Months after a motion to indefinitely suspend admissions to the athletic training (AT) program was discussed at Faculty Senate, members of the program said they are still unclear about the reasons for the proposal and the program’s future.

Stephen Zoloth, dean of the Bouv’eacute; College of Health Sciences (BCHS), under which the AT program operates, brought the proposal to AT program director Jamie Musler about a year and a half ago, Musler said. According to the April 9 Faculty Senate minutes, Zoloth is one of several deans supporting the measure.

“The idea was to suspend admissions to give the program time … to see where it’s going,” he said in a phone interview this week. “We’re always continually evaluating our programs.”

However, several current students and alumni have denounced the plan, and questioned why the university would cut admissions to one of the top-ranked AT programs in the country. The motion was brought before Faculty Senate April 9 where it was tabled until more information could be gathered, according to the Faculty Senate minutes.

“When the program’s at such a high level on a variety of planes, it just doesn’t seem right,” said Jeff Stone, the New England district director of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. Stone also graduated from Northeastern in 1976 with a degree in physical education and a concentration in AT. “I’ve always considered Northeastern to be a benchmark program in our district.”

He said the university’s AT majors boast one of the highest success rates of passing the national AT certification exam at 94 percent, compared to a national average of about 40 percent.

If passed, the proposal to suspend admissions would take effect fall 2009. The motion will likely be readdressed in September because Senate does not meet in the summer, Zoloth said.

Zoloth, who was acting as interim provost at the time of the faculty senate meeting, did not definitively explain to The News why the program needed to be evaluated or why it was necessary to suspend admissions in order to evaluate a program.

According to the Faculty Senate minutes, he said the move was sparked by “strategic realignment and is not a statement about the quality of the faculty, students, alumni or co-op education group.”

If Faculty Senate votes to suspend admissions, current AT students would continue to study under the program.

“There is an absolute assurance that our students [would] get the same high quality education” in the AT program if admissions were suspended, Zoloth said.

However, Musler, who has been involved in the program since 1998 and has headed it since 2001, said “the reality is, suspended programs rarely come back.”

Stone called the potential move a “death-nail.” He said AT majors consistently offer their services to Northeastern’s athletics program and the Boston community, like at the nearby Reggie Lewis Center or area high schools.

Musler said suspending admissions could negatively impact current students in the program, which has maintained consistent enrollment in recent years.

“The obvious answer is sure, it’s going to affect something,” he said, pointing to AT mentor programs, co-op employer relations and the possibility of losing faculty who might choose to leave as a result.

Before the proposal was brought to Faculty Senate, it was voted on at several levels, one of which was by the BCHS faculty. It failed at first but passed after a second vote, according to Faculty Senate minutes.

In the minutes, pharmaceutical sciences professor Barbara Waszczak said at the April 9 Faculty Senate meeting that “it was represented as being promoted by AT faculty.”

Waszczak declined to comment.

Musler and Stone said the proposal reflects a trend at Northeastern of moving away from public service professions, like health sciences and education.

“I think in some people’s minds, there are certain professions and areas of studies that don’t belong in private research institutions, and things that kind of come to mind are health care and education. They’re for the public good; they’re better suited for public institutions,” he said. “It’s an interesting message.”

Musler said he understands the dean’s role in making strategic business decisions for the university. However, he said he wished he was told more specific reasons for why the university should suspend the AT program – particularly before the proposal was brought to him.

Lauren Ziaks, a senior athletic training major, was among more than 30 students who spoke at April 9 meeting, three days after Zoloth presented his plan to students at an athletic training assembly.

“He stated that … It didn’t fit the future of Northeastern,” Ziaks said. “I don’t understand how a program that is one of the top in the country doesn’t fit the vision of the university that wants to be one of the top in the country.”