Chiropractic College Coming to Florida State University

ORLANDO, Florida - With Governor Jeb Bush's signature to the state budget, the establishment of a chiropractic college at Florida State University (FSU) was approved, the first in the nation to be located at a "major" state university. (See "chiropractic College in Denver to Open this Fall" DC June 12, 2000 (http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/18/13/03.html).

According to a study conducted by the Florida Board of Regents, which governs the tax-supported state university system, more than 700 Floridians leave the sunshine state each year to pursue a chiropractic education. It is this need, and the lack of ready access for minority students to a chiropractic education that necessitated the establishment of a chiropractic college in the state university system.

The college has been a vision and a goal of the Florida Chiropractic Association (FCA) and its leadership for many years. The process began in the late '70s as a long-range goal of the FCA. "Each of our members can take pecial pride in seeing this project come to fruition," said FCA CEO Debbie Minor Brown. "This is a landmark day for the profession."

Representative Dennis Jones, DC, the Florida House Speaker Pro Tem from Pinellas County and past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association, helped shepherd the effort through the legislature. "When I realized so many students must leave Florida to pursue their career dreams and that there was such a pressing need for the creation of a chiropractic college," said Rep. Jones. "I promised that I would not stop until this need was met."

The effort intensified in the 1999 legislative session, with the achievement of an appropriation and mandate for a feasibility study by the Florida Board of Regents. It culminated in the just-concluded 2000 session, with a one-million dollar appropriation that requires the FSU to present a plan to the legislature and governor by the end of this year to accomplish the following goals:

• first class to enroll in academic year 2002-2003;

• first class limited to 100 graduate students;

• overall enrollment capped at 500 graduate students;

• achievement of CCE accreditation by 2005.

To persuade state lawmakers of the need for a chiropractic college, the FCA organized an extensive grassroots-lobbying program. Dr. Ed Williams, FCA CEO emeritus, credits the commitment of FCA members for their effort in seeing the college established. "We had the facts on our side," said Williams, "so it became a matter of communicating these facts to the right folks. Fortunately, they had the good sense to see the benefits of creating the college."

The FCA has a long history of supporting higher education initiatives. In the last three years, the FCA led a fund- raising drive that resulted in the one million dollar endowment of the Lincoln College Chair for Chiropractic and Biomechanical Research at FSU.

There are still many details to work out before the first chiropractic enrollments in the fall of 2002. FSU officials have already held planning meetings and begun the work to accommodate that time line.