A bill that would authorize the California State University system to grant professional doctorates was passed by the State Senate Education Committee April 20.

The bill, SB 724, introduced by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, would allow CSU campuses to grant professional doctorates in areas such as audiology, education and physical therapy.

The impetus behind the bill was new accreditation standards for audiologists. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has changed its criteria to require a doctorate in audiology for an audiologist to practice. The only doctorate in audiology currently available in California is through a joint program between UC San Diego and San Diego State.

As a result of the new standards, Sacramento State has suspended its masters of audiology program. The last students were admitted to that program in spring 2004.

“There’s just no point,” said James McCartney, chairman of Sac State’s speech pathology and audiology department. “It’s no longer the entry-level degree.”

McCartney said that students wouldn’t apply to a master’s program anymore because they know the degree is not enough to work as an audiologist. Students can go straight from their bachelor’s degrees into a doctorate in audiology program, making a master’s degree unnecessary.

Increase in population calls for more audiologists

California’s increasing population, especially its elderly population, means that trained audiologists will be in greater demand. Scott’s bill was introduced to help California’s higher education system meet that demand.

“How many students could they graduate in a given year, 10?” McCartney said, referring to the joint UC San Diego-San Diego State doctorate in audiology program. “That’s just not enough.”

The bill would change a major component of the Donahoe Higher Education Act (also referred to as the Master Plan), which describes the functions of each segment of California’s higher education system. The act states that only the University of California can grant doctorate-level degrees. The UC is opposed to the bill.

“Changing the Master Plan — which SB 724 would do — changes the arrangement that was established to bring organization and cost-effectiveness to California’s system of public higher education,” UC spokesman Brad Hayward said.

“Doctoral education is expensive because of the equipment, low student-faculty ratios, library resources and clinical infrastructure it requires — and that is why the Master Plan concentrated the delivery of that kind of education, rather than allowing it to proliferate without any coordination or cooperation,” Hayward said. “We do not see why undermining that arrangement is the solution to the current issues.”

Hayward said the UC would rather see more joint UC-CSU doctorate programs, instead of granting them only through the CSU.

Sac State’s attempts to form a program with UC failed

McCartney said that Sac State has been seeking a joint program with the UC for a number of years but has been unsuccessful. McCartney believes that a consortium program, involving area CSU campuses like Sac State, San Francisco State and San Jose State, would be cost-effective, especially in terms of faculty.

“If we do it through a consortium, we wouldn’t have to hire anybody,” he said. McCartney also pointed out that Sac State already has the Maryjane Rees Language, Speech and Hearing Center in Shasta Hall, which would provide critical infrastructure for a doctorate program.

In addition to concerns about how the CSU intends to pay for the new programs, critics have also questioned why the state of California would allow a single organization, like the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, to change its educational system.

A recent Sacramento Bee editorial on the bill asked: “Why is the current master’s program in audiology inadequate? . . . Why does California allow a private organization to dictate its certification policies?”

In a prepared statement (which was the only comment given as of press time), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association said, “This change to a doctoral degree reflects the breadth and depth of the scope of practice of the autonomous profession of audiology and is the culmination of years of research and study (required of credentialing agencies), which began with the development and completion of a profession-wide Skills Validation Study and ended with extensive peer review of the standards.”

Jason Murphy, a legislative aide with Scott’s office, while conceding that the association’s clout on this issue “is a little disturbing,” nonetheless defends the change as being beneficial to Californians in the long run.

“It’s not just degree creep,” Murphy said. “As we have increasing problems with autism, increasing numbers of elderly patients, we actually need better-trained people in the future. It’s legitimate.” Murphy added that the association did not arbitrarily decide to change the standards, but was convinced by members that it was necessary.

“They (the association) were not eager to do this,” Murphy said.

Students feel effects of the closed master’s program

Sac State students are already feeling the fallout of the decision to close the master’s program. Erica Fink, a junior in the audiology program, is currently looking at out-of-state schools for her doctorate in audiology. Fink would prefer to stay in Northern California because of family concerns — her daughter receives specialized education at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont.

“My daughter is very upset about moving out of state,” Fink said. “The only school that has (a doctorate in audiology) in California is in San Diego, but with the cost of living down there, you can’t afford it.”

SB 724 will now move to the State Senate Appropriations Committee.

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David Martin Olson can be reached at [email protected]