The Council on Postsecondary Accreditation

By Thurston E. Manning

October 30, 1990

Dr. Steven Pappas, Executive Director
National Advisor Committee on
Accreditation and Institutional Eligibility
United States Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20202

Dear Dr. Pappas:

I write to express to the National Advisory Committee my interest in their consideration of the possible renewal of recognition for the Straight Chiropractic Academic Standards Association (SCASA).

My concerns over the initial recognition of SCASA by the secretary of education are already on record. I believe the recognition action of Secretary Bennett was ill-considered, unjustified, and incorrect. It has raised doubt about the integrity of the secretary's recognition process.

SCASA now comes before the National Advisory Committee for the first time since its initial recognition. The integrity of the secretary's recognition and the health of the accreditation commuity requires the consideration be forthright and clearly focused on the criteria for recognition as contained in the regulations.

Irrelevant issues raised in earlier committee hearings on SCASA have clouded effective consideration of the recognition criteria. Among these issues are the relationships among different schools of chiropractic. I trust that at the hearing next month the committee will resist any effort to introduce such extraneous issues into the discussion. The question before the committee is whether SCASA meets the recognition criteria; other issues are not germane to the committee's recommendation and the secretary's decision.

I have confidence in the ability and integrity of the committee in reaching its recommendation. My purpose in writing is simply to underscore that its deliberations cannot be merely routine. The initial recognition action was seriously defective. Many do not think that SCASA demonstrated compliance with the secretary's criteria at the time of initial recognition. If SCASA does not now demonstrate that it meets the criteria, SCASA's recognition should be withdrawn.