7-8-02 My reply to LUCC students requesting DC¼s to get involved to save chiropractic Thanks for your e-mail. I have a huge dilemma. As much as I appreciate the campus Dr. Sid created I do not appreciate the recent journey the school took and the loss of focus. I have written during these few weeks my feelings and tried to be less hostile to Dr. Sid and the administration than it deserves. The plight of the school is on their hands and preserving the philosophy and essence of chiropractic for generations to come is on their hands as well. Possibly losing the school and the potential of educating DC's even in a hostile chiropracTIC environment .. whatever the cosmic reason .. is unacceptable. DE is the positive shadow that surrounds the college as the Parker foundation does for Parker .. it is there .. close by and offered to every student if interested. The fact the Life and Sherman and other "straight" schools accepted the CCE for years attests to their rationalization to play by their rules. Now that the game has been lost by Life the game being played now is the chiropractic .. chiropracTIC is in jeopardy. The fight between straights and mixers have existed for 100 years and will be so in the future. The fight to keep the school accredited is not the students concern .. but the school .. administration and board of trustees. It is they that should have spent years prior to final status report getting ready to comply and even with an extended year to get it together .. they didn't adapt or decided to play a game of chicken .. well they lost! Is this the dilemma? When the board .. well .. Dr. Sid .. decided in their (his) wisdom to play with the lives of over 2600 students and their families .. possibly losing hundreds of students and the potential for new ones .. opening themselves up to multiple fund draining lawsuits .. losing revenue which will cause loss of their ability to pay school and infrastructure loans .. deciding which is more important a basketball team .. coaches .. arenas .. undergraduate school .. worldwide outreach or the chiropractic school which is in need of more teachers .. more clinical experience .. more research .. more equipment .. more exposure to a global healthcare experience (call it differential diagnosis) within a chiropractic bubble (it can be done) .. when the decision was made to play Russian Roulette with so many lives and a wonderful legacy .. they did it with arrogance and ego and now wish students and rubber stamp supporters to rally to their side. As much as I would love to .. I can't. Too many people and organizations .. all connected with Dr. Sid .. were asleep at the switch for too many years. Time now is to appeal for the CCE to extend the probation period and hopefully sane heads will prevail and rid the school from the management of the Williams' and those that went along with years of expansive ideals and less focus on chiropractic. I feel the students concerns and hope that the fight for the future of LUCC is revealed soon and those that need to be gone go and those that can steer the school within shark infested waters reveal themselves soon. Remember that even Sherman adapted to the CCE rules and they will do so in the future. I hope as you do that stronger heads with reason and purpose will find a way to include ChiropracTIC within the board of the CCE .. its dominance was at no fault of their own. Study the past of Dr. Reggie Gold. He gave up his license to practice pure chiropractic and thought the profession would follow on his Spinology program. It didn't and he lost his credibility and years of teaching students and guiding the course of present and future DC's. He didn't want to be a primary provider and be accepted by the insurance industry .. just adjust and tell the story. Unfortunately .. this is not the trend of science and the accepted norm within the real world. Some people and groups have a difficulty letting go and adapting as best as possible. Philosophy and the future of chiropractic is secure .. it has weathered the mixer straight debate for over 100 years. Those that should have made these investigative moves years ago .. the ICA .. was at sleep at the switch and lost many opportunities to call for an investigation. They are guilty of talking without action. Considering that the majority of DC's are mixers and even straight blend a bit attests to the failure rate of the truth .. most DC's can care less. Yes .. there may be a future battle for wellness care .. but losing the power of LUCC and its impact will only further aggravate the issue. I cannot support any effort to maintain the status quo of Life .. as I blame Dr. Sid of drifting off course for many years. I blame the entire board that were a rubber stamp for the administration. I blame the division heads of the chiropractic school that had a steady mantra for years .. "what would Dr. Sid think .. Dr. Sid wouldn't like this or that." Life matured and grew while at the same time the focus drifted from chiropractic to sports .. undergraduate and world outreach programs. All well and good but draining funds from the chiropractic school and protecting the interests of those producing income in its wake was and is the crux of the matter today. I appreciate Dr. Sid and the DE influence to keep chiropractic pure .. but I also appreciate the need to maintain a level of education consistent with other schools of healthcare training. If Life wants to be an island by itself or bring with it other like minded schools .. they should break cleanly from the CCE and be ready to lose financial aid for students .. federal grants .. and all that goes along without going with the flow. I for one will not get sucked into the fear and paranoia game being played by many on the internet or rally around the wagons. I applaud your efforts and wish you and others the wisdom to help guide Life from the inside while assisting those from the outside to reach the correct path. But the CCE is the only game in town and therefore sets the rules. During the year of probation these rules should have been challenged and the students updated so they would have a heads up on what to do. I've been there before. I left Sherman after six quarters to go to Life. Life promised to do whatever they needed to do to get accreditation. They did while Sherman didn't. But eventually .. Sherman did and Life kept on renewing as well. If their influence within the CCE was missing question why. Losing Life as an educational institution is way beyond the support of a single man .. his wife .. his daughter .. his sister in law and his close friends and god knows who else. Today .. I think the administrative and curriculum changes will be good. I think they have to downsize the school by way of infrastructure and students .. especially weed out many students and teachers that should not have either been accepted or lasted this long. This is a professional school .. not a rubber stamp diploma mill. You may disagree and sense that I am within the camp of anti Life and anti Sid .. you have that right. But I am not .. I practice the same as Dr. Sid teaches .. I support chiropracTIC but place blame on Dr. Sid and the ICA and the school administration and board for this dilemma. Yes .. there should be a congressional investigation of the CCE BUT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN INSTIGATED ONCE ACCREDIDATION WAS GRANTED .. not after it was lost and after an additional year of probabtion. It should have been instigated by the ICA .. ever wonder why the ACA is huge compared to the ICA. To lose a LUCC for whatever reason and the potential of new DC's in every state is a crime. The weapon may have been the CCE but Life pulled the trigger. I will place your petition letter on my webpage but cannot endorse it within my weekly e-mail. There are many sides of this story and my e-mail remains apolitical with only my commentaries revealing my thoughts. My opinion may differ dramatically from yours and set me within the enemy camp. But from my vantage point .. this is how I see it. I support the Principle not the Principal. Have a Great Day Dr. M