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Multiple Federal Civil Rights Investigations Opened in Response to Complaints Filed by Do No Harm

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This week, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened investigations into several universities for federal civil rights violations.

Do No Harm senior fellow Mark Perry was notified of OCR investigations opened at two institutions. Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia were included in a joint complaint for using the schools’ resources “to advertise, promote, host, and partner with” The Perry Initiative, an external third-party organization. As we previously reported, the initiative’s two programs (one for female high school students interested in orthopedic surgery and one for women in medical school) are restricted to applicants who “gender-identity as female or non-binary,” in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.   

Laura Morgan, program manager at Do No Harm, filed complaints that resulted in investigations being opened against the University of Rochester and Thomas Jefferson University, two schools that are participating in unrelated but similarly named programs that are operating in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  

  • The Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP)–UP TO MEDICINE program at the University of Rochester requires applicants to be economically disadvantaged or a member of an underrepresented group, which the school defines as “African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, American Indian, Alaskan Native.”
  • The Summer Training & Enrichment Program for Underrepresented Persons in Medicine (STEP-UP) program at Thomas Jefferson University is open only to students who are “Underrepresented in Medicine (as defined by AAMC and/or HRSA).” This opportunity is limited to “Black/African American, Hispanic-Latino/a/x/e, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Vietnamese” (see graphic below).
    Figure 1. Eligibility criteria from the TJU STEP-UP program application.

    It’s clear that there continue to be many medical education institutions that engage in discriminatory practices with programs that violate longstanding federal civil rights laws. We look forward to the OCR’s investigations resulting in making the offerings at these four universities available for all students – regardless of race or sex.

    If you are seeing programs or scholarships that discriminate on the basis of race or sex at your school, please let us know.

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    The Truth About State Transgender Laws and Child Suicide

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    State lawmakers are quickly and correctly moving to restrict so-called “gender-affirming care” for children. Transgender activists are loudly claiming this will cause children to commit suicide. It’s a powerful claim, and at Do No Harm, we are firmly committed to protecting children’s mental and physical health. Yet the claims of suicide due to these laws are as false as they are alarmist.

    Transgender activists used to know better. As the Manhattan Institute’s Leor Sapir notes, in 2017, pro-gender-affirming-care groups agreed not to blame “anti-LGBT” laws for causing suicide. Now, however, such accusations are rampant, driven by activists’ fear that they’re losing the policy fight. Yet the data don’t support the argument. As Sapir shows, “actual suicide in this population remains extremely rare,” with one United Kingdom study concluding that 0.03% of clinic-referred, transgender-identified youth committed suicide between 2010 and 2020. To be clear, even one suicide is too many. Digging down deeper further undermines activists’ claims.

    It appears that such suicidal behavior is driven by other mental health conditions, and likely not by gender issues per se. Sapir reviews the evidence:

    “Claims about trans identification being a proxy for suicidality typically rely on apples-to-oranges comparisons. They compare rates of suicidality among youth with trans identification or gender dysphoria with rates among youth in the general population. An apples-to-apples study would compare suicidality rates in the first group with suicidality among non-gender-distressed youth with similar mental health comorbidities (e.g., depression). A recent study did exactly that and found that the disparities in suicidality between gender-distressed and non-gender-distressed youth all but disappeared.”

    It turns out that mental health issues are extremely common among minors with gender dysphoria, further undermining the claim that state policies are driving suicide:

    “Studies from multiple countries that offer “gender-affirming care” have shown that the majority of minors referred to pediatric gender clinics are teenage girls with no history of gender-related distress before puberty and with at least one psychiatric diagnosis… In the U.S., one study found, 70 percent of pediatric patients are diagnosed with autism, ADHD, or some other mental-health problem prior to receiving a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.”

    The conclusion is both unmistakable and heartbreaking: “It is more likely that teenagers with suicidal tendencies are gravitating toward a trans identity than that some kids are born transgender and are suicidal as a result of being an embattled minority.” In other words, transgender activists are using the suicide narrative to stop states from doing the right thing. State lawmakers should continue to pass laws that restrict gender-affirming care for children, instead of giving into a false, ideology-driven narrative that actually puts vulnerable boys and girls at risk.

    Multiracial,Teenagers,Joining,Hands,Together,In,Cooperation

    When Ibram Kendi Is Sad, Justice Is Winning

    Ibram X. Kendi, the most famous advocate of woke racial discrimination, is sad. That fact is clear in his recent CNN interview, which shows that the fight against wokeism has momentum. That’s a good thing, because when Kendi’s vision of “anti-racism” is losing, that means equality and justice are winning.

    Why is Kendi sad? Because “the current campaign against what one conservative commentator calls ‘systemic wokeness’ is an effort to halt the antiracist momentum.” He continues: “The momentum was just crushed by a pretty well-organized force and movement of people who are seeking to conserve racism… [they’ve] tried to change the problem from racism to antiracism.”

    False. We (and many others) are fighting against anti-racism precisely because it’s racist. Anti-racism demands that minorities be treated differently, for no other reason than skin color. As Kendi himself has said, “the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.” Yet racial discrimination is never justified.

    Kendi says that amid his grief, “It’s important to care for yourself as well. I’ve been figuring out ways to do that, particularly around my physical and emotional health.” Thank God he has access to a medical system that provides world-class care – treating everyone equally, regardless of race. We’ll keep fighting to protect that system and the principles that make it possible.

    Hand,Drawn,Iowa,State,Design

    Iowa Investigates Woke Colleges – Read Our Response

    Iowa is the latest state to investigate divisive woke ideology at public universities. Do No Harm chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb sent a letter to the state Board of Regents praising this move, which was announced earlier this month, while urging officials to focus on medical schools. Divisive and discriminatory ideas are especially dangerous in medical education.

    Dr. Goldfarb’s letter makes clear the stakes for Iowans:

    “My organization has spent the past year investigating the extent to which education has been replaced by indoctrination at medical schools, including in Iowa. We have found that essentially every medical school has, to varying degrees, elevated radical politics at the expense of education, excellence, and ethics.”

    “Consider what we discovered at the University of Iowa’s medical school. It offers a so-called “anti-racism resource guide,” which is divisive and has nothing to do with medicine. Anti-racism is grounded in the idea that racial discrimination is required to right past wrongs – a profoundly dangerous view. Additionally, the Department of Pediatrics is being trained on the divisive concept of “implicit bias” when hiring and promoting faculty. This is part and parcel of the ideological push to focus on race at the expense of expertise – a direct threat to the quality of education this Iowa medical school provides.”

    Dr. Goldfarb concludes:

    “Iowans deserve to know exactly how far the state’s medical schools have gone down this radical road. And this issue goes well beyond education. Ultimately, it affects the health and well-being of everyone who will one day be treated by the physicians these institutions teach. By specifically investigating medical schools, the Board of Regents can help protect Iowans and ensure that everyone in the state has access to the world-class health care they deserve.”

    The Board of Regents launched its investigation after State Rep. Taylor Collins introduced legislation that would ban Iowa’s public colleges and universities from funding so-called “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” efforts. That’s a worthy policy, and Rep. Collins may also be interested in tackling woke medical schools in particular.

    Kudos to Iowa’s leaders for standing strong on this issue. Let’s hope this is the start of a long-term effort to protect students and patients alike.

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    The University of Arizona College of Medicine is Implementing an Anti-Racist Curriculum This Summer

    Things will be heating up even more than normal this summer at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix (UACOM) as it launches a new “anti-racist curriculum.”

    The UACOM Curriculum Committee has approved the integration of anti-racism principles into its Doctor of Medicine program, which will take effect on July 1, 2023. The Educational Program Objectives (EPO) policy states that outcomes are linked to competencies developed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), “forming the foundation of the educational curriculum.”  

    Do No Harm obtained a copy of the UACOM Curriculum Committee’s approved additions to the EPOs in Action Step 7 of the Anti-Racist Curriculum, which includes the competency of Medical Knowledge. The original text of objective #7 is “Recognize patient-focused care that considers a patient’s diversity (race, sex, ethnicity, culture, ability, disability, socioeconomic status, talents, language, religion, spiritual practices, sexual orientation, gender identity, biological differences, geographic region, age, country of origin and life experiences).”

    Figure 1. UACOM Educational Program Objectives Policy: Medical Knowledge.

    However, the Curriculum Committee isn’t satisfied with stopping at “diversity.” The updated objective will read:

    Recognize patient-focused care that considers a patient’s diversity/intersectional identities* and social determinants of health such as structural racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, transphobia, etc.

    To ensure there is no confusion about the terminology, “intersectionality” is defined after the asterisk:

    *Leading feminist and social justice theories and practices acknowledge that intersectionality, first coined by Kimberle’ Crenshaw, as legal terminology to recognize the unique experiences and legal challenges of Black women whom as a group experienced both racism and sexism. It is the ongoing examination of the overlapping systems of oppression and discrimination that communities face based on race, gender, ethnicity, ability, etc. It is our role to continuously examine the multiple forms and kinds of intersectional exclusions. The call for an anti-racist health care system – one which recognizes and addresses the intersectionality of systems of oppression – amplifies every day.

    (Association of American Medical Colleges. New and Emerging Areas in Medicine Series: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Competencies Across the Learning Continuum, July 2022).  

    Is this really what passes as “medical knowledge” at the U of A College of Medicine? Arizona’s taxpayers and lawmakers need university administrators in the College of Medicine to explain why they are forcing their medical students to learn and practice discriminatory and divisive things in their curriculum. “Anti-racism” and “intersectionality” are ideologies invented and promoted by radical activists, not scientific facts based on the best available evidence. The University of Arizona, and other medical education programs that have surrendered their programs to the demands of the woke mob, must return to the business of learning how to recognize and treat illness and injury. The patients who will encounter these future doctors are depending on it.

    If you are seeing a shift away from the science and toward wokeness in the healthcare curriculum at your school, Do No Harm wants to hear from you via our secure online portal.

    Chapel,Hill.,North,Carolina.,Usa

    UNC Should Be Investigated, As Our Report Proves

    The North Carolina General Assembly is investigating woke ideology at the University of North Carolina. That’s a positive and overdue move, and lawmakers should pay special attention to the UNC School of Medicine. It’s a hotbed of divisive and discriminatory ideas – none of which have anything to do education, but everything to do with radical activism.

    We’ve looked into the UNC School of Medicine over the past year, issuing a comprehensive report in November. Our findings, in brief:

    “The evidence is clear: Woke ideologies like anti-racism are now embedded pervasively into the curriculum and educational experience at University of North Carolina School of Medicine. The embrace of these radical political ideologies at North Carolina’s flagship medical school and the aggressiveness with which the school imposes them on students raises serious concerns for patients in North Carolina. It also generates questions about the rights of UNC SOM medical students to pursue their education free from being compelled to participate in and express support for political causes.”

    We’ve also discovered that the UNC School of Medicine is one of the most woke in the country, scoring a 92% on the AAMC’s survey last year. And we’ve filed federal civil rights complaints against UNC, which offered woke programs that explicitly discriminated by race – as in, no white applicants allowed.

    We’ve likely only scratched the surface of what’s happening at the UNC School of Medicine. The General Assembly has instructed the institution to produce an inventory of all training materials and in-house events for UNC employees that cover DEI-related topics. As part of their broader investigation of the institution, lawmakers should ferret out the truth at the medical school in particular. North Carolinians deserve to know what’s being forced upon the state’s future physicians. And the health of the state’s citizens depends on ensuring that medical education upholds the highest standards of ethics and excellence, instead of sinking to the lows demanded by woke activists.

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    Woke Bureaucrats Are Lying About State Reforms

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    We always knew the woke bureaucracy would fight back against any attempt to reform health care. Yet even we’re taken aback by what’s happening in Missouri and Tennessee. In both states, unelected officials are claiming that common-sense bills would endanger state revenues. Their bogus arguments deserve to be rebutted – and ultimately ignored.

    Consider Tennessee. The state legislature is moving forward with a bill that prevents medical schools from forcing students and professors to hold woke views. Medical schools would also be required to list courses, seminars, workshops, and other training sessions in a publicly searchable database. And they would also have to keep using standardized testing in admissions, lest woke activists convince them to lower standards in the name of diversity. The bill has many other praiseworthy reforms.

    Enter the woke bureaucracy. On March 12, the Tennessee General Assembly Fiscal Review Committee claimed the bill would incur millions of dollars in annual costs for the state and taxpayer-funded universities and institutions. It further claims: “The proposed legislation may result in increases in state and local expenditures associated with compliance measures, potential civil litigation and could jeopardize federal funding and accreditation status.”

    Nothing could be further from the truth. Woke bureaucrats simply hate the law – so they’re making outlandish claims to try and stop it.

    It’s the exact same story in Missouri. State lawmakers are advancing a similar bill in the name of protecting medical students and patients. But the Committee on Legislative Research is trying to kill the bill using the most absurd statements imaginable. To wit: It says the bill could lead to a “loss of federal funding for non-compliance with DEI provisions and the resulting loss of facilities’ accreditations could be significant.”

    How significant? The woke bureaucrats predict a “maximum loss of $2.2 billion annually.” Yes, you read that right – billion with a b.

    This is woke fear-mongering at its finest. The bureaucracy doesn’t want lawmakers to bring medical schools back to reality, and they’ll say anything to stop the roll-back of woke domination of higher education. Here’s hoping lawmakers in Tennessee and Missouri ignore everything these bureaucrats say – and do the right thing for medical schools, students, patients, and health care as a whole.

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    UC Riverside School of Medicine Continues the University of California System’s High Marks on the DICE Inventory

    Just how woke is California’s UC Riverside School of Medicine (UCR SOM)? Very woke indeed, as it just confirmed to Do No Harm.

    Here’s the background. In November 2022, the Association of American Medical Colleges released a report showing that the vast majority of medical schools have embraced identity politics, despite their divisive and even discriminatory nature. The report was based on surveys of specific medical schools, which the AAMC didn’t name.

    For the sake of transparency and accountability, Do No Harm submitted freedom of information requests to public medical schools nationwide, including the UC Riverside School of Medicine. We asked for a copy of its survey response, so that California taxpayers and policymakers could learn the truth about this institution.

    Here’s what the UCR School of Medicine has self-reported:

    • It has adopted racially discriminatory admissions practices under the guise of “affirmative action.” This means it’s potentially lowering standards in the name of diversity, thereby threatening patient health. UCR SOM reported to the AAMC that applicants to its medical education program “are selected based on mission fitness” (which includes disadvantaged backgrounds) in addition to academic metrics.
    • It has a “dedicated office, staff, or resources” dedicated to DEI. This means there’s a permanent woke bureaucracy pushing ideology on faculty and students. The UCR SOM Statement on Diversity affirms the school is “committed to recruiting students, faculty, and staff responsive to our mission whose diversity contributes to an optimal learning environment.”
    • It lobbies for woke policies at the federal, state, and/or local levels. This means it’s wading into toxic public debates instead of fully focusing on educating future physicians. UCR SOM wanted the AAMC to know that “university representatives have been vocal” with lawmakers in Sacramento and Washington, DC on DEI issues.
    • It offers tenure and promotion to faculty who prove their commitment to extreme identity politics and woke priorities. This is a litmus test that requires faculty to toe the party line instead of teaching medicine at the highest level. “During merits and promotions review of faculty progress,” the DICE Inventory response says, “faculty are asked to include a statement on their contribution to diversity, inclusion, and equity.” UCR SOM is seeking the establishment of an annual faculty award “for outstanding contribution to DEI.”
    • Its administrators are active within local, regional, and national forums to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion. This means it’s wasting resources that would be better spent on real medical education. University chancellors have written and spoken on “the importance of DEI both in higher education and in medical education.” The DICE Inventory proudly points out UCR’s #1 ranking “in social mobility” and UCR SOM’s #11 ranking in diversity by the US News and World Report in 2022.
    Figure 1. UC Riverside School of Medicine DICE Inventory overall score.

    All told, UCR SOM has instituted 88.2% of the divisive and discriminatory woke policies listed by the AAMC. And you can bet it is feeling pressure from activists and outside groups to go even further down the radical rabbit hole – doing even more damage to faculty, medical students, and ultimately, the millions of patients they’ll see.

    California taxpayers help fund the University of California system. They, and the policymakers who represent them, should ask why they’re giving so much money to an institution that’s putting divisive and discriminatory ideology at the heart of medical education. More importantly, they should ensure the UC Riverside School of medicine stops, and soon.

    DNH_Podcast_Thumbnail

    S1E10: Optimal Outcomes vs The Equality Approach

    Dr. Stanley Goldfarb and Benita Cotton-Orr discuss how we should refocus the health care reform conversation on improving outcomes for all patients rather than the current race-based approach to treatment.

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    Watch Dr. Goldfarb’s Testimony to the Missouri Legislature

    On March 6, Do No Harm chair Dr. Stanley Goldfarb testified before the Missouri House Committee on Government Accountability, chaired by Rep. Doug Richey, about an important bill moving through the Missouri legislature. HB 489, sponsored by Rep. Ben Baker, would begin to root out woke mandates in Missouri’s public medical schools and medical providers – a critical step in the fight to provide world-class care to every individual, regardless of race.

    Watch Dr. Goldfarb’s brief testimony here:

    Dr. Goldfarb discussed the danger of elevating diversity to an unhealthy degree. He stated: “Diversity should not require that we subjugate quality and merit for the sake of simply having individuals of different skin colors.”

    He further criticized woke claims that health care suffers from systemic racism, which activists blame for causing health disparities. Dr. Goldfarb states: “Disparities are real. They are a major problem in American medicine. But they’re not due to the way various ethnic and racial groups are treated in the health care system.”

    Finally, Dr. Goldfarb argued against a medical focus on non-medical issues, as woke activists demand:

    “One of my great problems with spending large amounts of the medical curriculum on some of these issues of social conditions is that I as a physician can do nothing about equality of housing. I can do nothing about violence that occurs in communities. I can do nothing about food deserts.

    I think these are important issues. They’re issues for you all – issues that the government and politicians and advocacy groups can work on. But my job as a physician, and the job we need to teach medical students, is to treat each patient, not as a member of a group, not as a black patient, but as an individual; not as a Jewish patient, but as an individual; not as a white patient, but as an individual who is unique and has unique medical problems.”

    Missouri lawmakers are showing real leadership by debating these issues. Hopefully Dr. Goldfarb’s testimony will help pave the way for the bill’s passage – and the restoration of medical education and care grounded in equality and excellence.

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    Here’s What the AACN Wants to Know About Nursing Students – And the University of Southern Maine is Happy to Participate

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    Earlier this year, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) developed the Leading Across Multidimensional Perspectives (LAMP) Culture and Climate Survey, citing an objective to “assess the experiences of diverse students, faculty, and staff” in schools of nursing. Do No Harm received a copy of the survey questions from an anonymous tip, and what we found is alarming.

    Leaders of the University of Southern Maine (USM) School of Nursing asked its students, faculty, and staff to participate in the survey, which covers five topic areas: Perceptions of Culture and Climate; Fair Treatment and Observations of Discrimination; Belongingness; Value of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; and Campus Services and Clinical Training. The data collected from the “thoughtful input” from these stakeholders is intended to determine what the schools need to do to “create an inclusive learning environment.” But, the questions reveal the AACN’s intention to perpetuate identity politics instead of concentrating on the quality of nursing education.

    After asking for a rating on how “friendly, caring, rigorous, affordable, innovative, and safe” the USM School of Nursing is, respondents are asked to indicate how much they agree or disagree with statements such as:

    • Subtle discrimination and microaggression may exist in the structure of the program
    • The curriculum appropriately addresses racial and ethnic diversity
    • Class discussions teach students tolerance and respect for different beliefs
    Figure 1. Sample question for the AACN LAMP Culture and Climate Survey.

    Other questions address the participant’s level of agreement with statements about whether or not various identity groups are treated fairly at the USM School of Nursing.

    Figure 2. Question regarding sex, “students of color,” gender identity, age, and disability. (The same questions are asked about faculty and staff in a subsequent question.)
    Figure 3. Questions related to “Black/African American,” “Hispanic/Latinx,” Asian/Asian American, Native American, and “Hawaiian/OPI” students.

    The AACN survey does not ask if white students, faculty, or staff are treated fairly, but does want to know if “academic performance expectations are the same for Students of Color and white students.”

    Figure 4. Question from the AACN LAMP Culture and Climate Survey.

    The Value of Diversity and Inclusion section begins by inquiring about the importance of promoting racial understanding and “enhancing the knowledge of and appreciation for” racial/ethnic and sexual orientation/gender identity groups and concludes by asking for a response to the statement, “My school should hire more faculty of Color.”

    Figure 5. Question in the “Value of Diversity and Inclusion” section.

    The survey ends with several demographic questions, including mandatory responses to “Do you identify as transgender?” and “What is your race/ethnicity?”

    Figure 6. Demographic questions on the AACN LAMP Culture and Climate Survey.

    Why does the AACN have a need to know this information, and why is the USM School of Nursing asking students and faculty to participate? AACN claims to be “the national voice for academic nursing” while supporting professional nursing education. It is doing neither by conditioning nursing students to think of themselves and their peers as groups that are labeled according to identity instead of seeing them as individuals, which will inevitably be projected onto their future patients. The University of Southern Maine School of Nursing needs to instruct its students on how to be competent and caring nurses, not woke activists who are looking for bias and oppression in every encounter.

    Laura Morgan is a registered nurse and is the program manager for Do No Harm.

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    OCR Has Opened a Federal Civil Rights Investigation vs. St. Louis University

    The U. S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has opened an investigation vs. St. Louis University for a racially discriminatory program. The St. Louis University School of Medicine (SLUSOM) offers the Scholarship Program for Visiting Medical Students Underrepresented in Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences. According to the program application, applicants must “identify as a member of a group underrepresented in medicine” (URiM). In the eligibility criteria, SLUSOM refers to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) definition of URiM:

    Underrepresented in medicine means those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population.” This lens currently includes students who identify as African Americans and/or Black, Hispanic/Latino, Native American (American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians), Pacific Islander, and mainland Puerto Rican.

    Figure 1. SLUCOM Visiting Medical Students Underrepresented in Medicine program application.

    Medical students who are not members of one of the five designated racial/ethnic groups above in bold are illegally excluded from applying, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

    Dangers of Gender Ideology

    LOCATION CHANGE: Cornerstone NH to Host Chloe Cole April 18 in Concord

    Do No Harm senior fellow Chloe Cole is joining Cornerstone New Hampshire on Tuesday, April 18 for a discussion on the dangers of gender ideology:

    Cornerstone invites you to come hear Chloe Cole. Chloe is an 18-year-old fighting to protect children, was born a female, began puberty blockers at 13, and underwent a double mastectomy at 15. Despite all this, Chloe still felt depressed. Chloe then de-transitioned and has been on a mission to protect children and their innocence ever since.

    https://www.nhcornerstone.org/chloe/

    For information about Cornerstone and to RSVP for the event, click here.

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    UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Scores an A+ on the DICE Inventory: “We Chase Equity”

    Just how woke is California’s David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)? Very woke indeed, as it just confirmed to Do No Harm.

    Here’s the background. In November 2022, the Association of American Medical Colleges released a report showing that the vast majority of medical schools have embraced identity politics, despite their divisive and even discriminatory nature. The report was based on surveys of specific medical schools, which the AAMC didn’t name.

    For the sake of transparency and accountability, Do No Harm submitted freedom of information requests to public medical schools nationwide, including the DGSOM. We asked for a copy of its survey response, so that California taxpayers and policymakers could learn the truth about this institution.

    Here’s what the DGSOM has self-reported:

    • It has adopted racially discriminatory admissions practices under the guise of “affirmative action.”This means it’s potentially lowering standards in the name of diversity, thereby threatening patient health. The school provided a link to a webpage on “basis of selection,” but that link is broken. The Review Process page states that DGSOM is “working to systematically uphold excellence and equity” by using a holistic review process, and illustrates the current Basis of Selection information.
    Figure 1. Basis of Selection criteria for admission to the DGSOM.
    • It has a “dedicated office, staff, or resources” dedicated to DEI. This means there’s a permanent woke bureaucracy pushing ideology on faculty and students. The office of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) at DGSOM provides medical students with an “anti-racism roadmap” that contains eleven focus areas. The dean made a pledge of $5 million at the kickoff for this initiative, which “symbolizes an institutional commitment to eradicating structural racism.” And, as we reported last year, faculty and staff are required to take DEI training.
    Figure 2. From the Anti-Racism Roadmap” page at DGSOM.
    • It lobbies for woke policies at the federal, state, and/or local levels. This means it’s wading into toxic public debates instead of fully focusing on educating future physicians.
    • It offers tenure and promotion to faculty who prove their commitment to extreme identity politics and woke priorities.This is a litmus test that requires faculty to toe the party line instead of teaching medicine at the highest level. The Academic Personnel Manual clearly states, “Contributions to teaching, scholarship, and service that promote equity, diversity, and inclusion are encouraged and should be given due recognition during the faculty merit and promotion process.”
    • Its administrators are active within local, regional, and national forums to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion.This means it’s wasting resources that would be better spent on real medical education. “In our community, diversity is more than a buzzword,” says the school. “It’s the foundation for our clinical excellence.”
    Figure 3. UCLA Geffen School of Medicine DICE Inventory overall score.

    All told, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has instituted 98.8% of the divisive and discriminatory woke policies listed by the AAMC. And you can bet it is feeling pressure from activists and outside groups to go even further down the radical rabbit hole – doing even more damage to faculty, medical students, and ultimately, the millions of patients they’ll see.

    California taxpayers help fund UCLA. They, and the policymakers who represent them, should ask why they’re giving so much money to an institution that’s putting divisive and discriminatory ideology at the heart of medical education. More importantly, they should ensure the David Geffen School of Medicine stops, and soon.

    Innocence Under Siege

    Chloe Cole to Join Discussion on the Dangers of Gender Ideology

    Do No Harm senior fellow Chloe Cole will be among the experts leading a discussion on gender ideology and how it threatens the well-being of children.

    No Left Turn in Education (NLTE) recently announced an expert panel leading a dialogue on Innocence Under Siege: An Expert Discussion on the Dangers that Gender Ideology Presents to Children on March 18 in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

    Figure 1. NLTE’s March 18, 2023 event in Malvern, PA.

    Appearing with Chloe is Dr. Elana Fishbein, NLTE’s founder and president. The discussion will focus on the harms of gender ideology in K-12 education.

    Chloe is a strong advocate for protecting children from exposure to the harms of gender transition and has moved hearts and minds with her powerful personal story.

    More information about NLTE’s March 18 event can be found here.

    Do No Harm is committed to protecting minors from gender ideology and presenting the actual scientific evidence of the risks.

    Charleston,,South,Carolina,,Usa,Skyline,Over,The,Ashley,River.

    The Medical University of South Carolina Responds to OCR Investigation

    The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has made significant changes to discriminatory scholarships and programs in the College of Medicine that were named in a federal civil rights complaint filed by Do No Harm senior fellow Mark Perry.

    We reported last December that MUSC was being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for eight scholarships and programs that discriminate on the basis of race/ethnicity or sex/gender identity.

    As a result of the federal investigation, MUSC has either amended or dropped the programs that contained eligibility criteria that excluded applicants who are not defined as “underrepresented in medicine” (URM). Excluding potential applicants based on race/ethnicity is a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits such discrimination. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination based on sex/gender identity.

    The OCR recently informed Dr. Perry that the investigation is being closed, as “credible information indicating that the complaint has been resolved” was received. Specifically, MUSC changed the “Underrepresented in Medicine Visiting Student Program,” which limited eligibility to students who are “Black/African American, Native American, Hispanic, and Pacific Islander,” to the “Achieving Health Equity by Advancing Diversity (AHEAD)” Visiting Student Program. The updated information states, “AHEAD-VSP is open to students from underrepresented groups” with no mention of specific race/ethnicity requirements to apply.

    Figure 1. AHEAD-VSP at MUSC College of Medicine.

    MUSC has also updated the narratives associated with its College of Medicine Diversity Scholarships:

    • The Jerry and Jenny Reeves, M.D. Diversity Endowed Scholarship description now states, “particular attention will be given to applicants that demonstrate academic merit and financial need” instead of “applicants who represent a group that is underrepresented in medicine.”
    • The Rose Delores Gibbs, M.D. Endowed Scholarship was available to “a current female URM student,” but now includes the same statement regarding merit and need without mentioning sex or gender identity.
    • The Costal Community Foundation Thaddeus Bell, M.D. Scholarship was limited to applicants who are “Black/African American, Native American, Hispanic, and Pacific Islander,” but is no longer listed on the diversity scholarships webpage.

    More changes have been made at MUSC as a result of the OCR investigation. Programs that have been completely removed from the university’s Student Diversity Programs page include the Student Diversity Transition Forum, the Visiting Externship Program (which invited “URM medical students [African American, Native American, Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian]” to apply), the Student Ambassadors and Peer Mentors Program, and the Residency Diversity Forum. Finally, the Mentoring Ensures Medical School Success (MEMS) program, which was previously described as an opportunity “to provide College of Medicine under-represented in medicine students” with mentoring, now says it “does not exclude any student based on race, ethnicity, or sex.”

    Figure 2. Updated MEMS program description at MUSC College of Medicine.

    Does your school offer scholarships or academic programs based on race/ethnicity or sex/gender identity instead of merit? Please let us know – anonymously and securely.

    Tennessee,On,The,Map

    This Tennessee Medical School Proves Our Point

    Tennessee medical schools don’t like that we’re calling them out for promoting divisive and discriminatory ideas. The dean of medicine at East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine responded to our recent report with an email to faculty, which a tipster sent us. It shows that medical elites have no desire to change course – even though they’re actively undermining their mission and hurting future physicians and patients alike.

    Here’s part of the email Dean William Block sent:

    “Recently, an article in the Tennessee Star reported on a group referring to themselves as ‘Do No Harm’ that claims to be ‘exposing the infiltration of woke ideologies in Tennessee medical schools.’ The premise is that medical schools are short changing the public and future physicians by spending time on concepts related to DEI and social determinants of health and not teaching medical knowledge.”

    So far, so true. DEI has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with medicine. But the dean isn’t sorry:

    “As we encounter resistance to improving the lives of all of our patients we must continue to strive to be clear in our messaging and focused on the values that matter.”

    Those values are crystal clear from the questions that the Admissions Committee asks applicants. Anyone who wants to attend the Quillen College of Medicine must state how they will “foster an environment of change” in the context of “social justice, systemic racism, and equity for all.” This isn’t medical education. It’s political indoctrination.

    Recruiting activists is far from the only example of how East Tennessee State University’s is forcing divisive and discriminatory ideas on faculty and future physicians alike. Tennessee lawmakers might want to do some digging into the Quillen College of Medicine, for the sake of the students it teaches and the patients they will one day treat.

    Has woke ideology taken over your medical school? Please let us know – securely and anonymously.

    AAD annual meeting cover

    DEI is On the Agenda for the American Academy of Dermatology’s Annual Meeting

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    The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) seems more interested in pushing DEI and woke indoctrination onto the next generation of dermatologists than teaching them how to be good doctors, and the agenda for the 2023 annual meeting proves it.

    A concerned citizen sent us the link to one of the AAD 2023 Annual Meeting’s sessions titled, “DEI in GME: Thoughts and Considerations.” Attendees will learn strategies for the recruitment and selection of “residency applicants and faculty of diverse backgrounds” and “best practices in teaching inclusivity and equity in the dermatologic care of patients.” The goal? AAD says it right in the session description:

     By cultivating our youngest generation of dermatologists, we can make our dream of creating a diverse and inclusive specialty a reality.

    But that’s not all. AAD is devoting three hours to the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” symposium, where participants will be instructed in The Importance of DEI in Dermatology, DEI in Medical Education: The AAD Skin of Color Curriculum, DEI Leadership in Dermatology, and Equity in International Dermatology. Why is the AAD emphasizing diversity and equity over meritocracy and individual patient needs?

    Somehow, the AAD can even inject identity politics into electronic health records, telehealth, augmented intelligence, and smartphone apps. The session titled “Technology in Dermatology: Tailoring Solutions to Your Practice and Optimizing Joy & Impact” aims to present the “relevant clinical needs” related to these tools, but through “a lens toward usability, inclusivity, equity, and meaningful impact” on the patients and dermatologists who use them.

    The AAD has published several articles and commentaries in its Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology that echo the DEI drumbeat. In Understanding Health Outcomes and Health Equity, the physician author notes that, in addition to ancestry and genetics, “structural and individual racism” are factors that contribute to patient outcomes. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: The Visionary Future of JAAD notes the focus on “the grave realities of structural racism, systemic inequality, and social determinants of health across all facets of our society.” The journal promises to be “a guiding voice” in the research data and the education of dermatologists in these concepts.

    Topics in the conference agenda are reflected in the AAD’s strategic plan for 2021-2023, which aims to integrate DEI into all committees, ensure equity in leader selection, focus research funding on health disparities based on skin color, and expand recruitment and development of “dermatologists who are underrepresented in medicine.”

    From the AAD strategic plan 2021-2023 (January 26, 2021).

    Bottom line: The AAD has invested in the dissemination of the DEI agenda and is highlighting divisive concepts throughout its upcoming annual meeting. Patients want dermatologists who know how to diagnose and treat their skin problems, not woke ideologues who place identity politics over medical science.

    Is your professional organization pushing DEI ahead of the science of healthcare? Do No Harm wants to hear from you via our secure online portal.