‘None of Our Values Have Changed’: DEI Doesn’t Die Easy at UVA

On March 7, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors passed a resolution to dissolve the school’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Partnerships and take steps to ensure that all programs do not discriminate in violation of federal law. 

And following that resolution, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sent a letter April 28 to UVA asking the school to produce evidence that it has dismantled its DEI apparatus. 

But according to internal discussions between UVA and UVA Health officials, DEI, especially in the medical and health departments, may not be going anywhere anytime soon.

Instead, officials equivocated on actual tangible steps that would be taken to address DEI initiatives.

During a UVA Faculty Senate meeting on March 22, several weeks before the DOJ letter, officials discussed how UVA would treat its DEI initiatives going forward. These discussions revealed a deep institutional commitment to DEI, as succinctly expressed by Mitchell Rosner, MD, Interim Executive Vice President for Health Affairs at the University of Virginia.

“None of our values have changed,” Rosner said in reference to DEI, while acknowledging that UVA Health must be in compliance. “None of what we’re going to do changes.”

Next, Rosner discussed how DEI has pervaded UVA Health and how it will be difficult to extricate it from UVA Health’s mission.

“We also have to focus on health outcomes,” Rosner said.

“Everybody in the health system is passionate to ensure that health outcomes in our community are equalized and everybody has access to healthcare,” Rosner continued.

The notion that health outcomes should be “equalized” flies in the face of foundational principles of medical ethics. Medical professionals should strive to provide the best care possible to individuals regardless of race, not ensure that different racial groups have equal health outcomes.

Rosner made clear that programs aimed at equalizing health outcomes will likely remain in place.

“We don’t intend really to back away from any of those programs,” Rosner said, while noting that “we have to do it with the eye on being compliant.”

However, in the context of this DEI discussion, Rosner did mention a “value statement” that was used for promotion decisions.

“We have an issue around a particular value statement that’s part of the health system mission that was included, for example, in promotion and tenure reviews,” Rosner said.

It’s not clear exactly which document Rosner was referring to, though it’s worth noting that UVA has in the past required applicants for several of its positions to submit diversity statements. 

Additionally, Rosner, in response to a question about the status of so-called “gender-affirming care” provided by UVA Health, said that “we will be compliant with the law” while failing to commit to any policy changes. UVA Health has continued to provide child sex change procedures despite President Trump’s executive order targeting providers of such interventions.

Since the March meeting took place, UVA has been in the center of a legal and political firestorm surrounding its DEI proclivities.

First, UVA’s Board of Visitors passed a second resolution in April which formally rescinded portions of the September 2020 resolution entitled “Board of Visitors Support for Racial Equity Initiatives”; the 2020 resolution had effectively endorsed a racial quota system. 

Then, the DOJ opened a civil rights investigation into UVA last month, alleging that UVA engages in discriminatory behaviors in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Rosner’s comments, and the larger goings-on at UVA, indicate the broader trend in medical education: DEI isn’t going away overnight. Do No Harm documented this phenomenon in a recent report, explaining how DEI has persisted in higher education despite state laws ostensibly prohibiting it.

Further oversight and action will be needed to truly restore merit and fairness to medical education.