In the 1930s, the Eau Claire State Teachers College struggled to maintain the accreditation it first received in 1927. One of the main issues noted by the American Association of Teachers Colleges (AATC) in 1938 was the lack of student health services. The college was given three years to correct this issue or else it would lose its accreditation. President Schofield “added a nurse, Alice Matz, to the college staff and provided limited medical care for students, paid for by a new student health fee.”

The University Health Services struggled to keep up with the growing college, and by 1964, the Student Health Service “consisted of a part-time nurse, supplemented by a physician who visited once a week. The health service had a small clinic in the fieldhouse, but the location was so obscure that in 1967 the Health Committee recommended placing a “sign over the door so students can readily see it.”” In the years following the passage of Roe v. Wade, Eau Claire State refused to prescribe contraceptives and birth control to its students. The department also struggled with providing sufficient services to women. In 1975, a survey of the health services offered on campus was administered to students. “The results received from 1,100 questionnaires showed a sharp split: men who used the service reported a good outcome; women did not.” The results of this survey allowed for the department to push for big changes including the hiring of a female physician and “the establishment of a contraceptive clinic.”

Student Health Services today offers health-related services to all currently enrolled students. Services are prepaid through student segregated fees (part of tuition) with nominal out-of-pocket fees for supplies and certain services. Located on Upper Campus in Crest Wellness Center, Student Health Services functions as a well-equipped outpatient medical facility with services including: illness and injuries, mental health evaluation and treatment, sexual health/STI screening, women’s/men’s/trans health, contraceptive management, medications, laboratory services, immunizations and allergy shots, physical exams and travel consults, and minor surgical procedures.

*All quoted material is from pages 73, 185, and 186 of “Building Excellence: University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire 1916-2016” by Robert J. Gough and James W. Oberly