Tuskegee University has submitted two forms of federal litigation against the American Veterinary Medical Association to prevent the school’s College of Veterinary Medicine from potentially losing its accreditation.

According to a complaint, the American Veterinary Medical Association‘s Council of Education recently placed the College of Veterinary Medicine on the terminal accreditation status, resulting in the university appealing.

An appeal hearing is set to be held on the matter December 5 but Tuskegee said the hearing is a “facade” and accuses the AVMA’s Council of Education of violating due process law and the council’s own policies “that promise equality when rendering its terminal accreditation decision.”

Tuskegee alleges that the AVMA violated due process by limiting the university’s ability to appeal the council’s accreditation decision by “prohibiting evidence and testimony regarding the AVMA COE’s disparate treatment of Tuskegee,” among other reasons.

Attempts to reach AVMA and the university for comment were not immediately successful.

Tuskegee also filed a time-sensitive motion for preliminary injunction asking a court to enjoin the AVMA from holding the December 5 hearing until it has been determined “whether the AVMA’s process and procedure for this appeal violates due process.”

The motion asserts that if Tuskegee’s veterinary program loses it’s accreditation the result could mean serious harm to the school’s reputation, ability to retain students and faculty, ability to recruit students and faculty and outright ”ruin of the program.”

Tuskegee’s College of Veterinary Medicine, founded in 1945, is the only historically Black veterinary school in the country with 70 percent of all Black veterinarians in the nation being graduates of the program.

The complaint includes letters, from a bipartisan coalition of Alabama congress members and Gov. Kay Ivey, to Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon saying they were troubled by the AVMA deciding to, “impose terminal accreditation” on the college.

The congress members include Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt and House Reps. Terri Sewell, Shomari Figures and Mike Rogers.

“As members of Alabama’s congressional delegation, we write to express concerns regarding the recent accreditation review of Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine (TU-CVM) by the American Veterinary Medical Association (A VMA) Council on Education (COE),” the lawmakers said.

“TU-CVM has been a cornerstone of veterinary education for more than 80 years, and its continued success is vital to Alabama, the nation, and the veterinary profession.”

Tuskegee asserts that the AVMA‘s accreditation decision could likely impact diversity in the field of veterinary medicine.

“Thus, the AVMA, a trade association, and the AVMA COE, the sole accreditor of veterinary schools in the United States, will soon decide, in large part, whether minority participation in the field of veterinary medicine will enjoy continued success,” the motion states.

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