Indiana Bill Cracking Down on DEI Passes Committee

Indiana is one step closer to enacting legislation cracking down on DEI activities, with a particular focus on medical education and licensing boards.

The bill, SB 235, prohibits state agencies from funding DEI offices or employees. Additionally, the bill prohibits the state from handing out contracts or grants to organizations that mandate DEI training.

As it pertains to medicine, the legislation would prohibit health licensing boards from requiring DEI training or using DEI material as part of the licensure process. Boards cannot require healthcare professionals to have familiarity with DEI principles as a condition of licensure. 

Several states require healthcare professionals to submit to DEI trainings, such as implicit bias trainings, to renew or obtain their license. Do No Harm created a “non-woke” implicit bias training program that allows Michigan healthcare professionals to satisfy their state’s requirement while providing accurate, evidence-based information on implicit bias.

The Indiana bill also targets institutions of higher education like medical schools that offer certain health education programs, requiring them to use standardized admissions tests “focused on knowledge and critical thinking around science and medical training.”

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that race-based admissions are illegal, many medical schools have turned to so-called “holistic admissions” that favor other factors over standardized academic achievement in order to admit candidates of certain races. 

The bill, authored by state Sens. Tyler Johnson and Gary Byrne, passed Indiana’s Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Sens. Liz Brown, Eric Koch, Scott Alexander, James Buck, Brett Clark, Aaron Freeman, and Susan Glick voted to advance the legislation.

The legislation follows on the heels of executive orders by President Trump aimed at ending the federal government’s promotion of DEI and engagement in racially discriminatory practices. 

Those orders also targeted institutions of higher education that practice race-based admissions despite the Supreme Court’s decision that such practices are illegal, as well as DEI practices in private sector organizations.

Do No Harm has previously reported on several instances of Indiana medical schools pushing DEI and engaging in discriminatory practices.

For instance, the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) was investigated by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for violations of Title VI and Title IX thanks to a Do No Harm complaint.

The school’s Underrepresented in Medicine Visiting Elective had the eligibility criteria that restricted enrollment to those belonging to specific racial/ethnic groups and/or sexual orientation identities. After the investigation was opened by the OCR in December 2022, IUSM changed the eligibility language, removing the race/ethnicity and sexual orientation criteria.

In another instance, the school promoted a 10-week course for individuals who wish to be “certified” in DEI “leadership.” The school also instructed job search committee members to consider their “implicit bias” and “whiteness” in the course of evaluating applicants.