ED Accreditation Committee Recommends Suspending APA

Following scathing third-party comments, an Education Department accreditation committee voted to recommend suspending recognition for the American Psychological Association Commission on Accreditation over alleged failures to address antisemitism.

Speakers from Jewish advocacy organizations, professors in APA-accredited programs, and individuals working in private practices unleashed a flurry of complaints on the second day of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity’s (NACIQI) meeting this month. They accused the APA of allowing antisemitic behavior in its programs to go unchecked. Others, including conversion therapy proponents, railed against the organization for its alleged embrace of “gender ideology.”

Several commenters zeroed in on the APA-accredited doctoral program in clinical psychology at George Washington University and a 2022 incident in which two Jewish students were placed on remediation plans after complaining about an allegedly antisemitic guest lecture.

Multiple speakers, including NACIQI members, raised concerns about “decolonial therapy,” a model that examines how colonialism, racism and other power structures shape mental health practices. Critics argued that the practice pathologizes Jewish identity, injects political ideology into treatment, and courses and workshops at APA-accredited programs are evidence that the approach is widespread within psychology training and the accreditor has failed to address it.

“You have a bunch of folks in the APA who are in programs that you accredit, who have, frankly, crazy ideas, who think that decolonial therapy is the right way to teach, or have crazy ideas about gender,” said NACIQI member Adam Kissel who led the effort to strip APA’s recognition.

Kissel also accused the APA of decades of failures that have produced a “broken” profession.

Aaron Joyce, APA’s head of accreditation, condemned antisemitism but noted that some of the allegations raised in the public comment section involved the broader association rather than its accrediting arm and were therefore “beyond the commission’s jurisdiction.” But he pledged to review allegations against accredited programs and noted the commission had requested a special report from GWU and would follow up on complaints related to accreditation standards.

As a programmatic accreditor, the APA is not a gatekeeper for federal student aid. The suspension therefore would not affect the eligibility for institutions with APA-accredited programs.

While NACIQI members expressed alarm at the third-party comments, they split on Kissel’s charge to deny recognition. NACIQI member Roslyn Clark Artis, who is also president of Benedict College, called the measure “draconian” while Zakiya Smith Ellis questioned why strong monitoring and compliance reports wouldn’t suffice. In the end, Steve Taylor proposed suspending recognition, which passed 7 to 4.

Taylor argued the suspension would “send a shockwave through the system” while preserving the department’s leverage to drive changes at the APA Commission on Accreditation. That recommendation will now go to Under Secretary Nicholas Kent for a final determination. ED previously recommended approving renewal of recognition for the accreditor.

In an emailed statement sent after publication, Joyce condemned antisemitism as “pernicious, dangerous and abhorrent bigotry with an ugly history in our country” and promised to review accreditation-related complaints. But he disputed NACIQI’s notion "that there is a ‘pervasive culture of antisemitism’ within psychology programs.”

Joyce also noted that APA’s accreditation work will continue.

“We can and will still accredit programs,” Joyce wrote. “Even if this recommendation is upheld by the Department of Education, the Commission remains recognized as an accreditor by the Council for Higher Education and Accreditation, and will continue to ensure students receive quality training and programs meet rigorous national standards. The NACIQI recommendation was a bad decision, not made in the best interests of faculty or students. “

Inaction on ABA

While the APA was the focus on Thursday, the status of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) accreditation council was a topic that continued from the first day when the committee couldn’t reach an agreement.

After hours of discussion and multiple failed votes Wednesday, NACIQI voted Thursday morning to make no recommendation to the department on whether to renew or deny recognition to the ABA. The committee spent most of Wednesday’s meeting in pointed debate over whether the ABA deserved continued recognition amid concerns about its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, among other issues, including whether the accreditation council is truly separate and independent from the ABA. But in the end, members punted to the department.

Last month, the Department of Education said the ABA accreditation council should not be renewed due to alleged violations of federal regulations outlined in an 86-page report. Now Kent will make his decision without a recommendation from NACIQI.

ABA representatives defended themselves before NACIQI, saying they were in compliance, though some committee members felt that the ABA didn’t take the issues seriously enough. After the committee’s Thursday decision, ABA’s accreditation council chair, Melissa Hart, said in a statement that “we take accreditation and our recognition as an accreditor very seriously. We will continue to work cooperatively with the department as the recognition process continues.”

Other Actions

With recognition processes for the ABA and APA chewing up most of the scheduled time for the NACIQI meeting, the committee was in a race against the clock to complete their agenda. Ultimately, they lost that race and pushed two items to a future meeting.

But before the day wrapped, NACIQI recommended renewing recognition for two accreditors.

Up first was The Commission on Colleges and Universities (formerly known as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools), which received quick approval. While the accreditor has drawn scrutiny from conservative politicians like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for actions against member institutions, the organization saw little pushback Thursday.

Commission president Stephen Pruitt, who stepped into the job last year after longtime head Belle Wheelan retired, told the committee that the accreditor was an “organization in transformation.” He noted recent efforts to tighten standards and reduce administrative burdens. Pruitt also highlighted that the accreditor dropped its DEI position statement last year.

“We do not believe that any institution should be caught between an accreditor’s position statement and its state law,” Pruitt said, nodding to state restrictions on DEI initiatives.

The Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine (ACAHM) faced a more difficult path following a wave of third-party comments from graduates of accredited programs who said they were buried in debt and struggled to earn enough to justify the cost of their degrees. They noted weak career outcomes and questioned whether ACAHM had taken sufficient action to lower costs, shorten degree requirements and improve outcomes.

Supporters, however, noted that while ACAHM has room to improve, the sector is better with their guidance rather than adrift. They argued that stripping recognition wouldn’t address concerns about debt or earnings and would remove a key mechanism for accountability.

NACIQI member Bob Shireman said the issues at ACAHM were “more severe” than he realized.

“It seemed like they had a lot of excuses for why it’s somebody else’s problem when they have an enormous amount of power and ability through their coalition, through the accreditation, to address the various concerns that have been raised,” Shireman said before the vote.

In the end, NACIQI gave its approval but with a caveat that the accreditor fix compliance concerns flagged by ED within 12 months and submit a report showing how it had addressed admissions transparency, curriculum requirements, and debt-to-earnings debt ratios.

The committee did not deliberate renewal of recognition for the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools or the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, Accreditation Commission. Those agencies will be revisited at a future meeting.

(Updated at 10 a.m. Sept. 25 with comment from APA.)