Largest U.S. Veterinary School Sues AVMA Over Accreditation

July 6, 2025

Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) of Harrogate, Tennessee, which has a veterinary school that was put on accreditation probation last fall, is SUING the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), charging that it’s engaging in “anticompetitive accreditation practices,” according to the VIN News Service.

LMU opened a veterinary school on its Harrogate, Tennessee, campus in 2014 (fully accredited since 2018) and is seeking to establish a second location in Orange Park, Florida. The veterinary school was placed on probationary accreditation in October 2024.

The AVMA’s Council on Education is the only veterinary program accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education. Thirty-six veterinary colleges in the U.S. are accredited by the AVMA COE. Ten other U.S.-based programs are in the COE accreditation process, including LMU’s planned second campus in Florida. The AVMA is a leading trade association representing more than 100,000 veterinarians.

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  • Largest U.S. Veterinary School Takes Legal Action to Protect Consumers and Their Pets (6.18.25)
    https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/largest-us-veterinary-school-takes-legal-action-to-protect-consumers-and-their-pets-302484550.html

    • “The suit, filed June 18, 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, asserts that the AVMA is improperly using its monopoly power, through its “Council on Education,” to restrict the accreditation of new and existing veterinary schools by requiring them to meet arbitrary, unreasonable, and impossible-to-meet requirements entirely unrelated to the quality of education necessary to graduate day-one-ready veterinarians.”