Former Antioch University students in Seattle complain of discrimination, program deception

Two former Antioch University students filed a complaint in King County Superior Court alleging Seattle’s Antioch University is guilty of discrimination and deception in advertised programs.

Antioch is a private, non-profit university that offers night classes and part-time classes for students pursuing degrees. In addition to its Seattle campus, Antioch has campuses in California, New Hampshire, and Ohio.

Antioch’s Doctor of Psychology program started in 2004 in Seattle and advertised a flexible program that could accommodate part time adult students. The flexibility led perspective students to think they could keep working full time while attending school, the complaint alleges.

The complaint also alleged Antioch did not offer remedial support to non-traditional students, required a writing class for incoming students beginning in 2015, and stopped offering tracks for specialized areas that year.

After Antioch received accreditation from the American Psychological Association in 2017, the complaint alleges non-traditional students “found themselves as targets of faculty who treated them in a disparate manner,” and under a new formal program placed students who didn’t graduate within six years “at high risk for dismissal.”

There are two plaintiffs named in the complaint: Dorothy Capers, 62, and Cynthia Winters, 61. The complaint outlines struggles both said they faced, and on Thursday they explained to KIRO 7 details of the legal complaint.

Read their legal complaint here. 

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