A Statement re: today’s decision by NICIQI by Aaron Joyce, PhD, Executive Lead Psychologist for Accreditation

The APA Commission on Accreditation strongly disagrees with NACIQI’s recommendation to suspend its recognition and is concerned it will have a real and lasting impact on psychology programs, future psychologists, and the nation’s mental health.

Every person in every community in America deserves access to quality mental health treatment. This outcome will worsen the critical shortage of mental health professionals, making it more difficult for those in need to get the care they deserve.

The Commission has been a federally recognized accreditor since 1975 and accredits more than 1300 programs across all fifty states. A suspension of the Commission’s federal recognition will cause many accredited psychology programs to lose access to the federal funding necessary to train the next generation of mental health professionals, and in certain states impact the ability of students to meet requirements for state licensure. This will fall hardest on programs serving rural communities, veterans, and other populations lacking access to care, where the need for qualified providers is most acute and the margin for disruption is smallest. 

The Commission also wants to address directly what we heard during the public comment portion of the meeting today.

Antisemitism is a pernicious, dangerous and abhorrent bigotry with an ugly history in our country. It is unacceptable for anyone to feel unwelcome or excluded in our professional community, and our commitment to a profession that is safe and inclusive for everyone is absolute.

The experiences recounted today by public commenters are deeply troubling. They must be taken seriously, and we will review those complaints specifically related to accreditation raised today. We also strongly encourage anyone affected by antisemitism at an accredited program to bring a formal complaint to the Commission, and we commit to giving those concerns the full attention they deserve.

We also want to be clear that we disagree with NACIQI’s statement that there is a "pervasive culture of antisemitism" within psychology programs. In fact, until today we had received only two complaints about antisemitism among 1300 accredited programs. The Commission has — and will — address each alleged violation of its standards, including any that involve antisemitism. The Commission's only wish is that the individuals who raised legitimate concerns about programs in the public comments would have come forward to the Commission directly so that we could have taken action sooner.

The Commission welcomes the opportunity to address the issues raised and is committed to compliance and continuous improvement. We take seriously every accreditation concern raised in today's proceeding and are devoted to doing our part to ensure that every American has access to the qualified mental health professionals they need.

We can and will still accredit programs. 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 today was a bad decision, not made in the best interests of faculty or students.