The question of the degree also attracted comment in the British press, forcing Hubbard onto the defensive. He issued a policy letter in February 1966 defending his degree: "I was a Ph.D., Sequoia's University and therefore a perfectly valid doctor under the laws of the State of California". (The latter claim was not true, as Sequoia had never been accredited by the State, nor had it any chance of being — as Christopher Evans notes, it "used to be well known to quacks on the West Coast as a degree mill where 'qualifications' could be bought for suitable sums." ) Hubbard announced that henceforth the title of "Doctor" would no longer be used within Scientology, as "the name has been disgraced" due to "the abuses and murders carried out under the title of 'doctor'" (a reference to his hatred of psychiatry).