2/05

Written By: Debbie Minor-Brown, she runs the Florida Chiropractic Association.
A Service Exclusively for FCA Members  
 
Florida Board of Governors Vote 
If you haven't already heard the bad news, the Florida Board of Governors voted 10-3 
yesterday to disapprove FSU's proposal for a chiropractic school.  At this writing, it does 
not appear that FSU plans to re-submit or pursue the establishment of a chiropractic 
college.   
 
The Board of Governors' reasons for disapproving the program given in public accounts 
were based on needs information that contained the ratio of chiropractors to general 
population in Florida.  They based this on old, inaccurate information and, when FCA 
brought this to their attention prior to and during the meeting, the BOG chose to ignore and 
make a decision based on this old information.   The second reason is that they felt that a 
chiropractic college was not a good "fit" for Florida State University, whatever that means. 
 
The FCA had chiropractic experts in education to testify before the Board of Governors, 
including John Triano, D.C., Ph.D.; Rand Swenson, D.C., M.D., Ph.D.; Alan Adams, 
D.C., M.Ed.; and Louis Sportelli, D.C.   This team did an excellent job and made an 
impressive presentation.  FCA Govt. Rel. Director Jack Hebert and past president Joe 
Johnson, D.C. also made excellent presentations on behalf of the FCA.  Testifying against 
the program were Ray Bellamy, M.D. from the FSU medical school and Bill Kinsinger, 
M.D. from Oklahoma who is affiliated with the Quackbusters organization.  And, of all 
things, we understand that three "FCS student members" testified against the program, as 
well.   
 
In public comments, members of the BOG stated that their decision was not based on the 
merits of the chiropractic profession, but, that this program was not needed in light of 
other, more critical needs and the fact that there are limited resources.  We do not agree.
 
Throughout this entire process and over the past five weeks, the association has spent 
upwards of $100,000 in media relations and travel expenses for various experts, in an 
effort to save this program.  We are disappointed in the lukewarm participation and relative 
inaction of Florida State University.  Universities that want new programs go after them 
aggressively and spend money to educate their faculty and inform the Board of Governors 
why the new program is needed. In this case, this very critical effort didn't occur.
 
There is something wrong with the higher education governance system in Florida when 
ten people who are not even educators nor elected officials accountable to the voters can sit 
in an auditorium at the University of Florida and thwart a legislative initiative that had no 
dissenting votes and has the overwhelming support of the public (78% of the citizens of 
Florida, as demonstrated in a Mason-Dixon poll funded by the FCA).   This system stinks!
 
This exercise in intellectual discussion benefited the chiropractic profession by 
demonstrating that the public's perception of chiropractic is overwhelmingly positive, in 
spite of the negativity of a few individuals with old, biased attitudes. Ten years ago, this 
discussion could not have happened.  We have made progress and we know for a fact that 
someday a university with vision and courage will take the dramatic step and move forward 
to establish a college of chiropractic on its campus.  It's just a matter of time.  You have 
every reason to be proud.
 
To read the public poll results showing overwhelming support for a chiropractic college at 
FSU, visit www.fcachiro.org and click on the "media info" section.  The poll news release 
will be posted there for your easy access.   Thank you for your support that makes possible 
every step forward.  To quote a letter published in the Winter Haven News Chief, ³FSU 
has the potential of being on the cutting edge of integrative medicine if it is the site of the 
first university-based chiropractic college in the United States.  If not FSU, another 
university will receive that honor because patient-centered, evidence-based medicine is the 
wave of the future and that wave has just hit shore.²