the full board opted not to take a stance on the program. Instead they forwarded FSU's proposal for the program and asked for more time to examine the issue. "They've made their decision, and I think we have to accept that," Jim Smith, FSU board chairman, said Thursday. What FSU doesn't want to accept is an unexpected cut in what the Board of Governors is requesting for universities' construction. A draft request, endorsed by Bush's budget proposal, would have given FSU about $15 million more - $5.8 million toward its life-sciences complex and $9.25 million for its Panama City campus. But upon further review, the governors voted to redistribute the money. FSU was the only university reduced in the process. "Give me a buck, and I'm happy today," a frustrated Wetherell said after the meeting.