United States Department of Education Transcripts
The following is part of our 2007 Chiropractic History Month coverage. This content comes from transcripts, provided by the World Chiropractic Association (WCA), regarding June 6, 2006 proceedings that took place in Arlington, Virginia. Richard Plummer speaks on behalf of the FSCO regarding the Council on Chiropractic education.
Chairperson D’amico: Richard Plummer, Chair, Federation of Straight Chiropractors and Organizations.
Dr. Plummer: Good afternoon, Madam Chair. Thank you very much and thank you members of the committee. I’m Dr. Richard Plummer. I practice in South Carolina, and I have served on the Board of the Chiropractic Examiners in South Carolina for nine years. I was a member of a chiropractic college administration and also faculty for 12 years. But today I’m here because I serve currently as the Chairman for the Federation of Straight Chiropractors and Organizations, also known as the FSCO.
For 30 years, the FSCO has represented on a national level that segment of our profession that is generally considered the most conservative and hence the descriptive “straight chiropractors.” We believe that there has been a deliberate and consistent effort on the part of the Council on Chiropractic Education to ignore the views of our segment of the profession as well as others. This was notably documented as recently as last May when the FSCO requested time to address the CCE’s strategic planning session and was informed by the CCE Executive Director Dr. Martha O’Connor that, quote, “The CCE recognizes the United States national chiropractic associations as the ACA and the ICA. We have therefore limited our invitation to those two organizations.”
By allowing only favored national organizations with philosophical biases toward a condition-centered only model of chiropractic, to send representatives to participate in strategic planning, CCE created conflicts of interest that placed it out of compliance with the intention of their own criteria. We find this exclusionary position of the CCE troubling on a number of counts. When we had two accrediting agencies, the CCE and the Straight Chiropractic Academic Standards Association, SCASA, the straight chiropractic schools had a choice as to which agency they would seek accreditation from. We no longer have that option in the chiropractic education.
The schools and the profession were assured that the CCE could and would accommodate the entire philosophical spectrum within chiropractic education and not dictate institutional mission or objective. Unfortunately, this has not been the case starting with defining chiropractors as primary care physicians. The use of this term could be used to open many doors leading outside the relevant chiropractic practice. The CCE standards and requirements continually move the educational programs further and further into an allopathic or medical model. Constantly populating site visitation teams to straight chiropractic colleges with individuals who do not possess the unique credentials or background necessary to competently evaluate the clinical program in light of the stated mission of a straight chiropractic college, the CCE has demonstrated a pattern of noncompliance with Department of Education guideline 602.15(a)and (2).
As long as the CCE maintains a condition-centered approach to chiropractic and excludes the subluxation-centered straight chiropractic input and participation, they fail to meet their own mission and criteria. We ask for full representation input and participation by both philosophical viewpoints and that both factions be recognized and considered by the CCE. I appreciate your time today and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you.
Event History: Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Hilton Arlington Hotel Arlington, Virginia 22203
United States Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education
National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality And Integrity
The Council on Chiropractic Education, Commission on Accreditation
Action for Consideration: Petition for Renewal of Recognition
Transcripts of Proceedings*
Complete transcripts have been made available via the WCA JVSR CCE Transcripts
PDF Complete 36 Page Document: PDF CCE 2007 Transcripts
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