The LCME Eliminates Key Diversity Requirement

It’s yet another massive victory against DEI in medical education.

On May 19, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the accrediting body for medical schools, voted to eliminate Element 3.3, a requirement that forced medical schools to have in place “programs and/or partnerships” aimed at achieving diversity.

“A medical school has effective policies and practices in place, and engages in ongoing, systematic, and focused recruitment and retention activities, to achieve mission-appropriate diversity outcomes among its students,” the standard states. “These activities include the use of programs and/or partnerships aimed at achieving diversity among qualified applicants for medical school admission and the evaluation of program and partnership outcomes.”

The LCME attributed its decision to state legislation targeting DEI, arguing that eliminating diversity standards would create “a single set of accreditation expectations with which all schools, regardless of their location and current legislative environment, must comply.”

The LCME’s standards for the 2025-2026 year and 2026-2027 year have been updated and no longer include language encouraging diversity-related initiatives.

However, Standard 7.6, which requires medical curricula to provide “opportunities for medical students to learn to recognize and appropriately address biases in themselves, in others, and in the health care delivery process,” remains in place.

Nevertheless, this is a massive change: medical schools will no longer be forced to maintain DEI programs as a condition of their accreditation.

The decision follows on the heels of a Do No Harm report explaining how accreditors, including the LCME, inject DEI into medical school activities and curricula. In light of Do No Harm’s report, President Trump issued an executive order directly targeting accreditors for imposing divisive and discriminatory policies on higher education.

Also this month, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), which accredits medical residency programs, announced that it would be suspending enforcement of two key “diversity” requirements.

The requirements are effectively diversity hiring mandates that require residency programs and their sponsoring institutions (e.g. medical schools) to have recruiting and retention policies that aim to boost diversity.