Accreditation Probation Rescinded for the School of Pharmacy at Xavier University of Louisiana

Faced with a lawsuit filed by Xavier University, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education has agreed to rescind a decision made this past January to place the university’s pharmacy school on probation.

In 2003 the pharmacy school was reaccredited for only two years instead of the usual six. At that time the council said there were problems with the school’s faculty recruitment, its Office of Student Affairs, and the lack of a contingency plan in case certain federal funding was not appropriated. The board also noted that only 85 percent of the pharmacy school’s graduates passed the national licensing examination, compared to a nationwide average of 97 percent.

When the accrediting agency placed the school on probation in January, it did so without holding a hearing, which according to the university’s lawsuit was a violation of federal law. The university also claimed that the probation decision was based on inaccurate information supplied by an employee and also on outdated information about faculty hirings that were made since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Both the university and the accrediting board agreed not to disclose any details about the settlement of the lawsuit or the decision to remove the pharmacy school from probation.

Directly on the heels of the Xavier University decision, Hampton University, the historically black educational institution in Virginia, also filed a lawsuit against the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. The Hampton school was placed on probation for not having enough faculty members. But Hampton maintains that the agency’s standards do not specify the number of faculty required.

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