Student's suit says Webster U. dumped him for lacking empathy
- Font Size:
- Default font size
- Larger font size
ST. LOUIS • A former Webster University student who was studying to be a family counselor says in a lawsuit that he was dismissed from a master's degree program after it was determined that he lacked empathy.
The suit, which claims up to $1 million in losses and seeks at least $2 million in punitive damages, alleges the school dismissed him quickly rather than help him improve his empathy to complete the field work required for graduating.
The lawsuit was filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court last week.
Webster University declined to comment.
The student, David Schwartz, 44, of University City, had received all A's and only one C in his course work, according to a school transcript. But he was dismissed from the program on March 14 after he received a "no credit" for failing to successfully complete the practicum, in which he was to apply his class work to a real-world counseling setting.
Schwartz alleges in his lawsuit that he was deemed a poor performer after he wrote an anonymous letter to the dean criticizing a professor's teaching methods and noting the romantic relationship between that professor and an administrator.
Schwartz said in an interview that he had received favorable reviews on his performance until a Feb. 24 meeting with Dr. Stacy Henning, the director of counselor education at the university, who told him he needed to improve.
In a follow-up meeting on March 3, she pointed to three taped counseling sessions that showed he "would not make a good counselor because he lacked empathy," according to the lawsuit.
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_1882fe71-21a2-5516-8bc2-0ddd8cc9cdba.html#ixzz1WQFjyjUy
At the school where I did my MA, it was not unheard of for students to be kicked out of the clinical psych PhD/PsyD program for lack of empathy or other reasons having to do with the student's personal maturity. My roommate at the time was in the clinical psych PhD program, and I had several conversations with her and her classmates about this issue. It seemed like a harsh policy at first, but I came to see it as reasonable. Grades in coursework are important, but a therapist who got straight A's in school but can't empathize with his/her clients is going to be a horrible therapist, and possibly very damaging to his/her clients. It is not a profession in which success depends merely on one's knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether the student's expulsion was warranted in this particular case (he seems to think that his anonymous letter of complaint was the real cause), but I do support the rights of psychology/counseling programs to kick out students who don't have the personal maturity to cut it as therapists, provided that the program has made reasonable efforts to help the students develop that maturity before kicking them out. This may sound harsh, but some people just don't have what it takes.
At my grad school, a single C was sufficient grounds for dismissal.
ReplyDeleteIsn't this sort of the same as "weeder" courses? It doesn't matter how hard you try, if the department doesn't think you've got the "it" factor, you're out.
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine what this feels like.
ReplyDeleteMeh, it reminds me of bullshit that is put in our de-valuations. You know, like "you should cover more" or "your students are acting like douches because you should give more quizzes."
ReplyDeleteOr my favorite one of all: "EMH, I would like you to show the students that you use lecture notes. Hold them up in class if you need to."
What the fuck for?