Student Dismissed at Eastern Michigan University for Refusal to Treat Gay Clients

 

In July a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University by a student who had been dismissed from its school counseling program for refusing to treat “homosexual behavior,”  stating that the university "had a right and duty to enforce compliance" with professional ethics rules barring counselors from being intolerant or engaging in discrimination, and no reasonable person could conclude that a counseling program's requirement that students comply with such rules "conveys a message endorsing or disapproving of religion."

    The student, Julia Ward, had not been disciplined for expressing her views on the immorality of homosexuality in class or in written work. The problem was at the training clinic.  When she encountered a depressed client who had been previously counseled about a homosexual relationship, she asked her faculty supervisor if she could refer the client to another counselor. 

    The supervisor refused and Ms Ward opted for a hearing.  At the hearing, she said she refused to affirm any behavior that "goes against what the Bible says" and that she disagreed with, but did not plan to violate, the American Counseling Association's prohibition against therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation. The hearing panel unanimously recommended that she be dismissed from the program. She sued, claiming the university had engaged in viewpoint discrimination and violated her Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection.  It was also argued that the policy cited in dismissing her amounted to an unconstitutional speech code.

    The judge disagreed and ruled that the policy at issue was not a speech code but "an integral part of the curriculum," and that Ms. Ward's dismissal from the program "was entirely due" to her "refusal to change her behavior," rather than her beliefs.  Moreover, "her refusal to attempt learning to counsel all clients within their own value systems is a failure to complete an academic requirement of the program."

 

http://chronicle.com/article/Judge-Upholds-Dismissal-of/123704

Technology Corner:  Tracking Client Outcome

Corey Fagan, Ph.D.

 

The Software Assessment System for Clinicians (SAS-C) allows training clinics to easily gather, analyze and manage client information in a secure way.  SAS-C is a web-based system developed at the University of Washington's training clinic to provide a user-friendly means for tracking clients’ treatment progress. Rather than use just one general measure for tracking client outcome, we have put together a library of over 50 problem-specific assessment measures that are reliable and valid for their intended purposes (e.g., a depression measure that reliably measures level of depression). Based on clients' responses to the telephone screen, the SAS-C system selects a set of baseline measures specific to each client to be completed prior to the intake and a briefer set of weekly progress measures. Clinicians and supervisors may add, delete and easily create other measures to suit the individualized needs of their clients. SAS-C automatically scores and graphs the measures, visually displaying client progress over time. Clients, clinicians and supervisors may then collaboratively review the graphs and alter treatment plans accordingly. Three universities will be beta-testing SAS-C over the coming year and we hope to have a beta-tested version ready to launch by the end of 2011.