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November 6, 2025

FACT SHEET: MSU Mental Health and Wellbeing Under UHW Leadership

This fact sheet traces the efforts to eliminate integrative direct care services in Michigan State University's Olin Health Center. This page will be updated periodically to provide the most accurate information possible.

Timeline

• 2017 Olin Psychiatry merges with MSU Counseling Center to become Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS)
• 2018 CAPS offers a new model of direct integrative care within the Olin Health Center, guiding campus through COVID-19 and a mass shooting
• 2025 summer, UHW eliminated Olin Physical Therapy jobs, ending the service and closing the office (see "Facts" below for more information)
• 2025 summer, UHW fired five CAPS’ psychiatrists, including its director eliminating direct integrative psychiatry care within the Olin Health Center
• 2025 summer, a petition leads to the pause of eliminating psychiatry, however, plans to eliminate CAPS psychiatry are still on the table

Messages and Media

• July 31: Alexis Travis announced the closure of Olin Health Center’s Physical Therapy services and CAPS’ psychiatry, eliminating the roles, including the Executive Director for Mental Health, Leigh Norwood, and assigning herself as Interim Executive Director for the Mental Health and Trauma Support Services during the transition in Interim Provost and Student Affairs leadership
• August 4: A petition was created demanding the reinstatement of the CAPS’ director and the four fired psychiatrists, garnering over 1,500 signatures
• August 7: Alexis Travis announces a pause on the realignment, reinstating the five fired psychiatrists, complying with the MSU President’s request to allow the new Provost and Student Affairs Vice President time to review the decision
• August 12: Alexis Travis sends a follow-up message announcing new UHW interim leadership appointments, with both roles reporting directly to Travis.
  • Jon Novello is promoted from Director of the Employee Assistance Program to Interim Executive Director for Mental Health and Trauma Support Services, overseeing Dr. Swapna Hingwe, Director of CAPS.
  • Kathleen Miller has been announced as Interim Co-Director for the Center for Survivors
• October 15: MSU outlines progress in mental health strategy as suicide review committee begins (State News)
  • “As part of a 9% reduction across all university departments, the plan called for shifting CAPS’ psychiatric care to MSU Health Care — a move Travis said was based on overlapping services and declining utilization. According to UHW data, CAPS’ psychiatric program served 684 students last year, a 41% decrease since 2017, while CAPS counseling appointments rose 12% in that same period.”
  • “Travis said there had been ‘a lot of misinformation around the transition of psychiatric services,’ and emphasized that UHW participated in the same reduction process as every other campus unit, which used data to identify where student needs were greatest and where services might overlap.”
  • “Travis pointed to several recent outreach efforts designed to increase the visibility of mental health support across campus. These include "You Are Not Alone" signs listing the 988 suicide hotline and linking to campus crisis resources, Spartan ID cards that now include mental health information and embedded CAPS counselors located in specific colleges and student spaces.”

Facts

• The pause in eliminating psychiatric services is temporary. Plans remain to transition CAPS’ psychiatric services to MSU Health Care Psychiatry Clinic. The webpage has not been altered.
• Olin Physical Therapy was quietly eliminated in July 2025, resulting in the firing of two full-time physical therapists and the reappointment of two staff members. Although labeled duplicative, Olin PT provided specialized direct care to students, performing hundreds of evaluations each year. In high demand and with a small team of four, Olin PT served hundreds each year. Still, this only accounted for 50% of its referrals. Since its closure, patients have fallen through the cracks and are not receiving care at MSU Health Care. (Since the closure of Olin PT, there has not been an equivalent uptick in student referrals to MSU Health Care. This is an access issue, not an informational one.)
• Physical therapy, like psychiatry, provides specific and essential care that addresses the unique challenges of college-aged students, including working long hours on a computer, increased academic and social anxiety, depression, trauma, disabilities, etc., that manifest in disruptive physical and cognitive symptoms. Direct care is necessary care that improves the quality of life of MSU students and the campus community.
• The transition of CAPS psychiatry and Olin Physical Therapy reduces students' access to care, creating additional barriers and forcing them to compete in a public health market, resulting in higher costs and longer wait times for critical treatment.
• The decision increases barriers for those most in need, including the uninsured, international, and marginalized students who may have negative experiences in medical care.
• The public health of students and the campus community is at stake.
• Integrated psychiatric and physical therapy care under one roof is the standard at any large university. Removing these services places MSU at the bottom of the list for student health services. This leaves MSU at reputational and legal risk.
• UHW is engaging in an effort to reframe mental health across its portfolio and is replacing direct clinical psychiatry care with the promotion of suicide hotlines, suicide prevention training for employees, and meditation events. Suicide yard signs and stickers do not replace direct access to clinical care.
• UHW is engaging in deceptive communications, using university resources to mislead the campus community, including leaders, students, and their families, placing the institution at risk.
• Facts are being kept from the public, UHW branches, and MSU leadership. It is clear that there is gatekeeping and a lack of transparency. UHW should not have unilateral power to make decisions that eliminate critical care for students without transparency and public and expert input.
• The elimination of Olin Physical Therapy provides a picture of how the elimination of CAPS psychiatry will go.
  
  • Ask (referrals): Have MSU Health Care physical therapists seen a significant increase in referrals, comparable to the number being seen at Olin PT?
  • Ask (seen/treated): Has there been an increase in MSU students being seen and treated?

Addressing the Myths

Myth: CAPS utilization has been decreasing since 2017 

• Fact: It is misleading to compare referral numbers to a time when CAPS wasn't even established. In 2017, psychiatry services were separate from counseling. CAPS wasn't established until 2018 as a new integrative model to prioritize student referrals. Prior to that, psychiatry services were in Olin Psychiatry, which used a public health model. In addition to receiving referrals from the MSU Counseling Center, Olin Psychiatry also received referrals from outside counselors. This is why Olin Psychiatry referral numbers were higher; they served the general public, whereas CAPS only serves students. Additionally, following the merger, the number of full-time CAPS psychiatrists was reduced, further limiting the number of referrals clinicians could see. Referrals in CAPS currently come from a single source: counselors in CAPS. This prioritizes referrals and care for the more specialized patient population of college-age students, ensuring that students don’t fall out of care and providing a safe medical evaluation experience. Assessment by referrals alone is misleading. The number of visits, severity of cases, case management load, reviews, availability, etc., play significant factors into understanding need and performance.
  • Ask: Was performance mentioned in discussions or concerns about CAPS leading up to the decision to eliminate psychiatry?
• Fact: CAPS supervisors do not have the credentials to evaluate psychiatric care performance. Decisions around psychiatric care should require clinical experience and a medical degree.
  • Ask: Does UHW leadership have the credentials to evaluate MSU's psychiatric and clinical needs?

Myth: There is a transition plan in place to shift student patients to MSU Health Care

• Fact: The only transition plan was the amount of time employees were given until their last day of work to transfer referrals. For Olin Physical Therapy, it was two months. For CAPS’ psychiatrists, it was one week.
• Fact: MSU Health Care Psychiatry operates at full capacity. Psychiatrists will take on new patients until they are full. They do not have the capacity to take on an entire student population.
• Fact: This is the current reality facing MSU Health Care Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine and MSU Health Care Physical and Occupational Therapy. Student referrals have not been made following the closure of Olin Physical Therapy. The same students who were accessing care are no longer receiving care. Students have fallen through the cracks. Olin Physical Therapy completed hundreds of evaluations each year, but could serve only 50% of referrals.
• Fact: It takes 6-8 weeks to get from a referral to an appointment in the public health market. If a student misses an appointment due to hectic schedules and academic demands, it can take longer than a semester to get an initial appointment. In the Olin Health Center, it takes 1-2 weeks to receive care.
• Fact: The UHW transition eliminates direct integrative care, requiring students to compete in the public health market to find and receive care. There is no transition plan because you can't simply hope students will access the care. Students will drop out of care.

Myth: CAPS and Olin Physical Therapy are redundant services with MSU Health Care 

• Fact: CAPS and Olin Physical Therapy offer specialty population care to college-age students. MSU Health Care serves the general public. Student health centers were created to address this service gap.
• Fact: These services are designed to address known barriers to health care for college campus patients, providing easier access, reduced costs, and in-house, all-in-one services.
• Fact: Removing direct student care services and pushing them to the public health market removes safety nets, increases barriers, and deprioritizes student health and wellbeing at MSU. It places students at greater risk of not receiving essential care.

Myth: UHW is engaging in a workforce reduction due to budget cuts by eliminating physical therapy and psychiatric care 

• Fact: UHW has been eliminating direct care roles and departments long before the budget reductions.
• Fact: At the same time that UHW is cutting direct care student services and clinical staff, it has increased its already increased administration team with additional executive hires made during the budget reduction.
• Fact: There are other areas that could be considered to reduce costs besides eliminating direct-care essential workers.

Myth: There is misinformation around the transition of psychiatric services 

• Fact: The petition is the only reason students know about the planned elimination of services. Otherwise, the service would already be eliminated.
• Fact: Alexis Travis sent a message to a small internal group of MSU college leaders announcing the decision in the midst of an interim Vice President leadership change over the summer before students returned to campus.
• Fact: UHW communications is sharing inaccurate, misleading, and potentially harmful information with the public about the decision to cut campus psychiatry care.

Next Steps

• Clinical care decisions should be guided by clinical experts, not administrative hawks. MSU leaders must halt any decision to eliminate CAPS psychiatry. Vice Presidents McIntyre and Hintz must engage CAPS leadership directly, bypassing UHW administrator oversight.
• Publicly commit UHW to engaging the frontline medical experts in all transition planning discussions, providing transparency, and independent reviews, including VP access to meet with MSU’s current medical experts and practitioners in the absence of UHW administrators to eliminate potential retaliation and get to the bottom of the situation. All meetings should be open to ASMSU representation, including access to agendas, minutes, and submitted reports and briefings.
• The CAPS director should not report to the EAP director, Jon Novello. Student needs differ from employee needs. EAP does not offer psychiatric services and lacks the expertise to address students' psychiatric cases. The CAPS director has the expertise to inform decisions based on hands-on clinical experience.
• Reevaluate the elimination of Olin Physical Therapy and explore processes to reinstate the direct care service to get MSU back on the map, meeting Big Ten university standards.
• Examine the administrative structure of UHW to identify ways to meet budget reductions without eliminating direct-care medical professionals. Review the UHW administrative structure and reporting lines to ensure the CAPS director has the necessary authority and autonomy to guide MSU's campus on psychiatric and clinical care.
• Nominate Dr. Swapna Hingwe and the CAPS team for the Health and Wellbeing Changemaker award for continuing the work of meeting MSU's psychiatry needs!

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August 6, 2025

Update to the Petition: Safeguarding CAPS and Transparent Leadership

***We did it!!! Keep the momentum going and save mental health at MSU for good!***

Thank you to the more than 1,450 students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members who signed this petition and bravely shared their stories in defense of accessible mental health care at MSU. On August 7, in an email titled "Pause on realignment of student psychiatric services," Assistant Provost Alexis Travis announced that the layoff notices for Dr. Swapna Hingwe and the four other CAPS psychiatrists have been rescinded, and that the transition of psychiatric services has been paused.

We applaud this outcome and recognize it as a direct result of your collective advocacy. Additionally, we commend President Guskiewicz's recommendation to allow the new Provost and VP of Student Affairs to be involved in shaping the future direction of these critical services. Thank you for your leadership.

Yet, there are still unanswered questions for many. We remain concerned about the harm already caused and the lack of transparency surrounding future leadership and direction for Mental Health and Trauma Support Services. The silence regarding the role of Interim Executive Director leaves critical questions unanswered. Moreover, many within the community continue to question UHW leadership's "unwavering commitment to student health and wellbeing," raising broader concerns about long-term psychiatric accessibility and inclusion in decision-making.

We welcome the restoration of CAPS psychiatry and the continued availability of three subsidized psychiatric visits for students, as well as the 24/7 crisis line. However, it is unacceptable that such a vital service was nearly dismantled without any meaningful input from the frontline providers or campus community. An institutional apology is warranted for the distress and uncertainty caused.

Moving forward, we call on MSU to:

1. Fully pause the transition of psychiatric services
2. Publicly commit to engaging frontline staff in all future planning
3. Recognize Dr. Swapna Hingwe as a trusted and qualified leader for the role of Executive Director for Mental Health and Trauma Support Services at MSU. Our students deserve not just restored services, but vision, stability, and care rooted in trust

The petition is a powerful archive of over 700 heartfelt testimonies that illuminate the vital role of CAPS psychiatry in students' lives. One student wrote, “Without CAPS, I wouldn't have survived my first year at MSU. They helped me access care when I had nowhere else to go.” Another noted, “My psychiatrist at CAPS understood me in a way no one else had. This isn't just a service—it's a lifeline.” A graduate student shared, “Affordable psychiatric care allowed me to continue my studies. Losing CAPS would have meant dropping out.” These testimonials are urgent reminders that mental health care is not optional—it is foundational to academic success, safety, and human dignity. We urge MSU to not only listen but act on these stories with integrity, transparency, and community-centered leadership.

 

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To MSU Leadership (Alexis Travis, Norman Hubbard, Kristine Allen, Thomas Jeitschko, Kevin Guskiewicz, and Kelly Tebay):

We write to express deep concern and outrage at the abrupt termination and administrative leave of Dr. Swapna Hingwe, former Director of Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS), and the elimination of psychiatry services provided by CAPS as announced in a July 31 "Transition of Physical Therapy and Psychiatric Services to MSU" email. We call on Michigan State University leadership to immediately reinstate Dr. Hingwe and the four psychiatrists whose roles have been unfairly eliminated.

Dr. Hingwe has served the MSU community with distinction for 16 years. As the first woman of color to direct CAPS, she brought a vision of healing-centered, culturally responsive mental health care to the forefront of campus wellbeing. Under her leadership, CAPS became a national model for compassionate, community-rooted psychiatric support, prioritizing outreach to marginalized, international, and neurodiverse students. Dr. Hingwe built a career on inclusive care, working across campus to make mental health support a shared responsibility.

The decision to eliminate Dr. Hingwe’s role and dissolve CAPS psychiatry services stands in stark contradiction to the university’s public claim that “mental health is a priority.” It is deeply ironic — and profoundly disheartening — that even as administrators pledge to strengthen student wellbeing, they have removed one of the most trusted leaders in campus mental health care and dismantled a key component of the system that served students with dignity and depth.

Dr. Hingwe embodied what it means to center student mental health, not just in policy, but in practice — through presence, outreach, and culturally attuned care. Her leadership cannot be replaced with a corporate model or transitional structure that lacks community trust and continuity. If mental health is truly a priority, then it must be reflected in who is empowered to lead, the services that are preserved, and the values that guide decision-making. Otherwise, such commitments ring hollow.

These actions also stand in stark contrast to MSU’s recent adoption of the Okanagan Charter, which commits the university to a holistic approach to health and wellbeing. Dr. Hingwe was selected to serve on MSU’s Okanagan committee because of her demonstrated leadership in student mental health. Her abrupt termination — conducted without prior notice and in a private meeting where she was asked to return her keys — undermines the Charter’s stated principles and raises questions about the university’s commitment to a "culture of care."

This decision has had broader consequences beyond one individual. Dr. Hingwe’s supervisor, Leigh Norwood, was also laid off, and these staffing changes have sent waves of concern across the CAPS team and campus. What appears to be a consolidation of services under UHW has resulted in the elimination of long-standing roles and created an atmosphere of uncertainty.

While the president has emphasized the need to prioritize people during budget reductions, the approach taken by UHW appears misaligned with that directive. The removal of trusted mental health leaders without transparency or community input jeopardizes student trust and wellbeing. If MSU is to remain true to the spirit of the Okanagan Charter and its stated values, it must begin by demonstrating care and integrity toward those who have led our community through its most vulnerable times.

Dr. Hingwe and her team have been the quiet backbone of support in moments of crisis and transformation. These changes dismantle a legacy of culturally competent care built over more than a decade, without input from the very students and colleagues most affected.

We reject the devaluation of mental health leadership grounded in inclusion, community partnerships, and student-centered advocacy. We reject the replacement of hard-won women of color leaders under the banner of efficiency reforms and budget cuts. We demand better.

We respectfully call on MSU leadership to:

• Immediately reinstate Dr. Swapna Hingwe and the four psychiatrists recently laid off from CAPS.
• Restore CAPS psychiatry services under UHW and maintain its integrated care model.
• Implement a transparent, community-informed process for future leadership and service changes impacting student wellbeing.
• Publicly affirm MSU’s commitment to culturally competent, student-driven, and inclusive mental health care.

Let us not lose the people and programs that have stood by our students during their most difficult moments. The MSU community deserves mental health care that reflects its people, its values, and its humanity.

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