Tuskegee v. AVMA Lawsuit: Accreditation Appeal and Dismissal

Tuskegee University filed a federal lawsuit against the American Veterinary Medical Association on November 10, 2025, seeking to block what it called an unfair appeal process that could have stripped its veterinary school of accreditation. The Tuskegee AVMA lawsuit lasted just four days: on November 14, the university voluntarily dismissed the case after the AVMA agreed to reconsider its appeal procedures and postpone the hearing.¹ The dispute drew national attention because Tuskegee runs the only veterinary school at a historically Black college or university, and more than 70 percent of Black veterinarians in the United States trained there.²

Why Accreditation Was on the Line

The AVMA Council on Education placed Tuskegee’s veterinary program on probationary accreditation in March 2022, following a 2021 site visit. The Council flagged deficiencies in three areas it considers critical: finances (Standard 2), clinical resources (Standard 4), and outcomes assessment (Standard 11), with minor deficiencies in three others.³ Schools on probation generally have a two-year window to fix the problems.

The outcomes-assessment problem centered on the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination. The AVMA expects at least 80 percent of a school’s graduating seniors to pass. If the upper limit of a 95 percent exact binomial confidence interval stays below 85 percent for four straight years, the school moves to terminal accreditation, the last step before losing recognition entirely.⁴ Tuskegee’s NAVLE pass rates had run below 80 percent for six consecutive years, bottoming out at 51 percent in 2024 before climbing back to 72 percent in 2025.⁵

By late 2025, the Council moved Tuskegee from probationary to terminal accreditation and scheduled an appeal hearing for December 5, 2025.⁶ That hearing is what the lawsuit was built to stop.

Tuskegee argued it had made real progress the AVMA refused to see, since the accreditor never returned for a follow-up visit. The university broke ground on an $18 million, 57,000-square-foot small animal teaching hospital, funded debt-free through interest on a $20 million gift from MacKenzie Scott.⁷ It also pointed to the rebound in NAVLE scores as evidence of momentum, while conceding the 72 percent figure still fell short.⁸

What Tuskegee Said Was Unfair About the Appeal

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama as Case No. 2:25-cv-00890, was paired with a motion for a preliminary injunction to halt the December 5 hearing. Tuskegee alleged the AVMA had denied it due process and violated the association’s own accreditation policies, including Section 2.5.4, which guarantees institutions the right to present witnesses and documents.³

Four procedural problems anchored the case:

The AVMA refused to allow expert testimony from Dr. Willie M. Reed, dean of Purdue’s veterinary college from 2007 to 2024, and Dr. James W. Lloyd, a former dean at both the University of Florida and Michigan State. Both were prepared to say the AVMA had treated Tuskegee differently than comparable schools.⁹
The university was barred from introducing evidence that other schools with similar deficiencies had been treated more favorably, cutting off its disparate-treatment argument.¹⁰
The AVMA refused to release internal records related to the accreditation decision that Tuskegee said it needed for a meaningful defense.¹⁰
The entire hearing was capped at roughly two and a half hours for all testimony, exhibits, and rebuttals.¹¹

The disparate-treatment claim was the heart of the case. Dr. Reed was set to testify that when Purdue’s veterinary college was placed on probation over outdated facilities, the AVMA accepted Purdue’s financial commitments “at face value.” Tuskegee said its own written assurances from its board, its president, and its financial institution, along with architectural plans for the new hospital, were rejected as insufficient. Dr. Lloyd was prepared to say the AVMA had treated Tuskegee “differently” and “disparately” compared with every other veterinary college he had worked with across a 37-year career, and that the Council had “disregarded substantial evidence” of the school’s financial health.⁹

The AVMA’s Response

The AVMA would not address Tuskegee’s specific allegations publicly, citing its policy against commenting on individual accreditation matters before a final decision. Dr. Jim Weisman, the association’s chief of academic affairs, research, and accreditation, defended the framework: “We stand by the integrity of the Council on Education’s peer-based accreditation process. We believe the process is fair and presents a full opportunity for an accredited veterinary school to present its position in the appeal process.”⁵

How the Case Ended

On November 14, 2025, Tuskegee voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit after the AVMA agreed to reconsider the procedures for the appeal hearing and committed to “providing robust due process.”¹ The December 5 hearing was pushed to February 2026.⁵ The specific procedural changes the AVMA agreed to make were not publicly detailed.

In its statement, Tuskegee said it was “grateful the AVMA has responded to the concerns that prompted our action” and expressed confidence that the revised process would let it “properly present the notable improvements we have made since the AVMA’s visit to our campus in 2021.”¹

Where Things Stand

As of mid-2026, Tuskegee’s College of Veterinary Medicine remains on probationary accreditation.⁸ The AVMA Council on Education published its notice of accreditation actions after its March 2026 meeting, but the specific outcome of the rescheduled February 2026 appeal hearing is not publicly confirmed in available records.¹² The most recently reported NAVLE pass rate of 72 percent still sits below the 80 percent benchmark, and Tuskegee has said it has plans in place to keep improving in the 2026 testing cycle.

The Wider Fight Over AVMA Accreditation

Tuskegee’s case was not the AVMA’s only legal problem in this period. In June 2025, Lincoln Memorial University filed an antitrust suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee (Case No. 3:25-cv-00282-TAV-JEM), alleging the AVMA used restrictive accreditation standards, particularly its research standard, to suppress the number of veterinary schools and shield existing members from competition.¹³

In December 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division filed a statement of interest in the LMU case. The DOJ took no position on LMU’s specific claims but argued that accreditation organizations like the AVMA are not exempt from antitrust scrutiny just because states require veterinarians to graduate from accredited programs. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Dina Kallay said the department was committed to ensuring accreditation standards “do not unnecessarily restrict competition in veterinary education and services.”¹⁴ The DOJ noted that because accreditors are often made up of market participants who develop standards behind closed doors, they face an “inherent conflict of interest” that requires antitrust guardrails.¹⁵

The DOJ filing addressed the LMU case rather than Tuskegee’s, but both disputes turn on the same question: whether the AVMA’s position as the sole accreditor of all roughly 34 U.S. veterinary colleges is being exercised fairly.

1
Yellowhammer News. After Lawsuit, National Veterinary Accreditor Agrees to Reconsider Tuskegee University’s Appeal Procedures
2
Britannica. Tuskegee Trains the Majority of the United States’ Black Veterinarians
3
dvm360. Tuskegee University Sues the American Veterinary Medical Association
4
VIN News Service. AVMA Confidence Interval Policy for NAVLE Scores
5
VIN News Service. Tuskegee University Drops Lawsuit Against AVMA
6
AL.com. Tuskegee University Sues to Keep Nation’s Only Historically Black Veterinary School Accredited
7
Tuskegee University. Tuskegee University Breaks Ground on $18 Million Investment for a Small Animal Teaching Hospital
8
Tuskegee University. College of Veterinary Medicine
9
Yellowhammer News. Tuskegee Motion for Preliminary Injunction
10
WSFA. Tuskegee University Sues American Veterinary Medical Association Over Attempt to Strip Their Accreditation Status
11
WRBL. Future of Tuskegee’s Veterinary School Sparks Federal Court Fight
12
AVMA. AVMA COE Updates and Actions
13
Reuters. US Veterinary Association Sued Over Alleged Antitrust Scheme
14
U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Reaffirms Veterinary Accreditation Standards and Procedures Are Subject to Antitrust Laws
15
VIN News Service. DOJ Files Statement of Interest in LMU v. AVMA