Quinnipiac University’s Physician Assistant program has been taken off of probation after two years. The PA program was originally put on probation in November 2023.
“My understanding is that there was a 10 year accreditation visit from the Accreditation Review Commission of the physician assistant… they determined that the program was not in compliance with the accreditation standards,” Trenton Honda, dean of the School of Health Sciences said.
Since then, faculty have worked to meet the necessary standards.
“Our faculty worked incredibly hard to respond to all of the citations that they gave us,” Jocelyn Depathy, interim program director and chair physician assistant studies said. “We had incredible support from our administration… and they were instrumental in really giving us the support and resources that we needed.”
After addressing concerns and citations, the Accreditation Review Commission (ARC), “came and did a repeat SITE visit to look at those things that they had said we needed to address… immediately upon them leaving, they noted no observations, which means they didn’t note anything that needed to be fixed,” Depathy said.
Fortunately, the probation did not have any effects on the students. But it required “a tremendous amount of very hard work” from “dedicated expert faculty,” Honda said.
Depathy also mentioned that the PA program maintained higher than average first time pass rates on the PANCE, their certifying exam.
Additionally, any graduate students seeking employment six months after their graduation were employed, she added.
“I want to emphasize that there has never been any question about the high quality of the education that’s provided by our expert faculty in the program,” Honda said.
Richard • Dec 5, 2025 at 10:28 pm
Accreditation may be restored, but let’s not pretend this wipes away the years of serious issues documented in this very newspaper. No one who has followed the Quinnipiac PA program’s history has forgotten the reports of disability discrimination concerns, mental-health stigma, inconsistent accommodations, and a culture where struggling students felt targeted instead of supported. These weren’t rumors—they were published accounts from multiple students, across multiple years.
And we certainly haven’t forgotten that the U.S. Department of Justice opened an ADA investigation into this program, as publicly reported by the Chronicle. That investigation has never been publicly closed. No findings letter has been released. No corrective-action agreement has been announced. Nothing indicates the federal government considered the matter resolved. The silence speaks volumes.
Meanwhile, Quinnipiac’s leadership has chosen to say nothing at all about the harm that occurred. Not one acknowledgment of the dismissed students. Not one moment of responsibility. Not one public statement of regret for the lives and careers thrown off course. Instead, the only time the university offers transparency is when it benefits its image—such as their accreditation announcement.
This strategy is obvious:
Acknowledge the good news loudly.
Bury the bad news quietly.
Ignore the painful truth entirely.
But the community isn’t fooled.
Students aren’t fooled.
And the DOJ certainly isn’t fooled.
Accreditation does not evaluate civil-rights compliance.
Accreditation does not determine whether disabled students were treated fairly.
Accreditation does not erase the Chronicle’s reporting.
And accreditation does not protect the university from federal accountability.
To current and prospective students:
If you face retaliation, inconsistent accommodations, hostility after disclosing a disability, or anything that feels off, you have the full right to contact the U.S. Department of Justice or the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. You don’t need a lawyer. You don’t need permission. And Quinnipiac is legally prohibited from retaliating against you for doing so.
To Quinnipiac’s administrators, faculty, and Board members:
You cannot rebuild trust without acknowledging the past.
You cannot claim excellence while ignoring the damage done.
You cannot ask students to “move forward” when the institution itself refuses to look back.
Accreditation may help the brochure. But it does not solve your deepest problem: a complete lack of transparency about a very real and very painful history.
Until Quinnipiac confronts that history honestly, the question will remain—loudly, publicly, and permanently:
What is the university hiding, and why?
The community will not forget.
The students will not forget.
And as far as the public record shows, neither has the DOJ