The SGA OTM Student Survey
We feel the information in the survey speaks for itself and says there is a serious problem with the OTM education at KCOM. True to form, the department is once again minimizing student concerns by minimizing its value and attempting to dismiss it even though they are addressing it through Curriculum Committee. There is much effort to address the survey and concerns at the moment. This effort has been absent for two years but is now being made to lead people to believe the department is interested in student concerns. More committees and task forces are being formed, but nothing has been done to directly address or remedy student concerns.
The Vindictiveness of the OTM Faculty
A letter from a first year student:
(letter deleted at the request of the student)
The following information reveals some of the unacceptable behavior students must tolerate from the OTM department. This situation was related to me directly from the student who experienced it. The student was in OTM lab and asked a certain instructor to help him with his technique. When the student did not hold the technique for 90 seconds, the instructor slapped him across both sides of the face with his open hand and reprimanded him for not holding the technique for 90 seconds. The instructor struck the student hard enough that the students around him stopped what they were doing and looked over at him. The student was so shocked that he did not know what to do and did not immediately report this incident because he feared retribution. Later that quarter, the student was attending a dinner at Dr. McGovern’s house and Dr. McGovern mentioned he heard a student was struck by a member of the OTM department. The student told him (in front of witnesses) it was true, and Dr. McGovern said such behavior was unacceptable and that something would be done and the student would receive an apology The student never received an apology or indication that any disciplinary action was taken with the faculty member.
There are many more examples of inappropriate behavior from the OTM department that can be cited. After doing some research with the students on rotations, I have found many of our problems to be the same as those experienced by other classes. It is extremely depressing to students to see such a trend. There is a feeling of helplessness amongst students since the chair of the department chairs the curriculum committee in the same fashion that he chairs the department. There is also a viable perception that the OTM department and its chair are protected by Dean Kuchera. With proper channels such as these, it has been impossible to effect change. Only now, in the midst of this crisis, has action been taken by the involved parties in an attempt at “damage control” and public relations.
Due to responses such as these, it is clear to me, as the SGA President, that the OTM department is once again damaging the future of osteopathic medicine. Their petty responses to student criticism will only serve to further alienate the students that could make this profession greater with each class of graduates. How does this behavior serve to instill a love of osteopathy in students?
