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Columns::August 26, 2002
Herty--Unplugged
Law school appoints three professors to endowed positions
Clinical and administrative pharmacy faculty member is named first Jowdy Professor
Former Boston College dean appointed to Parham Chair
Inside scoop: New ad campaign reminds forest park visitors to respect others
Twenty new Foundation Fellows, seven Ramsey Scholars enter UGA
Reef grief: Common bacteria kills elkhorn coral off Florida Keys
Professor takes issue with media’s portrayal of race, class and gender
Kudos
Update: Private Giving
Coming and Going
Campus News
Forum essay
A tale of two centers
Former director argues merger will have a significant impact on university community
By Michael Weissberg
After reading “Merging Services: Expanding Missions” by Associate Vice President Thomas Burke (Columns, Feb. 25, 2002), I would like to respond, as the “founding” director of the Counseling and Testing Center, to some of the inaccurate and misleading statements in the essay and express my concerns regarding the proposed merger between the CTC and the Mental Health Clinic.
In 1979, when I was hired by Vice President for Student Affairs Dwight Douglas and Assistant Vice President William Mendenhall, the Testing, Evaluation, and Career Counseling Center, as it was then called, was primarily known for its test scoring and administration services, although there were also two counselors who provided individual career counseling services. In addition, since the center was originally established in 1945 as the Guidance Center to provide vocational counseling and testing services to WWII veterans, it’s clear that the CTC did not “emerge (in 1979) to meet the career counseling needs of students,” as Dr. Burke has stated.
Instead, I was given a mandate to develop a comprehensive, outreach oriented, counseling and student development center. Although the MHC had been providing high-quality psychotherapy and psychiatric services for many years, there was a recognition that students’ normal, developmental needs in the personal, social and emotional areas were not, and could not, be fully met by a clinically oriented MHC under medical supervision.
In the ensuing years, the CTC successfully initiated many new programs and services, including individual and group counseling and psychotherapy (i.e., at no cost and with no predetermined limits), structured developmental groups, outreach programs and workshops, comprehensive career development services, consultation, training, faculty development, research and more.
Interestingly enough, despite the fact that thousands of “new” students were being serviced by the CTC each year, there was never any noticeable impact on the number of students being seen by the MHC. Thus, while there may be an “overlap” in the area of individual and group counseling and psychotherapy services between the two units, there has never been
a “duplication of services,” as Dr. Burke has alleged.
Nevertheless, as of July 1, 2002, the CTC ceased to exist as a distinct entity when all of its staff, programs, and services were subsumed by the MHC. Why would an extremely successful department that provides a wealth of important services to students be merged out of existence?
According to Dr. Burke, the reasons include eliminating confusion and duplication and improving efficiency. In addition, Dr. Burke maintains that the best of both units will be maintained, finances are not a factor, nothing will be reduced or eliminated, and students will be well served.
Ultimately, the university community will have to judge whether these turn out to be factual statements or empty promises. I can tell you unequivocally, however, that in a few short months, UGA will become not only one of the few universities in the country that charges any fees for its counseling services (and at $44/session, one of the highest in the country), but also one of the few that does not have a separate counseling center, instead providing all of its counseling and student development services through a medical facility.
Sadly, rather than moving forward and expanding services to students, UGA is going backwards. The CTC’s comprehensive career development services have already been eliminated, and even the most basic career counseling function that was transferred to the Career Center last year is not even noted on their Web site. Next, the CTC’s comprehensive services in the personal development and other areas will be transferred to the MHC. Given that hundreds of thousands of dollars in testing revenue will no longer be used to help defray the cost of providing these counseling and student development services, and given that these services will now be competing for funding and support with a dozen other medical clinics within the Health Center, which itself is dependent on various fees to fund its operation, how long before the same fate befalls these services as well?
As things now stand, I firmly believe that the size of the professional staff in the CTC will dwindle and current services will either be further reduced, offered with a fee attached, or eliminated altogether. While these changes will no longer affect me directly, they will certainly have a very significant impact on the university community, especially the students.
Michael Weissberg is former director of the Counseling and Testing Center and associate professor of counseling and human development services (1979-87).
Forum Guidelines
To encourage discussion on issues affecting the university and higher education in general, the Forum section appears periodically in Columns. Faculty, staff, administrators and researchers associated with the university are invited to submit essays and respond to previous essays.
A committee appointed by University Council and Staff Council reviews submissions to determine which are of greatest interest to the university community. Faculty members of the Forum review committee for 2002-2003 are Jonathan Evans (English), Mary Frasier (education) and J. Scott Shaw (physics and astronomy). The staff representative is Melanie Andrews (legal affairs).
Opinions expressed on these pages do not necessarily reflect the views of the UGA administration or the review committee. Articles will be edited to conform with the Associated Press stylebook.
Guidelines for submissions
• Topics should be related to issues in higher education.
• Essays should have broad appeal in the university community.
• Essays should be no longer than 700 words.
• Send essays to Beth Roberts (columns@uga.edu; News Service, A-205 Stegeman Coliseum).
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