The proposed school of optometry at the Pembroke campus of the University of North Carolina (UNC) has been rejected by UNC officials.

At a meeting of the graduate council of deans in late April, the chancellor of the Pembroke campus, Roger Brown, Ph.D., laid out the proposal for the optometry school. But university officials had doubts about the feasibility of the proposed school.

In a letter to Dr. Brown, university officials praised the notion that the optometry school would bring minorities into the field of optometry. However, university officials would not endorse the proposal for several reasons. The biggest one: Optometry doesnt need another school due to a projected oversupply of optometrists.

Pembroke representatives plan to re-submit their proposal at another council meeting in October. In order to approve the proposal, university officials requested national data to support the need for a new optometry school.

Optometrist Roger Filips, of Hartington, Neb., lobbied strongly against the school by posting an online petition on www.seniordoc.org, which acquired more than 850 signatures. He says he is pleasantly surprised by the decision from university officials.