The Council on Chiropractic Education told Life trustees its accreditation policies do not cover mergers or partnerships between chiropractic schools.

The Marietta university can appeal its lost accreditation or close and have another accredited school educate its remaining chiropractic students, said Joseph Brimhall, chairman of the council's commission on accreditation, which revoked the Life program's accreditation June 10.

Another option would require Life trustees to abandon their planned appeal and allow an accredited school to apply for council permission to establish a satellite program at Life's Marietta campus.

But that would mean the Life program would lose accreditation, which will be continued by the chiropractic council only through an appeal.

Trustees quickly organized a conference call Friday to consider options. Earlier in the week, the board said it planned to pursue both an appeal and a cooperative agreement with another school that could allow its students to graduate from the Marietta campus. The trustees have until July 10 to file the appeal.

Several board members and the university attorney declined to comment following the meeting.

Shortly before the conference call, trustee James Sigafoose rejected the suggestion of a closure.

"We have no intentions of closing the school or of blowing these students off," Sigafoose said. "It doesn't have to do with brick and mortar. It has to do with these students."

Eighty percent of university revenues in 2001 came from tuition paid by chiropractic students, according to a report filed with the accrediting council.

Before accreditation was lost, the chiropractic program had 2,600 students, the largest in the nation.