Distinguished Black Emory Professor Explains How I Saved His Career From Michigan Psychoanalysts
“Without [Dr. Coyne’s] assistance, I certainly wouldn't have graduated. He saw an injustice and worked hard to resolve it.”
Kenneth Carter, PhD is Founding Director of the Emory Center for Public Scholarship and Engagement and Charles Howard Candler Professor of Psychology at Oxford College of Emory University.
This article continues the saga of racism and reprisals in the University of Michigan Clinical Psychology Program in the 1990s and its haunting presence in my life 30 years later. After providing more background, I will focus on a letter of support I solicited from Kenneth Carter, Ph.D., who held a minority supplement in 2011. The occasion for my request was that I discovered hateful material had been circulating on the Internet for two decades, including being shared with Penn a few years after I arrived there. The material was placed there by University of Michigan psychiatrist Elizabeth Young. It was retaliation for the oversized role attributed to me in the minority student unrest in the Clinical Psychology Program and its Captive Consortium.
Dr. Carter reports being allowed to accept a minority supplement from me, only to be told afterward that the supplement would not count as a research project in the Clinical Psychology Program’s Captive Consortium.
Prelude
Pain, suffering, and humiliation were being inflicted on the minority and LGBTQ graduate students in the clinical psychology program at the University of Michigan. I retain graphic real-time reports. An excellent history of the department* and investigations traced the roots of problems to the 1980s and earlier before I ever set foot on campus. Yet, when I moved to the medical school, it was just when the unanticipated large number of minority students applied, and rates of acceptance offers were higher than expected.
Most students felt that the first program review and evaluation from APA elicited complaints from students who thought they were free to express their views. These were then shared with the faculty in a way that compromised confidentiality. Academics familiar with APA review committee members are carefully selected so they won’t be disruptive and disloyal to entrenched practices.
In part, because I complained to the American Psychological Association in the early 90s, a series of investigations followed, and public apologies were issued to some minority students. I was barred from attending any ceremony, but I did not care.
Substantial, but imperfect efforts were made to undo some of the damage by hiring minority students as faculty when positions became available. All psychoanalytic faculty accused of mistreating the graduate students remained in some position at Michigan. they were essentially exonerated from any accountability for whatever harassment and humiliation they inflicted on particular students or the minority and LGPTQ students as a collective group.
The Chair of the Clinical Psychology Program offered his resignation, but the Chair of the Psychology Department declined it. He remained in his position until more investigations were completed. The last time I checked, he was still on the faculty, but not as chair of the clinical program.
At the peak of the struggles and various investigations, I was unaware of reprisals from the psychoanalysts organized against me for later use and lasting effect. At first, I did not think much about the analysts except how to avoid them. That meant not teaching the psychiatry residents the distinctive therapy I practiced: brief (a no-no to long-term therapists) strategic therapy or appearing to try to convert them to a brief approach by displaying too much enthusiasm.
I would have thought I was safe and secure in my lab in a dog-friendly, off-campus remodeled house rented by the University of Michigan Department of Family Practice with three reserved parking spaces. I had let go of any sense that there was something strange or unjustified about this arrangement. Still, I accepted it as a signal that I was valued and trusted to complete my work independently without the usual oversight and intrusion.
The struggling department hired me without any interview or job talk for what became a tenure-track position to develop its research potential. James Jackson, the Dean of Letters and Science, recommended that family practice hire me to replace James’ wife. James and his wife, Professor Toni Annonucci, and I had become friends because my wife offered our services as babysitters, pushing two strollers around the local mall while James and Toni had movie dates there. Toni had too many responsibilities at the Institute for Social Research to stay on in family practice, and besides, the couple had a toddler and an infant.
Dean James Jackson, who was Black, already knew of my previous defense of minority students facing harassment when I arrived at the University of California, Berkeley. Still, we did not think it was relevant.
Neither James nor I could anticipate any issues whatsoever with the psychoanalysts and minority students. The one minority graduate assistant in the family practice department was nearly invisible and kept busy with small, unfunded faculty projects that were unlikely to amount to much.
My sudden success in getting R01s and other grants surprised everyone, including me. The new grants brought special offers from program officers, which I was allowed to refuse, an option that was probably impossible in some soft-money settings. Slots for minority supplements were available to any PI in the country with minimal time left on their NIH grant. I was quite new to getting grants, much less getting them for others, but I knew it was unwise not to take full advantage of the free supplements when they were offered. No one else seemed interested, and NIH program officers became excited by the possibility that they would stand out in meeting some mandated quotas when I took some unfilled ones off their hands.
These were the end of days of quiet but pervasive racism, when even the rats in psychology experiments were white, according to the title of Robert V. Guthrie’s classic History of Blacks in Psychology. In most areas of ISR, minority faculty and students were few and appeared to be ghettoized and disempowered except when protected by Dean Jackson. James faced considerable discrimination and seemed stubbornly building a career as a researcher at Michigan despite a lack of opportunities to collaborate with senior faculty on his terms.
I obtained my first postdoc, Kristin, basically at no cost to the University of Michigan, which was seen as some sign of my ability to conjure things up from nothing. She was a blind woman circulating her CV with a brief, polite letter indicating she would be paid as a postdoc by some state agency.
Her unusual ability to focus on complex tasks without getting distracted and her interest in the relatively new subfield of health psychology in medical settings made her a perfect fit for my needs. Hiring her at the prestigious Medical School of the University of Michigan and her writing of first-authored papers must have been a bragging point in the agency's annual report.
Kristin's blindness allowed her to bring her service dog, a golden retriever named Anders, to the office. Without any real logic, I requested to the medical school that I could bring mine because her dog needed other dogs in the lab.
The lab space had thick doors for all the offices, allowing for privacy and a personal choice of music without disturbing others or sharing music if others chose to hear it. My office was upstairs and out of the way, allowing my staff the autonomy to get things done on their terms. We all had a pleasant, peaceful kingdom, even if sometimes eccentric. I am sure we were inspired by considerable envy from people who did not understand what the Department of Family Medicine expected of us in return for being left alone and the consequences for them if we failed.
I do not see any fit with the later depictions by psychiatrist Elizabeth Young of me being a diagnosable character-disordered man who frequently yelled at people in the lab. I do not think she or any psychoanalytic faculty ever visited the space. But I was at the meeting that Nonne Lohr announced she was rescinding approval for Ken’s supplement. My response was far more restrained than how Ron Kessler routinely behaved at ISR. After numerous complaints from mostly female students, ISR ruled that early career people needed to be informed of likely abuse and not that Ron would end the abuse
I provide this prelude to this discussion because I need to defend myself in the face of later harassment and disparagement. Advanced cybermobbing involves circulating defamatory material more frequently encountered by strangers than the targets themselves. The practice involves robbing the target of any sense of control, including the ability to correct demeaning false impressions.
I do not want to shatter anyone’s illusions. I did not arrive from Berkeley on some Freedom Rider bus with the agenda of inciting minority students in the clinical psychology program to rebel. That would have been out of character and presumptuous. Besides, I would have quickly been annihilated.
When I first negotiated my pay with the Department of Family Practice, I countered the offer with a lower figure because it seemed unrealistic that I could deliver the faculty research grants the department needed to avoid being absorbed into Internal Medicine. If I even came close to my goal, the department would rise from almost no grants to one of the top departments in the country.
I reasoned that a short-term but renewable contract would be best. In return, the department would set a goal of only my achieving 30% funding for myself and the chance of bonuses for any salary support I received from other faculty. I would have no other responsibilities except whatever clinical work or lecturing I chose to do. I had no idea what I was doing, but maybe I succeeded because of my timing.
The first Chair of Family Practice had been forced to resign prematurely because he was a teddy bearish senior clinician with no research experience. A young, ambitious incoming chair had already arrived. He jumped at the opportunity to recruit a faculty member from ISR because it is a prestigious research institution.
Neither the incoming chair nor I factored in the pool of talented early-career people I could draw upon. ISR rarely gave out tenure with the assurance of a candidate continuing to bring in their salary support. The ECRs’ goal had to be more realistic than expecting to stay there very long—to get quality publications that would allow them to move to a position that did not set such impossible goals.
Thus, I began over a decade of incredible productivity in turning out high-impact collaborative papers and successful applications for large grants, drawing in academics from all over the campus and elsewhere. Some early career academics from ISR, like Geraldine Downey, would do job talks organized around articles co-authored with me. Michigan was ranked first, second, or third in grant money, depending on which primary care programs counted as family practice. My distinctive research on family processes in health made me a big hit with the family in the family medicine crowd who gathered for conferences in Amelia Island, Florida. It was a bonus in these circles that I had six years of live supervision in couple and family therapy. This could be repackaged as a way of teaching busy frontline primary care physicians how to extricate themselves from cases that were too difficult for them in terms of the need to address practical behavioral and ecological issues, not primarily medical issues.
It seemed like nothing could go wrong-- until I offended the psychoanalysts by offering their captive minority students predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships. Worse, some buzz about my therapy was developing, even if it was embarrassing. Somebody—I have no idea who—convinced Good Housekeeping Magazine that I was among a handful of top therapists for depression in Michigan. I was not interested in publicity or making more money, only being left alone to do what I wanted without the pressure of unrealistic goals.
Jacquie, XX, and Ken
Jacquie
Jacquie Mattis is now Dean of the School of Letters and Science at Rutgers-Newark.
Readers of my Substack Newsletter were introduced to Dean Mattis in a discussion of the harassment of minority and LGBTQ students in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Michigan and its Captive Consortium in the 1990s. Jacquie was the Representative of the BSPA on a joint student and faculty committee that was formed during the Troubles.
I was being undermined by psychoanalytic psychotherapists for the work being done in family practice, not in psychiatry. These adjunct faculty in the main-campus clinical psychology program could declare the medical center their captive domain, controlling any psychological treatment or research conducted there and by whom. Although the mistreatment of minority students was the same, some faculty were more concerned about preserving the psychoanalytic tradition than about the color of the skin of the students who entered the program.
As tensions grew among the minority students, some became resigned and quiet, and some distraught. I sought out Jacquie Mattis because every student in the small group around me said she was a smart, articulate woman with the outspoken authority and ethics of a Black clergy member.
In response to some materials I sent her, Jacquie gave me a harrowing account of her experience as a BSPA representative in a memo that served as the basis for the recent Substack article.
I worried about what would happen to her, even after a substantial victory for the minority students.
Recently, I located her current employment and sent an email. We have tried to schedule some time to talk, but we have not done so yet. I found what I think is a very positive outcome.
Despite the intense harassment that she and other minority students experienced, Jacquie received her Ph.D. on schedule from the University of Michigan. According to an official UofM webpage, her subsequent awards from the University of Michigan and her success elsewhere.
Among the honors she has received over her career are the Distinguished Psychologist Award from the Association of Black Psychologists (2014); and NYU’s Martin Luther King Jr. Award (2011) for teaching excellence, leadership, social justice and community building. She has been recognized for her mentorship and teaching. She received the 2020 Paul M. Fitts Graduate Mentor Award from the University of Michigan Graduate Leadership Council) for outstanding mentorship of graduate students in Psychology and the 2020 Cornerstone Award for unique contributions to enhancing the academic and social progress of African American students at the University of Michigan. She also received the Outstanding Mentor Award from the University of Michigan’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities program (2019).
I had offended the psychoanalysts by offering their captive minority students predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships. Worse, some buzz was developing about my therapy, even if it was embarrassing. Somebody convinced Good Housekeeping Magazine that I was one of the top therapists for depression in Michigan. I was not interested in such publicity or making more money, only being left alone to do what I wanted without the pressure of unrealistic goals.
Jacquie, XX, and Ken
Jacquie
Jacquie Mattis is now Dean of the School of Letters and Science at Rutgers-Newark.
Readers of my Substack Newsletter were introduced to Dean Mattis in a discussion of the harassment of minority and LGBTQ students in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Michigan and its Captive Consortium in the 1990s. Jacquie was the Representative of the BSPA on a joint student and faculty committee that was formed during the Troubles.
I did not understand why I was being undermined by psychoanalytic psychotherapists for the work did in family practice, nor why these adjunct faculty in the main-campus clinical psychology could declare the medical center to be their captive domain in terms of having to approve any psychological treatment or research that was conducted there and by whom.
As tensions grew, I sought out Jacquie Mattis because every student in the small group around her was a smart, articulate woman with a clergy member's outspoken ethics and morality.
In response to some materials I sent her, Jacquie gave me a harrowing account of her experience as a BSPA representative in a memo that served as the basis for the recent Substack article.
I worried what would happen to her, even after a substantial victory for the minority students.
I located her current employment and sent her an email. We have tried to schedule a talk but have done some Google searches. Despite the intense harassment that she and other minority students experienced, Jacquie received her Ph.D. on schedule from the University of Michigan. According to an official UofM webpage, the university's newsletters and webpages express pride in her subsequent awards from the University of Michigan and her success elsewhere.
Among the honors she has received over her career are the Distinguished Psychologist Award from the Association of Black Psychologists (2014); and NYU’s Martin Luther King Jr. Award (2011) for teaching excellence, leadership, social justice and community building. She has been recognized for her mentorship and teaching. She received the 2020 Paul M. Fitts Graduate Mentor Award from the University of Michigan Graduate Leadership Council) for outstanding mentorship of graduate students in Psychology and the 2020 Cornerstone Award for unique contributions to enhancing African American students' academic and social progress at the University of Michigan. She also received the Outstanding Mentor Award from the University of Michigan’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities program (2019).
It is my hope that there will be some constructive resolution to the problems that have plagued the Clinical Area. I am also interested in drafting a letter to the APA from the Black Student Psych Association (BSPA) stating the a) concerns of Black students in the Area and b) acknowledging our support of Ken and Liz.—Jacquie Mattis
From all indications, Dean Jacquie Mattis remains the woman I thought she was, but I could not expect her to get back involved with issues from decades ago. Many current faculty members have no sense of history except in the vaguest and most inaccurate terms.
XX
I now know XX's identity. She obtained her Ph.D. and went on to a position of leadership in African-American and gender and women’s studies. However, I am reluctant to disclose her name because of the repugnant way in which the Michigan psychoanalytic faculty treated her. I can’t judge whether she wants to revisit this time or have her name associated with it. Hopefully, she has moved on and is doing much good for others.
XX was repeatedly sexually harassed as a Black graduate student in the clinical program and humiliated by a psychoanalytic supervisor. He commented on her attractiveness and challenged her about why she did not cultivate a better transference relationship with white male patients. After all, she was probably the first attractive Black female in their lives. He referred it to intensive therapy.
I had almost no contact with XX back then and probably could not have picked her out of a crowd. XX’s treatment was so outrageous that support for her became a theme in the minority students’ protests.
My series of letters complaining to the American Psychological Association about the mistreatment of minority students cited XX with her permission. The letters precipitated a series of investigations, but I have never been told the final result. The anger in later letters reflected my frustration with the indifference and false promises that the students experienced. APA responded by sending more minority reviewers, but they were hardly likely to rock the boat.
The last progress report I received was
One of the specific charges involving sexual harassment of students by Professor Coyne has been taken up by the University's grievance process, with recommendations expected shortly.
Ken
Dr. Kenneth Carter is described on LinkedIn as
Founding Director of the Emory Center for Public Scholarship and Engagement and Charles Howard Candler Professor of Psychology at Oxford College of Emory University.
Dr Carter wrote a letter in 2011 at my request to refute some hateful material placed on the Internet from Elizabeth Young, a psychiatrist who was a junior faculty member at Michigan during the Troubles. By 2011, Dr Young had died, but the material was being used as she intended to harm my reputation indelibly, unbeknownst to me.
What is more he came to my assistance at a very difficult time in my graduate school career when, very close to my graduation, a few members of the clinical psychology faculty attempted to revoke their agreement in regards to that internship. He worked tirelessly to resolve the problem. What resulted was a public apology from the psychology department head. Without his assistance, I certainly wouldn't have graduated. He saw an injustice and worked hard to resolve it.
In summary, Dr. Jim Coyne has been a dedicated academic citizen, an excellent and patient instructor with a dynamic personality. I regard him as a great example of one of best professors and mentors I have ever known. It is a shame that more Michigan students did not have him has a mentor.
Please contact me if there is any additional information I can provide regarding Dr. Coyne.
I worked with you as an RA at UM from 1993-1998, and the only time I saw you get annoyed was at ZZ for slacking on the Family Heart Project, but that was only after everyone else had gotten annoyed at ZZ for slacking on the Family Heart Project! -James Cranford, PhD
At least no one was murdered in this conflict, unlike in the recent past.
I moved to the Departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine from ISR in 1986. I attended the rare meetings of the tenured psychiatry faculty in a plush conference room with an antique china cabinet housing a very expensive collection of china that Robert Friedel ordered during his brief tenure as Chair.
In my Substack articles, I often mention Barney Carroll's mentorship. We barely missed each other at Michigan. We later engaged in long-running email exchanges. Barney contributed to my blog posts, sometimes preferring to remain anonymous, especially as his health deteriorated and he could not take the abuse from Peter Kinderman and Richard Bentall.
About Albert Silverman (Chair of Psychiatry 1971-1981)
While in hindsight, Silverman's efforts to shift the department away from a primary focus on psychodynamics were slow and only partly completed, the perceived rapidity of the change proved to be too much for the faculty by the late 1970s and early 1980s. Silverman was unable to unite his fractious and suspicious faculty around a shared vision of progress. (Indeed, the atmosphere had become so tense that an administrator for one group of conflicted faculty actually murdered an administrator from an opposing unit. Although the murder was as much personal as related to work, those who recalled the event linked it to the tensions that were in the department.54) In 1979, the medical center reviewed the department and much of the blame fell on the negative feelings that faculty harbored toward Silverman's leadership. Silverman officially retired in 1981, and for the next three years a series of temporary chairmen attempted to manage. Both Bernard Carroll and George Curtis acted as interim. Curtis stayed on as regular faculty after his interim term expired, but Carroll left to become the chair at Duke University. After an exhaustive search, Virginia psychiatrist Robert Friedel briefly assumed the position in 1984 but lasted only nine months and managed to generate even more animosity from the faculty, especially as he never seemed particularly committed to the university. —Hirshbein L. University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry from 1955 to 2014.
Afterthoughts
To be continued.
I stayed at the University of Michigan for another five years. I only left when I got a surprise offer of a tenured full professorship from Penn that required me to move within a couple of months of signing. That is a whole story in itself.
I had already turned down an offer from Penn that involved me being mostly funded by the Abramson Family Foundation through the cancer center. Still, I would have to negotiate with a department (apparently any department) for the rest of my salary, specific responsibilities, and an early tenure review.
The Chair of Family Practice at Michigan, who was not known for his reckless spending, immediately upped my salary by $20,000 and gave me unrestricted salary funds that I could use for such things as buying books and traveling to conferences without the need to present a paper. I took the funds and spent them quickly because they were unencumbered but could have been revoked by psychiatry at any time; I went to Europe. I declined the salary, so I thought. I did not intend to leave Penn in only a year because I would be contributing to two center grants that were not moveable.
A couple of years later, I got one of those strange letters that were going around about unclaimed money being held by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I did not pay to investigate but used the Commonwealth's free portal. The unclaimed money consisted of three checks totaling $8000 after withholding tax. Michigan that had been sent to Penn's temporary housing, where I forgot to leave a forwarding address. I suppose I could have returned them, but I had previous problems getting a university to accept a return of funds that could readily be allocated to something else. I was generous with some charitable contributions after buying a pair of open-jaw airline tickets.
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