Commentary
The University of Florida College of Medicine Continues to Exhibit Its Woke Initiatives
Share:
The University of Florida College of Medicine is taking its wokeness to a new level, as it just confirmed to Do No Harm. We recently reported on UFCOM’s dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and commitment to infusing anti-racism into the medical education curriculum. However, UFCOM has more virtue signaling to do, as seen with its responses to the AAMC’s Diversity, Inclusion, Culture, and Equity (DICE) Inventory.
Here’s the background. In October 2022, the Association of American Medical Colleges released a report showing that the vast majority of medical schools have embraced identity politics, despite their divisive and even discriminatory nature. The report was based on surveys of specific medical schools, which the AAMC didn’t name.
For the sake of transparency and accountability, Do No Harm submitted freedom of information requests to public medical schools nationwide, including the University of Florida College of Medicine (UFCOM) and UFCOM-Jacksonville (UFCOM-JAX) campuses. We asked for a copy of the system’s survey responses, so that Florida taxpayers and policymakers could learn the truth about this institution.
Here’s what the UFCOM system has self-reported:
- It has adopted racially discriminatory admissions practices under the guise of “affirmative action.” UFCOM uses the “holistic” admission principles the AAMC endorses. UFCOM-JAX says that it will apply the same admission policy as that campus “becomes a regional medical school.” This means it’s potentially lowering standards in the name of diversity, thereby threatening patient health.
- It has a “dedicated office, staff, or resources” dedicated to DEI. This means there’s a permanent woke bureaucracy pushing ideology on faculty and students.
- UFCOM informed AAMC of its Office for Diversity & Health Equity, which sponsors programs for those who are “underrepresented in medicine.”
- UFCOM-Jacksonville answered “no” to this question, reporting that they are “in the early stages of the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) journey.” The IDEA office is specific to UFCOM-JAX, which also supports a “Center for Health Equity and Engagement Research (CHEER).” The school shared its 2022-2027 Strategic Plan, which outlines its approaches for understanding “underlying causes of health inequities” and designing interventions “to improve health equity.”
- UFCOM-JAX lobbies for woke policies at the federal, state, and/or local levels. This means it’s wading into toxic public debates instead of fully focusing on educating future physicians. UFCOM claims it does not engage in advocacy for DEI initiatives with policymakers.
- Its administrators are active within local, regional, and national forums to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion. Both campuses are wasting resources that would be better spent on real medical education.
All told, the University of Florida College of Medicine has instituted 70.5% of the divisive and discriminatory woke policies listed by the AAMC, and UFCOM-Jacksonville scored 74.1%. By scoring in the yellow zone, you can bet it is feeling pressure from activists and outside groups to go even further down the radical rabbit hole – doing even more damage to faculty, medical students, and ultimately, the millions of patients they’ll see.
Figure 4. UFCOM-JAX DICE Inventory score.
Florida taxpayers help fund the University of Florida College of Medicine campuses. They, and the policymakers who represent them, should ask why they’re giving so much money to an institution that’s putting divisive and discriminatory ideology at the heart of medical education. More importantly, they should ensure UFCOM and UFCOM-JAX discontinues these policies and initiatives.
