Geisinger College Makes Clear Its Commitment to Radical Activism

Earlier this week, Do No Harm filed a civil rights complaint against Geisinger College of Health Sciences (GCOHS) in Pennsylvania over its discriminatory DEI programs.

GCOHS, by its own admission, prioritizes “the recruitment and inclusion of … traditionally underrepresented minorities in medicine and biomedical sciences, specifically African American/Blacks, Latinos/Hispanics and Native Americans as members of [its] faculty, staff, and student body.” 

The Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine also used a $3.4 million federal grant to establish a “Center of Excellence for Diversity and Inclusion.” The Center’s primary goal has been described as building “a leakless pipeline to expand the pool of underrepresented-in-medicine (URM) candidates” for medical school admission and faculty positions.

The offending programs mentioned in our complaint mirror GCOHS’s institutional posture regarding DEI and political activism.

Do No Harm obtained a presentation for GCOHS administrators that highlighted “challenges” facing the school today.

These challenges include “ICE activity” and changes to “DEI initiatives” and “gender-affirming care.”

First, it’s not clear what federal immigration policies or the Trump administration’s ICE activity have to do with the mission of a medical school. The notion that these issues would be an area of concern indicates that GCOHS’s priorities extend into the political realm.

Second, the school’s listing of DEI initiatives reflects just how much these programs matter to GCOHS.

It’s also worth noting that “gender-affirming care” is grouped under the DEI category.

These DEI priorities are also reflected in Geisinger’s Strategic Plan for 2023-2028; the plan includes a commitment to “continue to diversify college faculty, staff and learners to better serve our communities.”

Geisinger also aims for its “academic components [to be] aligned with system goals, adding value to the system mission and enhancing effectiveness of assets in areas of shared concern such as DEI, well-being, professionalism, and leadership development.”

It’s clear that GCOHS has a deep institutional commitment to DEI.

We hope that it takes our complaint to heart, abandons its DEI endeavors, and instead focuses on the true mission of medical schools: teaching the practice of medicine.