Commentary

The Medical University of South Carolina Drops $370K on a Chief Equity Officer – And Shows Its Obsession With All Things DEI

  • By Do No Harm Staff
  • May 23, 2024
  • Medical University of South Carolina

When it comes to virtue signaling, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) spares no expense.

On January 1, 2024, Dr. Michael de Arellano became MUSC’s new chief equity officer. In his official duties, he leads the Office of Equity team and “is responsible for ongoing and new efforts to promote a culture of equity, eliminate disparities, and foster an inclusive environment for students, faculty, staff, and patients.” 

Documents obtained from MUSC by Do No Harm via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request indicate that Dr. de Arellano will be paid a base compensation of $370,000 annually. But that’s just his base salary. He has the potential for “executive variable compensation” of 5%, 10%, or 15%.  The Department of Psychiatry will fund $50,000 of Dr. de Arellano’s base compensation for his clinical role.

Additionally, Dr. de Arellano was due to be paid a $20,000 bonus within 30 days of his start date, as well as a $20,000 bonus for completing his “onboarding goals.”  

What does MUSC get for its money? The typical jargon-filled commitments, awards, and initiatives already litter the Office of Equity at MUSC: an “Inclusive Excellence Certificate  Program”, the “Unconscious Bias Advisory Council”, a “Safe Zone” program, and many more.

Figure 1. Unconscious Bias Advisory Council at MUSC.

[Perhaps de Arellano’s first order of business will be asking MUSC to practice what they preach, given that the university’s Board of Trustees is comprised of over 80 percent white males—hardly a model for the diversity they claim to embody.]

MUSC joins a lamentable club of public universities that pay DEI staff exponentially more than their full-time tenured professors.  Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon, as seen in a March 2022 article on Fox News. Speaking on behalf of the Heritage Foundation, Do No Harm senior fellow Jay Greene stated that DEI on campuses creates a “political orthodoxy, which fundamentally distorts the intellectual and political life on campus.”

But perhaps MUSC’s willingness to spend so much on a DEI hire is unsurprising, given the university’s blatant use of DEI criteria in its admissions process. For example, admissions interviews include screening for “cultural competency” and “cultural experiences/diversity”, with an evaluation scale for “cultural awareness”. An extra rubric provided to evaluate applicants gives up to 20 points based on candidates scoring on a “Cultural Experiences/DEI Efforts” scale. And interviewers are not even provided applicant GPAs or MCAT scores, in order to protect the process from “implicit bias”.

However, the school places a great deal of emphasis on GPA and MCAT in the information it provides to prospective applicants. They are told that they must have a GPA of at least 3.5 and a minimum MCAT score of 506 to apply or to be considered for an invitation to complete a secondary application – below the averages that MUSC claimed during the 2023-2024 admissions cycle.   

Figure 2. From “Applying to Medical School” (MUSC Office of Admissions).

Yet, the same document notes that “to be eligible for interview consideration,” the MCAT minimum is 500 and the minimum GPA is 3.0 for South Carolina residents.

Figure 3. Entrance Requirements from “Applying to Medical School” (MUSC Office of Admissions).

Members of the MUSC College of Medicine (COM) faculty and staff who conduct applicant interviews were provided with training by the College of Medicine Office of Admissions. Learners are reminded of the COM mission to foster “a diverse educational community” to “promote the equitable health and well-being” of South Carolina residents. Interestingly, the training notes that American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) applications, managed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), “are semi-blind for all reviewers.” Interviewers are “given access to selected information from the AMCAS application.” In addition to the academic minimums and residency requirements, interviewers are instructed to use metrics with “potential for added value.” Topping that list is “Cultural and DEI efforts.”

Figure 4. “COM Office of Admissions Interviewer Training: 2023-2024 Cycle” at MUSC (slide 14).

The slides listing the “attributes” to consider and structured questions to evaluate them were redacted.

At a time when public colleges and universities in several states are dissolving their DEI offices, MUSC is demonstrating its dedication to divisive concepts in the name of “health equity” – with no credible evidence to support their effectiveness. And, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling making affirmative action in college admissions illegal, MUSC is among the schools that are sticking to the AAMC’s “holistic admissions” agenda to skirt the Court’s decision.

South Carolina taxpayers must ask why their tax dollars are going toward funding such an initiative at MUSC, and look to their neighbors to the north for inspiration on how to restore merit as the cornerstone of medical education.