December 2002

Life’s ex-president still won’t take ‘no’,
CCE stands firm on ‘unbiased’ decision

Life University’s former president and founder isn’t accepting “no” from the accreditation agency, according an Associated Press report in ChiroWire news service. Dr. Sid Williams wants to call in federal authorities to investigate the Council on Chiropractic Education, the organization that recently revoked the school’s chiropractic accreditation and denied the school the ability to reapply for two years.

Williams’ request came after the university stated it couldn’t reapply for accreditation until June 2004, according to the AP. The former university head has asked federal agencies to investigate CCE. He argues that the CCE discriminates against conservative schools that base their education on the traditional “subluxation” approach.

The request for an investigation comes from Williams as a private citizen, not Life University, said a spokesperson from Life University, who chose not to comment on the situation to Chiropractic Economics.

CCE executive vice president Paul D. Walker responded to Chiropractic Economics in a fax, stating: “CCE has no agenda with regard to the ‘bent’ or the chiropractic ‘approach’ taken by the various accredited educational programs, whether they might be what he [Williams] calls ‘conservative’ or any other persuasion.

“Quite a range of such ‘approaches’ is evident among the programs accredited by CCE, including some similar to the positioning of the program addressed [by Williams]… Nevertheless, CCE applies the same requirements and uses the same processes with all of them. Regardless of the varying ‘approaches’ used by those programs, only that one program has failed to comply with CCE requirements to the end that it has lost its accreditation. That decision was evidence-based and completely non-discriminatory.”

CCE published an “open letter” to the chiropractic profession, dated November 8, 2002, on its Web site, www.cce-usa.org. The letter explains the composition of CCE and its volunteer Commission on Accreditation and how the COA works, gives some history of the “politics” of the CCE and defends its work as an effective accrediting body. Walker urged anyone interested in the accreditation situation to read the open letter.

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