Counseling and Health Services: An Early ������ Controversy

By John Searight

Background

Very early in its history ������ established a position on Health Services. The Board of Trustees and the College administration decided there would be no direct provision of medical and counseling services to the student body. The Self Study Report (1975) for our initial accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education states, 

������’s student life policies are derived from the commitment to treating students as adults with the right and responsibility to manage their own affairs.… Students are expected to manage their own personal lives without college supervision or financial support.… These policies have afforded students experience in managing their own affairs.… They have also militated against the establishment of college-supported counseling and medical service. (12)

Additional justification was set forth in an earlier report (1974) prepared by the college president’s office prior to the accrediting team’s visit.  

The college accepts students as legal adult citizens and endeavors to treat them as such in all respects. The costs of such activities as health services and psychological counseling should not be placed on the general taxpayer and students should find and pay for such services in ways followed by other adults. The student life environment should emphasize self-discipline, self-reliance, individual initiative, and individual responsibility for choices, and personal responsibility for meeting obligations.(Emphasis added; 7).

The 1973–74 ������ State College Bulletin states in the section “Special Services”:

Health Services. ������ does not provide on-campus health services or care generally associated with an infirmary or clinic. As citizens, students will utilize the health services of the surrounding communities. These include two excellent hospitals and a full range of medical offices. If exceptional medical facilities and services are required, Philadelphia is about an hour away. (66)

A review of archival material in the university library has provided documentation that there was a very early concern expressed about the lack of student counseling and health services on campus. In 1971 several faculty and staff sent a report expressing concerns about the need for student services to the college president, Dr. Richard E. Bjork.  A memo “Counseling Services” from the Office of Special Services was received by faculty and staff on November 2, 1971.  President Bjork announced that he had appointed two “Clinical Associates,” one to provide counseling and one to provide crisis intervention. The services were in Atlantic City and Margate, and students were expected to pay modest fees. By the end of the 1971–72 academic year there had been very little use of these services and they were discontinued.

Questions  Arise

In the September 20, 1973, issue of The Argo, Professor Tony Marino in a Faculty Corner article urged ������ to begin providing counseling services for students. Several faculty in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences lamented the lack of counseling, with one senior professor saying in a resigned manner, “We just will have to wait for our first suicide before they (the administration) will do anything.” Students began to raise the issue at regularly scheduled President’s Hours, attended by many faculty and students. Members of the Social Work Club organized a volunteer Referral Center, providing students with literature and lists and phone numbers of clinics and social agencies like Family Service Association, Atlantic Mental Health Center, and Psychiatric Emergency services at local hospitals. The college provided a phone and office space (The Argo vol. 16, no. 9).

The Self Study for Middle States Accreditation Addresses the Issue

������’s 1975 Self-Study Report to Middle States states:

Our data indicate that the medical and counseling services available in the local community are inadequate to meet the needs of ������’s students. We take the need for adequate medical care to be a given. We are also persuaded that the resolution of some of the personal problems characteristic of college-age youth is a necessary prerequisite to learning, particularly at a college which expects students to structure their own education. (179)

The Middle States Association Evaluation Team Report (1975) agreed with this conclusion, stating “We support your findings, and recommend that you institute a program that will  lead to the immediate consideration of how to best implement an improved Counseling and Health Service program” (emphasis added). Unfortunately State fiscal problems, budget crises, and threatened program cutbacks intervened, and the college’s collective energies were diverted.  However, over the next two years, many students, faculty, and student organizations (Psychology and Social Work clubs) continued to raise the counseling and health services issue and organized information sessions and eventually petition drives advocating for a counseling center and a health services clinic.  

Signs of Progress

At the March 1, 1977, President’s Hour, students from the Social Work Club, the Psychology Club, the Student Union, and the Concerned Students for a Counseling Center (CSCS) asked President Bjork if he would consider a proposal to expand the volunteer referral services to students in need of counseling. A robust, respectful give and take ensued, and the session resulted in media coverage by the ������ Chronicle (vol. 5, no. 24), The Argo (vol. 17, no. 5, no. 6), and The Press of Atlantic City (March 17, 1977, 41). Copies of these articles can be found in the ������ Archives. I was present and a participant in this meeting and believe it was a significant and positive event in the effort to move forward.

In September 1977 ������ agreed to provide space in G-Wing for staff from the Atlantic City Medical Center Family Planning Services to see students for counseling. In 1978 the ACMC Family Planning Services established a full-service clinic at Scott House, a building on campus on Jimmie Leeds Road. Students were seen each Friday of the month from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.  Increase in demand resulted in expanding the times to include the first and third Tuesday of each month. By the end of the year, Family Planning medical services were provided to approximately 400 students, resulting in 900 visits. The medical services provided were comprehensive, and an additional 243 students were seen in the G-Wing office for advice and counseling (Report of the Task Force on Health Services, May 16, 1979, 37–39). 

Transition

In the summer of 1978, President Bjork announced his resignation and his acceptance of the offer to become Chancellor of the State College System in Vermont. On October 30, James R. Judy, Vice President for Educational Services, became Acting President of ������.

A Major Step Forward

In November 1978, Acting President Judy appointed a Task Force on Health Services. Appointed were faculty from the programs of Basic Studies, Biology, Environmental Studies, Nursing, Psychology, and Social Work; staff from Campus Programs, Career Planning, Institutional Studies, and Administration and Finance; students majoring in Biology, Nursing, and Social Work. I was named Chair.

At our initial meeting on November 30, 1978, Acting President Judy provided the following charge:

1. Conceptualize health services to include physical-medical and social-psychological services.
2. Assess the health needs of the ������ community and propose services only if they are justified by the needs assessment.
3. Examine the scope of potential health services, how they might be implemented, and how they might interrelate with academic and non-academic programs at ������.
4. Receive as broad an input as possible from diverse elements in the ������ community.  This should include an extensive survey of the student body and the faculty and staff as well as publicizing preliminary findings and recommendations and holding open meetings for discussion and input.
5. Report findings and recommendations to Mr. Judy by May 1, 1979.  (Report of the Task Force on Health Services, May 16, 1979, 3). A copy of the complete Task Force Report is available in the University Archives.  
   

Two important sections of the Task Force Report are included below. The entire Report and Appendix, including surveys, needs assessments, data, and analyses are preserved in the University archives.