Synapse - The UCSF student newspaper, Volume 23, Number 3, 28 September 1978 — Legislature intervenes Pressure helps restore PT funding [ARTICLE]

Legislature intervenes

Pressure helps restore PT funding

By Mark Jacobson

In an unusual move this June, a State Assembly subcommittee opposed a UCSF decision and revived the medical school's flagging physical therapy curriculum. At education budget hearings, Ways and Means SubCommittee #2, in return for its support of the entire UC health sciences budget, demanded that the physical therapy program be maintained at its current level. The School of Medicine in a controversial decision in March had cut the program from 40 to 20 students. The program is critical in meeting Northern California's increasing need for physiotherapists according to its supporters. A "gentleman's agreement" According to both university and legislative sources, a "gentleman's agreement" now exists between UC and the subcomriuttee headed by Assemblyman John Vasconcellos. UCSF will reallocate funds within the School of Medicine for five full-time PT faculty positions and sufficient space for 40 students. Dr. Clinton Powell, special health affairs assistant to UC President David Saxon, told Synapse that "a 'gentleman's agreement would be an understatement." Dr. Powell represented UC at the budget hearings and made this commitment for the university after discussion with UCSF administrators. Dr. Powell succinctly, "The legislators took the position that 40 (students) or else." Legislative intervention in the UC budget is not uncom-

mon. However, both legislative and university sources view this case as unusual. Rosalyn Elms, consultant to the State Assembly on post-secondary education said, "The (Vasconcellos) committee very rarely requests funds for programs. Usually it questions the I validity of a program that UC wants to keep." UCSF Associate ViceChancellor for Planning and Budget Arthur Gillis was also turprised that the legislature sked UC to avoid a cutback in his year of Proposition 13. Controversial cuts UCSF's physical therapy irriculum, which is administered by the School of Medicine, ran into trouble last year when the Dean's office decided to withdraw two faculty positions that had been "loaned" to the program from elsewhere in the medical school. These faculty cuts, along with inadequate laboratory space, created serious problems for the program's future accreditation. Last March Dr. Irene Gilbert, director of the PT program, met with Vice Chancellor Gillis and School of Medicine administrators including Acting Dean Dr. William Reinhardt. The result of this deliberation was a proposal to reduce the size of the 1978-79 class from 40 to 20 students. This decision provoked an immediate outcry. According to Dr. Powell, there 'was considerable lobbying to retain the program at 40. The UC President's office, Governor Brown, and various state assemblypersons received over 100 letters from practicing

physiotherapists, PT societies, and concerned members of the public. Last April, 174 UCSF medical students signed a petition urging Dean Reinhardt to reallocate resources within the School of Medicine so that the program could be retained as is. In June, the proposed 1978---79 UC budget reached the Ways and Means subcommittee and the committee's staff raised issues with the proposed physical therapy cutbacks. According to Rosalyn Elms, committee members felt the program was important and should be maintained for two reasons. First, "there are only four physical therapy programs in California at public institutions." (Three of these are in Southern California.) Second, "there is an increasing need for manpower in this field." Committee members asked UCSF to shift its resources and called Vice Chancellor Gillis to Sacramento to provide more information on the subject. Finally, a verbal agreement was reached between committee members and university representatives. UCSF would reallocate funding, faculty and space in 1978-79 so that the program could maintain both accreditation standards and an enrolment of 40 students. "It looks very positive" In late June, Dean Reinhardt notified Dr. Irene Gilbert that the School of Medicine would be providing the physical therapy program with funding for five full-time faculty. She was told to re-open admissions and accept 20 more students. However, at this point the alternate list was too small to fill the class and the

School of Medicine's policy does not allow reconsideration of rejected applicants. Therefore, 36 students have been accepted for the 1978-79 class. New laboratory space has been completed at San Francisco General Hospital and students will be spending onethird of their time at SFGH and two-thirds at the UCSF campus. The School of Medicine administration is also considering the possibility of changing the curriculum to a two year graduate program. This, however, would have the effect of decreasing enrollment. Dr. Gilbert now feels that the program will be stable for at least the next two years. She says, "It looks very positive."