Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@aol.com>]

 PRESS RELEASE
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Contact: Kevin Christopher
 Tel: 716 636 1425 ext. 224
 Fax: 716 636 1733
 E-mail: press@csicop.org
 Accreditation Commission Approves Astrology School

 Amherst, NY (August 30, 2001)-Is the Astrological Institute in Scottsdale,
 Arizona, a Leo or a Virgo? The school received its new nationwide
 accreditation from the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges
 of Technology (ACCSCT) earlier this month-an apparent first in astrology.
 The institute's founder, Joyce Jensen, is elated; science organizations like
 the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
 (CSICOP), however, see the recognition as a blow to the integrity of higher
 education.

 The Astrological Institute offers full degrees in this ancient Babylonian
 art of divination, which is based on the premise that the positions of stars
 and planets affect people's personalities and fates. Belief in the practice
 persists despite the lack of any reliable scientific evidence that it
 actually works, according to Andrew Fraknoi, who is a CSICOP fellow and
 chair of the astronomy department at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills,
 California.  "Although astrologers like to pretend such evidence does
 exist," says Fraknoi, "astrology has in fact been tested in dozens of
 excellent scientific trials, and it has consistently failed them.  There's
 simply no evidence that astrology works-that it predicts anything or
 categorizes people in any way that can be used to help them."

 Commenting on the Astrological Institute's accreditation in a recent
 Associated Press story, Judith Eaton, who heads the Council for Higher
 Education Accreditation in Washington, DC, said that the accreditation does
 not validate astrology, but only recognizes that the school fulfills its
 promises to students.

 Scientists like Dr. Fraknoi dispute Eaton's distinction between the validity
 of the subject taught and quality of service to students. "Accrediting a
 school for a technique which has no demonstrable basis in fact seems to be
 the very opposite of what accreditation should be about. The notion that
 accreditation 'only recognizes that the school fulfills what it promises its
 students' is patently absurd.  If a school were to promise that it would
 teach techniques for flying by leaping off cliffs with no equipment, I doubt
 any accrediting agency would rush to give them official sanctions. There
 should be similar hesitation about accrediting a school of astrology, which
 cannot demonstrate the reality or efficacy of what it teaches."

 In an August 28, 2001, interview with Robert Siegel, host of NPR's All
 Things Considered, Joyce Jensen stated her belief the accreditation does
 lend credibility to astrology.  When Siegel asked how she thought it would
 do this, Jensen focused on the vocation, not the science: "Because, you
 know, we've gone through the same process that every other school has gone
 through. So we've proven our ability to provide a program where people can
 find employment." For Jensen the popular perception of astrology as a
 legitimate vocation trumps the question of scientific credibility.

 The nationwide accreditation of the institute takes astrology out of the
 realm of evening workshops at the local high school and "entertainment"
 horoscopes. In practical terms, as Dr. Fraknoi fears, the recognition
 elevates the subject to the same level as any other program at any other
 college or university. Accreditation will open the doors to student
 financial aid and grants paid for by federal tax dollars. It will also
 professionalize a lucrative business where, according to Jensen, astrologers
 charge clients between $100 and $150 per visit. By seeking the stamp of
 approval for the teaching of a vocation, the Astrology Institute has deftly
 shifted the question away from the qualifications of astrology to the
 qualifications of the astrologer.

 ###

 Skeptical Inquirer is the official publication of the Committee for the
 Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) a non-profit
 organization dedicated to science literacy and the examination of
 controversial claims. Published six times a year, the magazine features
 articles on paranormal claims and pseudoscience from a critical, scientific
 perspective. Visit the committee's Web site at www.csicop.org.