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Lander Issues Statement on PTSD Equine Therapy Initiative

Lander University has issued a statement to address claims made in a recent news article regarding the university's Equestrian Center and a proposed PTSD equine therapy program for veterans.

In fiscal year (FY) 2015, Lander University received $300,000 in state appropriations to operate its Equestrian Center, which provides academic opportunities for students, therapeutic programs for individuals with disabilities and special needs, and serves as the home base for the Lander University Equestrian Team. While nonrecurring, the appropriations were received again in FY 2016 and 2017. These dollars were allocated by the S.C. General Assembly for the operational costs of the Equestrian Center, and were not designated for PTSD therapy.

In FY 2018, the university received $500,000 in nonrecurring appropriations, and as in years past, the first $300,000 was used for the operation of the Equestrian Center. The additional $200,000 was allotted for the development of a pilot PTSD equine therapy program for veterans. This program would have allowed local veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder to attend equine therapy sessions at Lander's Equestrian Center. While the $200,000 would assist with the development of the PTSD program, the one-time costs for infrastructure and continued operations would have been significantly more, and would have required additional funding and resources from the university.

"The University had two options for operating the PTSD program. The first option was to outsource the services to a licensed clinical therapist. The second option would have been for the university to hire the appropriate professional staff to operate the program in-house," said Megan Varner Price, assistant vice president for University Relations. "The University made the decision to outsource the services and intended to issue a request for proposals when the funding was received."

Although the fiscal year began July 1, 2017, Lander did not receive the funds until October of that year. Consequently, Lander moved quickly to issue a nationwide request for proposals (RFP) for the creation and management of the PTSD program. "Unfortunately, the university received a single response to its RFP, and the bid was significantly over budget. As a result, we cancelled the RFP and immediately began working on our second alternative, which was to recruit professional staff to operate the program directly," Price said.

With the outsourcing of the program unsuccessful, Lander officials consulted with a licensed therapist for guidance on launching the program in-house. At the same time, Lander continued to work on the program's infrastructure, which involved utilizing the $200,000 to prepare facilities, purchase furniture, and procure an ADA-compliant, 15-seat van to shuttle veterans between the Equestrian Center and the main campus. Because it was anticipated that some participants would have mobility challenges, Lander Military and Veterans Services Director Chris Giles said it was important to ensure transportation for the veterans was available immediately. Additionally, Lander space was permanently allocated for the veteran's PTSD program.

Based on conversations with the consultant, the university drafted two new full-time positions and a clinician related to the PTSD initiative, and in early spring 2018, began the application process for those positions. However, it was at this same time that Lander learned the General Assembly planned to transfer the PTSD program to S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation for the 2019 fiscal year. As a result, the university chose not to move forward with hiring for these positions.

"Lander's Board of Trustees was fully supportive of the university's plans and efforts to put this program into place. However, we were informed last year by the administration that the funding might not continue in future years. Fortunately, we had not hired employees to operate the program, because their positions would have been eliminated at the end of the fiscal year," said Linda Dolny, Trustees chair. "It was certainly disappointing news. Lander is committed to serving our veterans and military families, and we felt this program was a good fit for our community and university."

With the funding redirected to Vocational Rehabilitation, the university was forced to cancel its PTSD initiative.

"In essence, we had six months to plan and launch the PTSD program before learning that additional funding would not be available for Lander moving forward," said Price. "The first phase of our plan was successful, and we had much of the infrastructure in place using the appropriations we received. It was our hope to get the fixed costs taken care of first, and that funding would be available for continued operations, similar to what we had experienced previously."

Price said the total cost of infrastructure development in year one would have been significantly more than the $200,000 awarded by the state for the PTSD program, and those funds would have come from Lander University operations. In fact, the university has spent as much as $90,000 in funds to supplement the operations of the Equestrian Center in previous fiscal years.

"Recently, an article was published regarding our PTSD initiative. The university provided detailed information and documentation in response to questions from the article's author," Price said. "Unfortunately, we feel the resulting story misrepresented Lander in this situation, and insinuated that Lander misdirected funds appropriated for this program. This is entirely untrue, and to suggest that Lander would do anything to undermine veterans is, quite frankly, offensive."

Of Lander's 3,100 students, about 13 percent are veterans, active duty military, or military family. Along with an entire department dedicated to assisting military students, Lander recently unveiled a special tuition rate for veterans, active duty military, National Guard and military family members, and the university was ranked as one of the South's best regional colleges for veterans by U.S. News and World Report for 2019.

"There is no question that Lander University supports military and veterans," said Carey Bolt, Greenwood County's Veterans Affairs Officer. "The university has been a partner with us in numerous initiatives, from bringing the traveling Vietnam Wall to Lander's campus in 2011, to supporting our VA and ROTC programs, to hosting our Hall of Heroes ceremony each year. Lander has continually reached out to us to see how the university can help our veterans, and it has always been receptive to anything we needed."

Bolt said PTSD "is a serious issue affecting many who have served in our nation's military, and we were very excited about having this program in Greenwood at the Equestrian Center. Like Lander, we were disappointed that the funding wasn't available to get the program fully off the ground."