Commentary
NYU Langone Health Promotes Race-Based Engagement Groups
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In a bid to promote “equity” and “inclusion”, many medical schools have instead returned to segregation.
Schools across the country promote race-based “affinity” and engagement groups that are targeted toward students and faculty of certain races. These groups are explicitly intended to promote the interests of favored racial groups.
For example, a flyer obtained by Do No Harm advertises “BIPOC Engagement Groups” hosted by the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (DCAP) at NYU Langone Health. BIPOC refers to individuals who are “black, indigenous, and/or people of color.”
The flyer notes that the purpose of the group is to advocate for “equity, inclusion, and systemic change” and to facilitate “personal and professional growth.”
Additionally, the flyer includes a survey in which prospective group members indicate their “racial identity.” Curiously, “white” is not an option they can select.
The flyer was included in an email sent out by the department advertising a “DCAP BIPOC Faculty, Trainee, and Staff Mixer.”
The email noted that the mixer was open to “all,” while at the same time promoting the “BIPOC Engagement Groups.”
“Also, we want to ensure that all BIPOC faculty, trainees, and staff are aware of the BIPOC Engagement Groups that meet monthly, an additional way to develop community.” the email read. “We are doing a survey to understand ways in which we can tailor the groups to make them more accessible and engaging.”
Oftentimes, the existence of these groups reflects a larger institutional commitment to DEI.
For instance, the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, which is part of NYU Langone Health, maintains its Office of Diversity Affairs Visiting Elective Fund award which targets “underrepresented students.”
Although the opportunity is open to students of “all backgrounds,” the description of the fund noted that “students from underrepresented backgrounds, including but not limited to those who identify as Black or African American, Latinx, Native American, Native Pacific Islander, or Native Alaskan, are encouraged to apply.”
The medical school also promotes unconscious bias training, which purports to address unconscious racial prejudice, and the Implicit Association Test, which is not considered reliable.
“We conduct unconscious bias training for faculty and hospital departments to assist in the faculty hiring and resident selection processes,” the medical school’s website reads. “Our team provides guidance and supports efforts to recruit diverse talent for faculty positions.”
Rather than view its faculty through this racialized lens, NYU Langone Health should promote opportunities that are friendly to all, no matter their race, sex, or creed.
It should not promote pathways to professional development that are definitionally divisive.