ACGME Survey for the University of Florida Raises Questions and Eyebrows

In recent years, Florida has been on the cutting edge of pushing back against DEI and other woke concepts, including in medicine. Last year, Governor DeSantis signed two bills into law which prohibited colleges and universities (including medical schools) from spending state or federal dollars on DEI initiatives, while also banning “loyalty tests” and creating freedom of conscience protections in higher education. This was followed up by an outright ban on DEI in the entire Florida College System by the State Board of Education in early 2024.

But now, certain faculty at the University of Florida are expected to participate in a questionable survey produced by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The survey includes questions that specifically investigate the prevalence of DEI concepts related to the “diversity” of fellows at the school.

Now, both the University of Florida and ACGME have been repeat offenders when it comes to their fixation on DEI. Time and time again, the University of Florida has repeatedly followed a highly politicized agenda that has rightfully drawn sharp scrutiny. Do No Harm even filed a civil rights complaint after the University targeted scholarships available only to members of certain racial and ethnic groups. After media reports—including articles by Do No Harm—called the school out, the college quickly took to scrubbing its webpages of woke content.

(However, it appears the University may have missed a few webpages when completing its broad scrub.)

ACGME is seemingly no better. The organization has placed pressure on residency program directors to prove their allegiance to DEI, all while adding a series of head-scratching sessions on topics like “addressing structural racism to promote equity” to their annual education conference.

Interestingly, this past March, ACGME was in Orlando partnering with the Orlando Veterans Affairs Healthcare System and another Florida medical school – the University of Central Florida – on an event entitled “ACGME Paving the Path to Medicine: Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”. According to ACGME, over 78 college students attended the event—as well as 22 University of Central Florida medical student volunteers—in order to “gain first-hand experience participating in a pathway program they can replicate at their own institutions for a lasting impact on diversifying the physician workforce.” The day substituted for a full day of classes. In other words, ACGME’s DEI meddling is not limited to just the University of Florida, nor is the University of Florida the only school that seems to engage with these divisive—and in some cases, prohibited—concepts.

But the ACGME’s 2024 annual survey, which faculty members in medical residency programs are asked to complete, contains some queries that raise concerns about DEI-related expectations. A link to complete the survey was recently sent to certain medical faculty at the University of Florida, illustrating a potential continued collaboration on these controversial ideas between the two organizations.

While the initial survey questions ask faculty members about their perspectives on the quality of their programs, effectiveness of program leadership, and their specific work with residents, others are more concerned about applying DEI principles to recruitment and retention.

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Notably, the survey form does not allow a responder to skip a question. Although he or she could answer “not at all” and still be in compliance with Florida law, the fact remains that these DEI-related questions from the ACGME are mandatory.

Since the University of Florida—the state’s flagship university—accepts and uses taxpayer dollars, they would inherently be covered by the legislation signed last year prohibiting the use of any such dollars on DEI initiatives.

This raises several questions. Why is the ACGME inquiring about activities that are ostensibly banned at Florida schools? Does ACGME have knowledge that the University of Florida and other Florida schools are circumventing the new laws? Have other Florida medical schools received the same questions? And have faculty provided answers to the survey questions that suggest non-compliance with this new legislation?

Put simply, ACGME asked a lot of its survey participants. But as it turns out, the survey sparked even more questions that need answering.