Commentary

Johns Hopkins DEI Officer and AAMC Are Aligned on the Definition of “Privilege”

  • By Do No Harm Staff
  • February 14, 2024
  • Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

The Johns Hopkins University Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Sherita Hill Golden is under fire for sending an email that labels all white people, males, and Christians (among others) as beneficiaries of “privilege.”  Turns out, she was simply taking cues from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The definition used by Golden almost perfectly mimics the AAMC’s definition of privilege. Screenshots indicate that the language was lifted without attribution, though it is possible that it appears somewhere else in the email.

From AAMC’s “Power & Privilege Definitions.”
From January 2024 email by Johns Hopkins University Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Sherita Hill.

Golden’s definition adds “cisgender people” (i.e., anyone who is not transgender) to the list of “privileged classes” and changes a few words in the first paragraph, but otherwise lifts language directly from the AAMC. The AAMC’s definition tracks with their commitment to identity politics and woke radicalism. For example, the organization—which oversees the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) and cosponsors the organization that accredits all medical schools in the United States— encourages medical schools to implement DEI policies and surveys them about their adherence to such policies. Indeed, it’s no coincidence that the same definition of “privilege” is also peddled by the Emory University School of Medicine.

From “Diversity Terms and Definitions for Orientation,” Emory University School of Medicine.

Fish rots from the head down. Restoring medical education to focus on rigor and excellence instead of identity and activism requires dramatic changes at the AAMC and other important gatekeeping institutions.