At the request of Dr. Keith Overland, president of the Connecticut Chiropractic Association, the New England Chiropractic Council (NECC) set forth to develop a policy statement regarding a possible chiropractic facility at the University of Bridgeport campus.
An advisory board has been developed which will assist the dean of the college in formulating policy as it relates to professional matters. The advisory board will be made up of nine members, the majority of whom will be chiropractors. One member of the advisory board will serve on the university board of trustees, and all advisory board members are eligible to serve on trustee committees. Therefore, the control of the chiropractic program will be the domain of the chiropractic profession.
The orientation of the chiropractic program will be contemporary. Students will be taught the essential elements of the basic and clinical sciences, and their relevance to the chiropractic premise and chiropractic health care. The hands-on approach to adjusting will be emphasized and students will gain an appreciation and respect for chiropractic philosophy and history. This training will be coupled with the most current scientific information available in the areas of neurology, endocrine, and immune mechanisms. In all phases of their training, students will be taught the full spectrum of contemporary courses to enable them to treat patients in a manner consistent with the chiropractic premise and cognizant of the ramifications of chiropractic care.
The chiropractic college at the University of Bridgeport is a growth opportunity for the chiropractic profession. The isolation under which chiropractic education has toiled as a result of organized medicine's attempts to contain and eliminate chiropractic, will itself be eliminated. This feat will be achieved, not at the expense of chiropractic institutions, but because of them. If it had not been for their efforts through the years in developing first rate educational institutions, this opportunity would not have been forthcoming.
Some people have suggested that the creation of a new college would be detrimental to the already existing schools of chiropractic. This is simply not true. The new college at the University of Bridgeport, in terms of student population, will be one of the smallest. The program, which will be ten trimesters in duration, will be phased in, one class at a time, beginning in January 1991. Two entering classes of maximally 72 students each will enter per academic year. One class will begin each September, and the other will begin each January.
The New England Chiropractic Council has asked that it be made known that it supports, in principle, this unique and rare educational opportunity for the chiropractic profession and suggests all persons involved should participate physically and financially in this most important endeavor.
As chiropractic approaches the anniversary of its 1st century of achievement, and society moves towards the 21st century, changes are occuring on many levels throughout the world. One goal which is long overdue will be chiropractic taking its rightful place in the mainstream of higher education. This goal will be yet another accomplishment for the chiropractic profession.
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