The CCE stripped Life of its chiropractic accreditation on June 7, 2002, pending appeal. During the appeal, Life retained its accreditation, but on Oct. 20, 2002, its appeal was rejected by CCE and the school's accreditation was rescinded.
The court's preliminary injunction was one of the primary goals of the lawsuit filed by Life against CCE on Jan. 2, 2003.1 Life officials had hoped to receive a decision from the court by Friday, Jan. 10, but Judge Moye allowed the parties to complete written submissions until Jan. 31.
Needless to say, the decision was welcome news to Life students, who were notified during a special assembly at 5 p.m. on Feb. 10. Life University President Ben DeSpain, PhD, offered the following comments in a statement released by the university:
"It is with a humble and grateful heart that I confirm on Monday, February 10, Judge Charles E. Moye Jr. restored Life's University's accreditation of the College of Chiropractic. This long-awaited decision is the end result of much hard work by our Board of Trustees, the interim administration headed by Dr. Michael J. Schmidt and dozens of faculty and staff members. I am truly thankful for their hard work and dedication to Life University. Without their efforts, we would not have survived this crisis.
"We are very grateful for and pleased with this decision. While this is the first step in the judicial system, we are hopeful that our pleadings will hold throughout the appellate process and we will prevail in the end.
"CCE may file an appeal, and quite possibly could ask for a stay of this decision. Life is prepared to continue the legal debate, and we are very comfortable we will find similar success in future rulings."
Unfortunately, due to a tight production schedule, the CCE was not able to provide a response prior to publication of this issue. Look for more on this continuing story in the next issue of Dynamic Chiropractic.
Reference
- Life files suit against CCE. Dynamic Chiropractic, Feb. 10, 2003. www.chiroweb.com/archives/21/04/11.html.
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