When Washington State University interim President Dan Bernardo spoke recently to members of the Faculty Senate, he emphasized the importance of both diversity and students' mental health. Yet, on Nov. 10, the dean of the College of Education told faculty in the graduate-level Counseling Psychology program that their program had been proposed for closure, citing its expense and struggle to find external funding. The proposal has grave implications for both student diversity and mental health.

I attended the Dec. 10 special session of the Senate, at which faculty in Counseling Psychology spoke forcefully about its value, explaining how it is distinct from clinical psychology, how it plays an essential role in training the school counselors in our state, and how it provides badly needed counseling services to students - 100 now on their waiting list.

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