Clayton College of Natural Health????????

A funny college called Clayton College of Natural Health claimes to be accredited by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners (A.A.D.P.) and by the American Naturopathic Medical and Certification and Accreditation Board (A.N.M.C.A.B.)? Degree mill???

 

Clayton is definitely in the nonwonderful category.

Of the two accreditors, both of which are completely bogus, one is a one-man operation operated out of the home of a Clayton graduate (with no other apparent credentials) who lives in Texas.

The other, if memory serves, operates out of the back of a health food store, run by a guy who also happens to be on the faculty of another less-than-wonderful school.

Clayton is particularly evil because they are pumping huge amounts of money into lobbying efforts to prevent licensure and regulation of legitimate naturopaths in the US. They do this by claiming that Clayton grads are "traditional naturopaths" who don't diagnose, or treat. However, a quick bit of research on the Net will reveal dozens if not hundreds of Clayton grads who are advertising what is clearly diagnosis and treatment of various illness. Some even offer to treat cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

It is worth noting that there isn't a single US state with licensure for naturopaths where Clayton grads are permitted to practice.

Naturopathy is a legitimate form of medical practice, and properly trained naturopaths must do a clinical rotation and have similar clinical and academic requirements to medical doctors. By contrast, the curriculum at Clayton, Westbrook, AIHT, and the other mail-order schools is a joke and doesn't prepare the practitioner to do anything competently, IMHO.

 

My interest in Clayton is owed to its apparently past membership in the World Association of Universities and Colleges, the "accreditor" owned by Maxine Klein Asher of Los Angeles (I don't find the school listed on Asher's current WAUC Web site).

Quackwatch discusses Clayton here:
http://www.quackwatch.com/02ConsumerProtection/licensing.html

The following Web site discusses Clayton and homeopathic quackery that is potentially harmful:
http://www.phact.org/phact/rescue.txt

On her Web site, Kristin Everson Hirst discusses Clayton founder Lloyd Clayton Jr.'s other money-making "university," Chadwick University:
http://distancelearn.about.com/library/faq/blfaqchadwick.htm

The Web site for the Alliance Network is devoted to the licensing of ethical naturopathists. It's Web site includes a page, which you have to view in frames, completely excoriating Clayton College. You can find it here:
http://www.allianceworkbook.com/tpindex.htm

Since it may be difficult to navigate the site, or the link may be lost at some point, I include the text below:

"Talking Points

"Clayton College-Diploma Mill

"·Clayton College of Natural Health, the largest, most prominent of the diploma mills that issues 'Doctorates of Naturopathy' through correspondence, has been widely criticized. A letter sent to one of Clayton's attorneys by the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization cited several problems with the school and concludes that there is not a difference between 'naturopathy' and 'naturopathic medicine' despite the school's assertions to the contrary.
Letter to William S. Fishburne III from the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization, February 18, 1998.

"·The US Department of Education has historically recognized only one accreditation agency for naturopathic medical schools and programs - the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME). Clayton College of Natural Health is not accredited nor a candidate for accreditation by the CNME.

"·Clayton College advertises that it is accredited by the World Association of Universities and Colleges (WAUC). WAUC has been connected with issuing accreditation to diploma mills by the Chronicle of Higher Education and is not recognized by the US Department of Education.
'Is the Internet Becoming a Bonanza for Diploma Mills?' The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 19, 1997.

"·According to the office of Alabama's assistant superintendent of education, it is illegal in that state for an educational institution to award any kind of a doctorate degree by mail. Clayton has avoided enforcement of this regulation by not recruiting students from its home state of Alabama.

"·An opinion issued in 1998 by the Alabama attorney general states the location of a home-study school's office in that state is enough to require that the school comply with the state's regulations. But Clayton continues to advertise its doctorate degrees in naturopathy and naturopathic medicine."