Appleton retires effective October 1

Health plan board to examine care

The doctor is out.

On October 1, college physician Judith Appleton will retire from Oberlin College. Appleton has served as the college physician for 20 years.

Appleton announced her retirement this summer, citing personal reasons.

"I do this with mixed feelings," Appleton said. "I think change is in the future and I thought it would be easier if they didn't have to work around me."

According to surveys conducted by the Student Senate in 1996, many Oberlin students have been largely dissatisfied with Appleton. Survey participants were asked to rate Appleton on a scale of one to five, five being the highest. Of 439 respondents, 41 percent ranked Appleton a one or a two.

"I was not encouraged to leave," Appleton said. "There was no outright anything, just inferences on my part." Appleton said she was unable to comment further on the circumstances surrounding her retirement.

Dean of Student Life and Services Charlene Cole-Newkirk said the Health Plan Board is currently soliciting bids from health care agencies to assume responsibility for college health services. Cole-Newkirk said she expects the Oberlin Clinic to submit a proposal.

"It's an attempt to get a more favorable user-friendly service," Cole-Newkirk said of the restructuring. "We need more health education, more alternative medicine sources, more health care advocacy in the student community."