US panel urges suspension of psychology accreditor over antisemitism

A US Education Department advisory committee has recommended suspending federal recognition of the American Psychological Association's accreditation arm for one year, in a move that could reshape how psychologists are trained across the United States. The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) found that the APA's Commission on Accreditation failed to meet several federal requirements and, in an explicit finding, "failed to address the pervasive culture of antisemitism" in the programmes it certifies.

The recommendation now awaits a final decision from the Trump administration and the Education Department. The APA is the largest and most influential psychology organisation in the US, and its accreditation commission currently certifies over 1,300 training programmes, including doctoral, postdoctoral and internship tracks.

The move follows more than two years of complaints from Jewish and Israeli psychologists about antisemitism, exclusion and the embedding of anti-Israel positions in professional discourse at training institutions.

Suspending recognition would not immediately close programmes or void degrees, since accreditation is granted to programmes rather than to individual psychologists. But the APA has warned of wide-ranging consequences for the mental-health system. Dr Aaron Joyce, a senior psychologist on the accreditation commission, said the step could block federal funding for certain programmes, harm graduates' licensing prospects in some states, and worsen the existing shortage of mental-health professionals.

The unusual recommendation comes after extensive testimony about discrimination and harassment in training institutions. Evelyn Shechman, executive director of the American Jewish Medical Association (AJMA), told the committee that "in the mental-health field, antisemitism has become so widespread that Jews are avoiding mental-health treatment out of fear of discrimination and hostility."

Jewish students reported being told "you deserved October 7th", that they hold privilege because of their identity, and that they were exposed to curricula denying Israel's legitimacy. The Combat Antisemitism Movement added that some diversity courses presented Jews as "white colonial oppressors" and described Zionism as a "mental illness" in lectures on "decolonial therapy", an approach that examines colonialism's impact on mental health but was applied in a way that framed support for Israel as a position to be "dismantled" in the therapy room.

The APA itself confirmed several instances of offensive content, including the posting of "Kudos to Hamas" on a mailing list of a division dealing with peace studies, and antisemitic material presented by an approved body, which subsequently lost its authorisation to grant continuing-education credits.

Pressure on the APA has mounted significantly in recent years. More than 3,500 professionals signed a letter warning of a "systemic problem" of antisemitism in the association. In December 2024, the House Education Committee opened a formal investigation, and in June this year the Office for Civil Rights at the US Department of Health and Human Services joined with its own inquiry. This month, the Health Department published guidance clarifying that discrimination against Jews and Israelis at institutions receiving federal funding violates civil-rights law.

Claims of a double standard have also been raised within the APA. The organisation has yet to approve the Jewish Psychologists Association's application for formal status as an "ethnic psychological association" — a designation already granted to organisations representing other minority groups. In response to criticism, the APA has taken several steps, including updating mailing-list rules to ban antisemitic content, establishing a centralised complaints database, training administrators, and passing a formal resolution condemning antisemitism.