[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 2/11/03 ] Chiropractic school given new life By MARY MACDONALD Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer A federal judge on Monday restored accreditation of Life University's chiropractic program, an action the school's president said may save it. The reinstatement ordered by Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Moye Jr. is effective back to June 2002, when the national accreditation agency revoked the standing of Life's largest degree program. Moye ruled that Life's accreditation is restored pending the resolution of a lawsuit brought by the Marietta university against the Council on Chiropractic Education. Chiropractic graduates cannot be licensed to practice in most states unless the university's program is accredited. Life was the nation's largest chiropractic school when the council yanked its accreditation. Enrollment since has shrunk from 2,600 in June to about 500 this month. Another 500 students are enrolled in other programs at Life, which has a four-year liberal arts program. "I'm looking forward to the point when Life University is vibrant, and this is just a dim memory in our past," said Life President Ben DeSpain, speaking Monday before several hundred students, who responded with a jubilant standing ovation. The university contends the Arizona-based chiropractic council's decision to revoke its standing is politically motivated. Life adheres to a philosophy that maintains a division between chiropractors and physicians. The accrediting council has said its decision was based on academic and management deficiencies at the university, including a lack of supervision of students working in public clinics and insufficient instruction in diagnosis. The chiropractic council could appeal the federal judge's decision. An Atlanta attorney representing the chiropractic council declined comment Monday. In its written response to the lawsuit, the accrediting council denied all allegations made by Life. Students who chose to stick with the university through its troubles were ebullient over the decision. Dawn Hazzard, who moved her family of five to Marietta from Bergen County in New Jersey, stayed in Life's chiropractic school despite intense pressure from family and friends to reconsider. "I didn't pull up stakes because I truly believed in Life University and [its] philosophy," she said. Like many remaining students, Hazzard said she believes the chiropractic council's motivation was to reduce the number of conservative chiropractors. "There's always room for improvement," she said. "But they should never have done what they did to us." The judge's ruling came after a five-hour hearing Monday. No further hearings have been scheduled in the lawsuit, in which Life also seeks monetary damages from the chiropractic council. Graduation records of students who completed course work in December will reflect the reinstatement of accreditation. Theirs was the first class to graduate after Life lost an appeal in October. Diplomas could be in the mail by today, DeSpain said. Life University is one of 16 chiropractic schools in the country. It is the first whose accreditation has been revoked by the Council on Chiropractic Education, the only agency for the profession recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. The loss of accreditation last summer triggered an exodus that has strained neighborhood businesses that catered to students. The university's economic impact on the area has been estimated at $100 million. The loss of tuition revenue led the university to cut more than $10 million from its $38 million budget. More than 100 employees lost their jobs, and the university's acclaimed athletics program was eliminated. The loss of accreditation prompted lawsuits against the university by more than 300 students, who each pay $58,000 in tuition for the nearly four-year program. The lawsuits claim the school's administration was negligent in losing accredited status. DeSpain was appointed in November to succeed president and founder Sid Williams, who retired under duress in July. "So many lives have been disrupted and put on hold, and people have had to pull up stakes and move elsewhere, and try to make their own decisions the best they could," DeSpain said. "Students, faculty, staff, the whole Life University community have all been negatively impacted." It is too late for students who have withdrawn to transfer back in this semester, but DeSpain said the restoration of accreditation will help the university retain and recruit students. "It means that Life is going to make it, yes, Life will survive," he said. "We don't want to think about what would have happened had it gone the other way."