"Their reasoning behind rotary phobia was that the college uses helicopters as 'problems' if they want to upset a student's flow. After a bit this becomes understandably deep-rooted and the knee jerk reaction is rather negative."
I think that this is a little unfair - however, what was done just a few years ago, certainly at CATC, was to introduce helicopters into the scenarios far too early (IMHO), and although to you and me it would be no problem - in fact, it could be perfectly straightforward if you appreciate the advantages of the helicopter's performance compared with the rest (aeroplanes) - to the trainees, it was often too much, too soon, therefore could be perceived as deliberately introduced problems (e.g. read the data, know the aircraft types and appreciate which is a helicopter for a start!) .