In The News Archive - Page 9 of 51

Democrats Compared Parental Rights Groups to the KKK While Passing a Transgender Law. Now, Those Groups Are Suing.

While the Colorado Legislature passed a new transgender bill, sponsors compared parental rights groups to the Ku Klux Klan. Now, those groups are suing to block the legislation, mere days after Gov. Jared Polis signed it.

“The State of Colorado cannot stifle viewpoints it doesn’t like simply because it finds those views offensive or disagreeable,” Sarah Parshall Perry, vice president and legal fellow at the parental rights group Defending Education, told The Daily Signal in a statement Tuesday.

The parental rights groups Defending Education, the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, and Protect Kids Colorado teamed up with the medical watchdog group Do No Harm and a medical doctor, Dr. Travis Morrell, to file the lawsuit Monday, challenging HB 25-1312, which Polis, a Democrat, signed Friday. The law amends the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, which bars discrimination on the basis of “gender expression,” specifically stating that refusing to use a person’s “chosen name” will constitute discrimination.

Parental Rights Groups Sue Blue State Over Mandating Trans Pronouns

Colorado Gender Ideology Media Mention

Parental rights groups filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado on Monday over a newly-signed law forcing people to use transgender individuals’ preferred name and pronouns or risk investigations, lawsuits and fines.

Democrat Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed the law on Friday which declares “deadnaming and misgendering” as “discriminatory acts” prohibited by the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. Defending Education, Do No Harm and others allege the law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments and “cannot stifle viewpoints it doesn’t like simply because it finds those views offensive or disagreeable.”

“Abridging American’s constitutional right to freedom of expression in the name of radical gender ideology is wrong,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of Do No Harm, said in a statement. “We expect the court to reaffirm that the Constitution trumps progressive dogma.”

New Documentary Proves Trump Is Right to Defund PBS

DEI Op-Ed Ian Kingsbury, PhD

Paula Kerger, CEO of PBS, wasted no time in condemning President Trump’s May 2 executive order cutting federal funding for the public broadcaster. Defunding her organization, she declared, “threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming.” Only days earlier, however, PBS had aired just the kind of ideologically biased documentary that demonstrates why Trump is right to defund the network.

The documentary, Critical Condition: Health in Black America, focuses on a real and important problem: on average, health outcomes for black Americans are worse than those for people of other races. But instead of addressing the real causes of this crisis—namely group differences in diet, exercise, and health literacy—the documentary settles on the false, simplistic narrative peddled by activists that all differences in health outcomes must be caused by racism.

UCLA Medical School and Racial Bias

California DEI Media Mention

Racial preferences in university admissions ended in 2023, or did they? A lawsuit in federal court against the University of California Geffen Medical School is worth watching as an example of how schools are complying with the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

Late last week the groups Students for Fair Admissions and Do No Harm sued UCLA Geffen for bias in admissions. The class-action lawsuit, which is brought on behalf of students denied admission since 2020, says UCLA used different academic standards for applicants of different races to achieve racially balanced student classes.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent in Students for Fair Admissions cited a study that found black newborns were more likely to survive if they were cared for by a black doctor. But once the newborns were grouped by birth weight, a key indicator of neo-natal risk, the discrepancy disappeared, according to Do No Harm and a Manhattan Institute analysis of the study.

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Debunked’ Study Served As Key Pillar In Academia’s DEI Temple

DEI Media Mention

Now, the new report by Do No Harm shows the lasting impact of the study in the scientific literature despite its serious flaws. The flagship journals of prestigious medical associations often cited the paper in articles that advocate for affirmative action in medical school admissions and DEI programs for physicians, according to Do No Harm, which opposes identity politics in medical research and clinical practice.

In all, the study has received 786 citations in the scientific literature, Google Scholar shows. Sixty-six citations occurred this year.

The study provides a case study in how unsound science that serves a predetermined policy goal can permeate the scientific literature, the halls of academia and the media, the report argues. Its centrality to the scientific literature justifying DEI in academic medicine should provoke a second look at that scientific literature, according to Ian Kingsbury, director of Research at Do No Harm.

“This was holding up much of the DEI enterprise. It’s the foundational study in racial concordance mythology,” Kingsbury said.

The enduring impact of the study also raises questions about the rigor of scientific journals and exposes the fallibility of peer review, according to Do No Harm. PNAS has not retracted the study.

When it comes to allegations of liberal bias in scientific journals, the racial concordance field may be “ground zero,” Kinsgbury said.

Leading medical programs accreditor pauses DEI rules following Trump executive order

DEI Media Mention

A leading accreditor of graduate medical education programs announced on Friday the suspension of two “diversity” requirements, following a recent federal executive order targeting “diversity, equity, and inclusion” mandates among accreditors.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education pointed to external pressures in a news release announcing the decision.

The accreditor cited its hiring mandates, which demand that residency programs and their sponsoring institutions, such as medical schools, implement recruitment and retention strategies to “boost diversity,” medical advocacy group Do No Harm reported.

“As we’ve seen, medical schools subject to accreditation requirements that they pursue diversity objectives are keen to pass the buck and blame their DEI initiatives on accreditors,” Do No Harm staff wrote.

“For residency programs specifically, the ACGME’s decision removes all plausible deniability,” they wrote.

Additionally, Do No Harm Senior Fellow Travis Morrell stated the ACGME “has a monopoly on physicians’ postgraduate education, and was making programs choose trainees, supervising teachers (attendings), and even non-clinician staff based on race,” in a post on X Monday.

He called the accreditor’s decision to suspend its requirements an “encouraging first step.” However, “now it must permanently eliminate these requirements – along with the equity in education rule it still enforces,” Morrell stated.

Supreme Court tackles gender conversion therapy

Washington DC Gender Ideology Media Mention Judicial

The Wall Street Journal’s lead letter on Tuesday, from a Canadian endocrinologist called Roy Eappen, praises the Trump administration’s humane acknowledgement in its report on gender medicine that transgender ideology harms “a particular kind of victim: children who are gay and lesbian.”

Four in five gender-confused children grow up and out of their dysphoria naturally, and the majority turn out simply to be gay. This is surely one reason why the multibillion-dollar “gender-affirming care” industry rushes to surgical or chemical intervention. That way, it can collect its lucre before children and parents have time to change their minds.

Eappen, a member of Do No Harm, an organization established to “protect healthcare from the disastrous consequences of identity politics,” notes that “transgender treatments [force children] to be something they aren’t,” adding with incisive and crystal clarity, “the better name for this is gay conversion therapy.”

Top Medical School Accreditor Suspends Diversity Requirements After Trump Executive Order

DEI Media Mention

A leading medical school accreditor recently announced it is suspending its diversity requirements because of changes to state and federal laws, a decision it made only weeks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order increasing accountability for accreditors.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is pausing the enforcement of diversity requirements following President Trump’s order, “Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education,” which empowers the Education Department to assess whether to suspend accreditors that push diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates.

Medical school accreditors have used their standards to pressure institutions into adopting DEI at the expense of rigorous education and training for the next generation of professionals, watchdog group Do No Harm found in a study first reported by NR in March. The group identified ten accrediting organizations that promote DEI through references to “diversity” in their standards or outright DEI requirements for the programs they oversee.

“ACGME has finally cracked after three months of doubling-down on its commitment to radical identity politics. ACGME’s suspension of absurd diversity rules is an encouraging first step but now it must permanently eliminate these requirements – along with the equity in education rule it still enforces,” Do No Harm senior fellow Dr. Travis Morrell said, reacting to the ACGME’s decision to suspend its diversity requirements.

“The sudden change of tune is a direct result of President Trump’s historic executive order dismantling accreditors’ ability to impose DEI requirements on schools. By prioritizing expertise over politics, we will slowly but surely restore a culture of meritocracy to American medical institutions.”

Do No Harm has filed numerous legal challenges against medical schools and affiliated organizations over alleged violations of federal civil rights law in connection with DEI programs and requirements.

Major Medical Org Changes Tune On DEI After Trump Executive Order

DEI Media Mention

A major medical organization that accredits all graduate medical education programs, like internships and residency programs, announced Friday that it was suspending some of its “diversity” requirements.

The board of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education released a statement announcing it was pausing certain “diversity” requirements due to concerns about compliance with federal law. The announcement comes after President Donald Trump called out the accreditation organization in an executive order asking the Education Department to crack down on accreditation bodies mandating universities adopt DEI programs.

The announcement from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education earned praised from Dr. Travis Morrell, a senior fellow at Do No Harm, an organization devoted to getting politics out of medicine.

“ACGME has finally cracked after three months of doubling-down on its commitment to radical identity politics. ACGME’s suspension of absurd diversity rules is an encouraging first step but now it must permanently eliminate these requirements – along with the equity in education rule it still enforces,” Morrell told The Daily Wire. “The sudden change of tune is a direct result of President Trump’s historic executive order dismantling accreditors’ ability to impose DEI requirements on schools. By prioritizing expertise over politics, we will slowly but surely restore a culture of meritocracy to American medical institutions.”

Medical School Accreditor Suspends ‘Diversity’ Requirements After Trump Executive Order

DEI Media Mention

A major medical school accreditor responsible for all graduate-level medical programs announced it would suspend some of its “diversity” requirements, roughly two weeks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order cracking down on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) requirements among accreditors.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) explained that it would be pausing some “diversity” requirements over “concerns” from “multiple constituents in several states” that they might violate state or federal law.

As Dr. Travis Morrell, a senior fellow at Do No Harm, pointed out, “This nationwide accreditor has a monopoly on physicians’ postgraduate education, and was making programs choose trainees, supervising teachers (attendings), and even non-clinician staff based on race (and other non-character, non-expertise markers).”

“ACGME has finally cracked after three months of doubling-down on its commitment to radical identity politics. ACGME’s suspension of absurd diversity rules is an encouraging first step but now it must permanently eliminate these requirements — along with the equity in education rule it still enforces,” Morrell said. “The sudden change of tune is a direct result of President Trump’s historic executive order dismantling accreditors’ ability to impose DEI requirements on schools. By prioritizing expertise over politics, we will slowly but surely restore a culture of meritocracy to American medical institutions.”

UCLA medical school continues to use racial preferences: REPORT

California DEI Media Mention

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) David Geffen School of Medicine appears to use racial preferences when selecting students to serve on the admissions committee, according to recently published documents. The internal policy was shared despite the federal government opening an investigation into the medical school for race-based discrimination less than two weeks prior.

Following the Free Beacon report, the nonprofit organization, Do No Harm, filed a class-action lawsuit against UCLA’s medical school for allegedly ignoring the Supreme Court’s decision against race-based affirmative action in the 2022 case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

“UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine has continually treated the Students for Fair Admissions ruling as a recommendation, rather than a binding law handed down by the highest court in the land,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chair of Do No Harm, told Fox News.

“Do No Harm is fighting for all the students who have been racially discriminated against by UCLA under the guise of political progress,” Goldfarb continued. “All medical schools must abide by the law of the land and prioritize merit, not immutable characteristics, in admissions.”

Dozens of civil rights complaints filed against universities since Trump took office

DEI Media Mention

Numerous federal civil rights complaints have been filed by various organizations since the start of President Donald Trump’s administration with the goal of ending race and sex-based discrimination on campuses across the nation.

Two of the experts leading the charge on some of these complaints told The College Fix they are hopeful the new administration will take action to address these issues.

The Equal Protection Project, Defending Education, and Do No Harm are three groups behind a number of the complaints filed under Title VI and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibit institutions that receive public funding from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race or sex.

Lawsuit: UCLA med school discriminates against white, Asian applicants

California DEI Media Mention

A class action lawsuit from Do No Harm and Students for Fair Admissions alleges that the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is illegally discriminating against white and Asian applicants by holding some applicants to a much lower admissions standard.

“(Jennifer) Lucero and the Admissions Committee routinely admit black applicants with below-average GPA and MCAT scores — even significantly below-average scores — while requiring whites and Asians to have near-perfect scores to even be seriously considered,” wrote the plaintiffs in their class action complaint.

Jennifer Lucero was appointed associate dean of admissions of David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in 2020. She also serves as vice chair for inclusive excellence — formerly called diversity, equity and inclusion — for the Geffen Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine.

Federal lawsuit alleges UCLA medical school uses a race-based admissions process

California DEI Media Mention

A federal class-action lawsuit accuses UCLA’s medical school and various university officials of using race as a factor in admissions, despite a state law and Supreme Court ruling striking down affirmative action.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in California’s Central District federal court, was brought by the activist group Do No Harm, founded in 2022 to fight affirmative action in medicine; Students for Fair Admissions, the nonprofit that won its suit at the Supreme Court against Harvard’s affirmative action program; and Kelly Mahoney, a college graduate who was rejected from UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.

“Do No Harm is fighting for all the students who have been racially discriminated against by UCLA under the guise of political progress,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of Do No Harm, said in a news release. “All medical schools must abide by the law of the land and prioritize merit, not immutable characteristics, in admissions.”

According to the lawsuit, Do No Harm has at least one member who applied to Geffen, was rejected and “is able and ready to reapply if a court orders Defendants to stop discriminating and to undo the effects of its past discrimination.” Students for Fair Admissions has at least one member who will apply to the medical school.

UCLA Medical School Sued for Race Discrimination by Group Behind Harvard Affirmative Action Case

California DEI Media Mention

UCLA medical school was sued for race discrimination on Thursday after whistleblowers alleged that the school holds black and Latino applicants to a lower standard than their white and Asian counterparts, the latest challenge for a beleaguered university already in the crosshairs of the Trump administration.

The complaint is based on multiple Washington Free Beacon reports about the extent of racial preferences at the medical school. It was filed by Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), the group whose lawsuit against Harvard University resulted in the Supreme Court decision, in 2023, that outlawed affirmative action in higher education.

The complaint, which was filed jointly with Do No Harm, a group that opposes identity politics in medicine, comes as the Department of Health and Human Services investigates UCLA medical school’s admissions practices as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on race-based programs. That probe was launched almost a year after whistleblowers described a pervasive pattern of race discrimination at the top medical school, where the share of Asian matriculants fell by almost a third in just three years.

Read more in the Washington Free Beacon.

UCLA medical school hit with class-action lawsuit for allegedly still using race-based admissions process

California DEI Media Mention

The University of California, Los Angeles, medical school was hit with a class-action lawsuit on Thursday for reportedly still employing a race-based admissions process despite a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that race-based programs for college admissions are unconstitutional, Fox News Digital has learned.

“UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine has continually treated the Students for Fair Admissions ruling as a recommendation, rather than a binding law handed down by the highest court in the land,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chair of Do No Harm, told Fox News Digital. “Do No Harm is fighting for all the students who have been racially discriminated against by UCLA under the guise of political progress. All medical schools must abide by the law of the land and prioritize merit, not immutable characteristics, in admissions.”

Do No Harm, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting against “radical progressive ideology” in the health industry, and nonprofit legal advocacy organization Students for Fair Admissions filed the class-action lawsuit Thursday afternoon on behalf of applicants who allegedly faced “intentional discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity in the admissions process” at UCLA’s medical school, according to the lawsuit.

Top DC chemistry group replaces race-excluding scholarship after lawsuit

Washington DC DEI Media Mention

The American Chemical Society has agreed to replace its racially exclusive ACS Scholars Program following a legal challenge that accused the country’s largest chemistry network of violating federal civil rights laws by excluding white and Asian applicants.

The Washington Examiner first reported in March that the nonprofit organization Do No Harm filed a lawsuit on behalf of a high-achieving high school senior, identified as “Member A,” who was barred from applying solely because of her race. Despite a 4.34 GPA, a perfect ACT science score, and top AP Chemistry exam results, the student was ineligible under the program’s criteria, which reserved eligibility for Black, Hispanic, and Native American applicants.

“We are pleased that the American Chemical Society will stop discriminating based on race in its scholarships,” said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of DNH, in a statement. “Allowing identity politics to interfere with merit in medical education is not only a disservice to these future medical professionals, but also the patients they will serve.”

Do No Harm contended the original scholarship initiative amounted to illegal “racial gatekeeping,” citing the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which struck down race-based college admissions.

Goldfarb emphasized that the resolution sends “a clear message” that racial bias has no place in medicine or education.

MCAT developers still promote DEI despite public scrutiny: REPORT

DEI Media Mention

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which develops and administers the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), was believed to have left DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) behind until The Daily Wire published an article stating otherwise.

The AAMC was exposed for continued DEI efforts after a scrutinizing report from the nonprofit Do No Harm, which stated that the group works “to create, promote, and ingrain philosophies that are rooted in controversial belief systems instead of established science.”

However, The Daily Wire received information from an “AAMC insider” who says that the organization is using unorthodox measures to further its DEI agenda, despite recent changes.