New head for Life University

By KRISTINA TORRES
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
March 5, 2004

Former Life University President Ben DeSpain doesn't go through life 
anticipating doom 
or second-guessing himself. His former employer apparently doesn't, either, with 
its 
triumphant announcement Thursday of President Guy Riekeman's hiring.
 
The news came barely 24 hours after DeSpain resigned, and it brings the 
embattled Marietta 
chiropractic school nearly full circle in its fight to stay open, accredited and 
relevant.
 
Riekeman, widely known in the chiropractic world, is considered charismatic and 
a people 
person, a longtime educator with a reputation for recruiting students and 
raising money. 
Above all, unlike DeSpain, whose tenure lasted 15 months, he is a chiropractor. 
His hiring 
is seen as a coup, because he had been leading Life's chief rival, the Palmer 
University 
System.
 
"This man stands head and shoulders above any man I have seen in leadership in 
this 
profession," said William Harris of Albany, a chiropractor for 65 years who 
knows 
Riekeman. "This is now a rebirth of this Life college."
 
Of course, all this would seem to have a familiar ring: Life founder and 
longtime leader Sid 
Williams also was charismatic and a people person, having built what during the 
1990s 
became the nation's largest chiropractic school, with 3,500 chiropractic 
students and an 89-
acre campus peppered with statuary that, even today, bears his likeness. 
 
But the business of Life began crumbling in mid-2001, with a critical review 
questioning 
school operations by a key academic accrediting agency. The next year, the 
Council on 
Chiropractic Education revoked Life's accreditation because of academic and 
management 
issues
 
Under a later agreement, the school retained its chiropractic standing, but 
enrollment 
plummeted. Life has not been the same since, limping along with 750 chiropractic 
students 
among its 1,250-student body, reduced programming and a recent proposal to sell 
the 
campus to a neighboring institution ã Southern Polytechnic State University ã to 
erase a 
$31 million debt.
 
Still, Thursday's leadership change, announced at a morning assembly, surprised 
many.
 
"I'm just shocked they didn't offer Dr. DeSpain an opportunity to see that 
college further 
along," said Linda Denham, a Life graduate and former president of the Georgia 
Board of 
Chiropractic Examiners, who nonetheless called Riekeman "a wonderful, wonderful 
person." Third-year chiropractic student Mike Green said students are generally 
supportive. 
"This guy, supposedly, he knows his stuff," Green said. "The previous president, 
he did a 
good job. But [Riekeman] has a lot more to offer."
 
With the support of Life's board, DeSpain made several difficult, necessary 
cutbacks, 
including axing the school's athletic program.
 
He saw the school through a probationary review by the academic accrediting 
agency, the 
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which last December agreed to give 
the 
school another year to correct finance and governance issues. The association's 
Tom 
Benberg said the leadership change is not necessarily worrisome, because the 
primary issue 
is compliance.
 
DeSpain on Thursday was not available for comment, and he did not return phone 
calls. 
Life board Chairman Charles Ribley said when DeSpain "came to us, I believe his 
comment was, 'I am a troubleshooter.' He did not come for the long term."
 
Ribley added that with Life having regained relative stability, the next step 
was to "bring in 
a president who would be in a position to reach out to the chiropractic 
community at large." 
Ribley declined to reveal Riekeman's salary.
 
The new Life president, who is 54, was Palmer's chancellor until last month, 
when he and 
that school's governing board had a falling-out that resulted in his 
resignation. Riekeman, 
speaking generally, said disagreements emerged over governance issues and "it 
reached a 
point that I didn't want to continue. Because of my stature, in less than 24 
hours, I had 
people calling," including Life.
 
Palmer board members on Thursday issued two statements. One wished Riekeman 
well. 
The other said they and Riekeman had communication issues, and Riekeman didn't 
want to 
go along with their prescribed fixes.
 
Life trustee Tom Klapp said Riekeman talked to Life trustees about what 
happened, and 
that it was "logical. We could relate to it. It was a difference in management 
philosophies."