HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Hampton University’s federal civil lawsuit against the agency that determines its accreditation for its pharmacy school has been dismissed with prejudice.
Hampton University filed the lawsuit back in July 2020 alleging the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education’s decision to take away the school’s accreditation that year was a “bizarrely contradictory and Kafkaesque bureaucratic process rife with bias and revenge.”
In the lawsuit, the university asked the court to find the withdrawal of accreditation null and void, as well as award compensatory and punitive damages.
The ACPE withdrew the school’s pharmacy program accreditation for noncompliance with student progression through the PharmD program, as well as partial compliance with assessment standards.
According to the complaint, pharmacy graduates cannot practice unless they graduate from an ACPE-accredited school.
Hampton University’s pharmacy program has had accreditation with probation for several years. Accreditation records show Hampton University School of Pharmacy was last fully accredited in the 2015-2016 school year.
It was then changed to “accredited with probation” in the 2016-2017 school year, through the 2019-2020 school year, when accreditation was withdrawn.
According to a 2020 letter sent to the campus community, students who were enrolled at the time the accreditation was pulled will be able to graduate and take the licensure examination with no adverse effect. ACPE accreditation applies to students in the classes of 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
