Palmer West President Bill Meeker Praises the ACA & Palmer's Support for the NCLC

Despite Palmer's claim to hold vertebral subluxation as a cornerstone of its chiropractic educational training, it appears much of the leadership of Palmer embraces the American Chiropractic Associaiton (ACA) and its new brand - a brand that includes extremely restrictive standards of care that do not allow for the taking of radiographs to determine the biomechanical components of vertebral subluxation nor the taking of post x-rays to determine the correction of such components.

According to an article in Palmer News dated March 20, 2018 Palmer praised the "prominent presence" and "strong participation" of Palmer West at the National Chiropractic Legislative Conference (NCLC) put on by the ACA that included Palmer West students, alumni and administrators.

NCLC is billed as " . . . the annual meeting of the ACA, highlighted by an Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill, when students from the U.S. chiropractic colleges join doctors of chiropractic throughout the country to meet with senators and representatives to update them on the state of chiropractic and ask for their support on key legislative items to improve patient care and the future of the profession."

Palmer West's President William Meeker DC, noting the involvement and support of the school for the ACA stated: “Palmer West has a long-standing tradition of leadership from our students and alumni at the NCLC. This impacts the chiropractic profession at the college, state and national levels.”

Without providing any examples, Meeker went on to say that ". . . many of the recent advancements the profession has achieved are the direct result of their collective efforts.”

Meeker's praise for the ACA comes on the heels of Palmer Chancellor Dennis Marchiori DC lauding the ACA's recent re-branding efforts in a letter to Palmer Alumni. In his letter to Alumni, Marchiori made no mention of vertebral subluxation. Instead, Marchiori stated it did "... not support the narrow scope of plain film use endorsed by the ACA" and went on to state that clinical decisions are "not typically black and white". Marchiori urged practitioners to consider the dangers of exposure to ionizing radiation, the costs associated with it, and the inconvenience of time for the patient.

The sole chiropractor presenting as the Keynote at the 2018 NCLC was well known subluxation denier Stephen Perle DC. Perle is Professor of Clinical Sciences in the chiropractic department at the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic (UBCC) and has been a faculty member since 1991. He also serves as chairman of ACA's Research Advisory Board. Besides his role at UBCC Perle is also a consultant to the State of Connecticut, Department of Public Health, Division of Health Systems Regulation since 1996. The Connecticut Board of Chiropractic falls under this Division. Among other things, Perle beleives the subluxation construct is "scientifically unsubstantiated" and that those focusing on subluxation are practicing a "pseudo-religion". Perle is also the immediate Past President of the West Hartford Group which is rife with subluxation deniers including Michael Simone DC who was just appointed to the Colorado Board of Chiropractic.

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Half of the chiropractors on Palmer's Board of Trustees are ACA members according to the ACA's directory, including the Chair of the Board: Trevor V. Ireland, D.C.

The other Board members who also support the ACA as members are:

Donna Craft DC
Michael Chance DC

They are joined by a host of faculty and senior level administrators who are dues paying members of the ACA and have therefore pledged to uphold and abide by the anti-subluxation guidelines they have adopted.