As a nationally, top-ranked program, athletic training at Northeastern should be a proud achievement for the university. The program’s strength lies in practical application over theory, and at an institution where hands-on experience through co-op is the cornerstone of the school’s mission, it’s been able to thrive.
Yet that’s what makes recent developments to the program’s future so puzzling. At an April 9 Faculty Senate meeting, there was a motion presented to indefinitely suspend admission for athletic training, starting in fall 2009. This action would prevent potential students from entering the major, and would effectively end its growth. With both students, professors and alumni lauding the program’s success, such a proposal appears nonsensical.
It doesn’t help that university administrators remain tight-lipped about the situation. Dean of the Bouv’eacute; College of Health Sciences Stephen Zoloth, who was interim provost at the time the motion was presented, was responsible for presenting the proposal at the April Faculty Senate meeting. In an article in today’s News, when pressed for an explanation, Zoloth could only maintain that current athletic training majors would receive “the same high-quality education” if admissions for the program were to be suspended. He would not elaborate further as to his reasoning behind the decision or what kind of program reevaluation might take place.
Several people close to the situation, such as faculty agree that once admissions to a major are suspended, they are rarely reopened, effectively sweeping the program under the rug. Athletic Training Program Director Jamie Musler said he understands that sometimes programs need to be reevaluated, but said he wished the university had been more open leading up to its proposal.
It’s not surprising that Northeastern higher-ups aren’t talking. When presenting an unpopular proposition to the Northeastern community, it’s usually shrouded in secrecy. According to the minutes from the April 9 Faculty Senate meeting, the program wasn’t being “cut,” it was under “strategic realignment.” A similar realignment proposal was presented when discussions first came to light last fall that the football team might be eliminated from the school’s sports roster.
Furthermore, the athletic training program falls squarely under Northeastern’s commitment to real-world experience through co-op. According to Bouv’eacute;’s program description on its website, athletic trainers “are sports medicine specialists who focus on the prevention, evaluation, management, treatment and rehabilitation of athletic injuries.” They work one-on-one with athletes, and co-op experiences and clinical field trials provide a necessary supplement to classroom and theoretical knowledge. Along with last spring’s attempt to fire professors who lacked Master’s degrees, it seems that Northeastern is once again placing more weight on research and less on practical experience, which runs counterproductive to the thinking that makes this university a draw.
What’s more, the proposal to suspend admissions for the athletic training program has strong opposition. According to the Faculty Senate minutes, several members of the athletic training faculty and the Bouv’eacute; faculty were critical of it, where it only passed on a second attempt before moving onward. In a decision that clearly was divisive, the university should understand the need for openness.
In the end, the final say of whether to reevaluate or realign a program rests with the university’s administrators. But it would be helpful if they learned to not only hear criticism, but listen, too.
