[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 02/14/03] Chiropractic group appeals court ruling By MARY MacDONALD The Atlanta Journal-Constitution A national council that oversees chiropractic education is challenging a federal court ruling that restored accreditation to Life University's chiropractic program. The Council on Chiropractic Education will appeal Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Moye Jr.'s ruling this week and request an immediate stay of his order until the appeal is finished, said Mark Pelesh, a Washington-based attorney for the council. "They feel very strongly the judge's ruling was legally and factually erroneous," Pelesh said Thursday. The reinstatement brought Life back to the status it enjoyed up until June 2002, when the Arizona-based accrediting council revoked Life's standing, citing deficiencies in academics and management. The decision prompted more than 2,000 students to withdraw from the Marietta university, and led to a series of drastic budget cuts. About 1,000 students remain on campus, but only half of them are chiropractic students. Moye's order allows the university to keep the accreditation while its lawsuit continues against the chiropractic council. In his decision, Moye said he had no difficulty concluding the university would close unless the accreditation was restored immediately. Without accreditation, chiropractic graduates cannot be licensed to practice in most states. Moye also found merit in the argument made by Life attorneys, who said the peer review process was unfair because it included representatives of competing chiropractic schools. "Here, there were admitted conflicting economic financial interests in the decisions that were made," Moye wrote. He cited recruitment of Life students "after the June 2002 decision, by competitors whose representatives were involved in the decision-making on accreditation" and "an attempt by a competitor to buy Life University after its accreditation was withdrawn, at a time when the monetary value . . . had been reduced by the accreditation decision." The council is the only agency for chiropractic accreditation recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Life sued CCE in January, two months after the school lost its appeal of the June revocation. In a written response, chiropractic council attorneys defended peer review in accreditation and said Life had ample time to correct the problems that had been identified over several years. Among other academic issues, the accrediting council cited insufficient oversight of students in the public clinics. Ben DeSpain, president of the Marietta university, said he expected the chiropractic council would appeal Moye's decision. He told students Monday to prepare for months of legal maneuvering. "We've told students all along they need to be patient until this plays out and of course, nothing's changed on that," DeSpain said Thursday. "Our position was a very simple one. We were denied due process. That is the heart of the argument and there are many, many ways it is shown."