D.C. Code § 38-1402
It shall be the duty of the proper officers of any such college, before commencing or continuing business, to apply to the said Mayor for registration and a permit to commence or continue business; and the Council of the District of Columbia is hereby authorized and required to make such regulations concerning the form of such application, the evidence to be adduced in support thereof, and the method of taking such evidence as it may deem best, and shall have power, and it shall be its duty, to give public notice of all hearings upon such applications; and no registration and permit shall be granted until after the Council shall have, by the inquiry and hearing hereinbefore provided for and such other inquiry as it may see fit to make, satisfied itself that all such medical or dental colleges are fully equipped, both by the character and fitness of the faculty and the sufficiency of their appliances, to give suitable and sufficient instruction in the theory and practice of medicine or dental surgery.
D.C. Code § 38-1402