Medical school? Only if you're willing to 'disrupt power imbalances' suffered by 'racialized people'
Medical schools aggressively enacting DEI
Many Americans would be surprise to know that DEI programs and policies have become entrenched in most medical schools, making criteria other than merit the basis for admission.
Reducing reliance on traditional criteria of merit, amid claims that the standards used to enroll students in medical school till now have been biased, was already espoused in a 2021 Journal of Surgical Education “Perspectives” article titled “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Medicine: Why It Matters and How do We Achieve It?”
With greater understanding that cognitive tests have racial biases, many medical schools have adjusted perspective to incorporate experiential and personal attributes important to professional success into the selection and recruitment process. In addition, medical schools across the country have taken action with the adoption of offices, administration, and education curricula specific to these needs.
A paucity of diversity in training program environments has been adversely associated with attrition and poor performance. In order for general surgery residencies to navigate the ever-diversifying group of students and attract the best talent, it is incumbent that general surgery residencies adapt and adopt deliberate recruitment strategies . . . (Emphases added.)
A survey conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), at the end of 2022, found that all 100 responding schools have admissions policies supporting a diverse class of students, John Parker reported for The College Fix. The survey also revealed the centrality of DEI to most school missions.
97 percent of schools have senior leaders “who show commitment to DEI in their personal actions” and communication, and 89 percent of medical schools say DEI is central to their school’s mission statement."
Referencing its website, Parker noted that the AAMC is a nonprofit organization that lists as members 170 accredited medical schools, more than 400 teaching hospitals and health systems, and more than 70 faculty and academic societies.
As is apparent from its membership roster, AAMC has a great deal of clout in the medical arena and it is using it to promote the DEI agenda, as John D. Sailer, a Fellow with the National Association of Scholars reported in Newsweek:
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), medical students should learn to practice "allyship" when "witnessing injustice" such as "microaggression[s]," medical residents should use their "knowledge of intersectionality to inform clinical decisions," and medical school faculty should teach "how systems of power, privilege, and oppression inform policies and practices" as well as "how to engage with systems to disrupt oppressive practices."
Carla Sands tweeted about the DEI courses being held at Harvard, particularly those promoting transgender ideology, as it was reported by the Daily Signal:
Viewpoint discrimination in medical school?
Sailer pointed out that DEI policies can lead to viewpoint discrimination and harm academic freedom and open discourse. However, he is mostly concerned that such standards will lead to harmful medical policies:
Worst of all, DEI standards will likely lead to substantively harmful medical policy. It was in the name of "equity" that the states of New York, Utah, and Minnesota embraced disastrous race-based allocation guidelines for COVID treatment. Meanwhile, as Finland, Sweden, and France put the breaks on "gender-affirming" medicine for minors, it remains immensely difficult for American physicians to object.
Formal DEI competencies will only increase the pressure—as differing opinions can themselves be characterized as "microaggressions" or "oppressive practices."
Medical students now activists in training
As Sailer commented in another article he wrote, published in Tablet Magazine, today's medical professionals are being chosen based on their activism:
Tomorrow’s doctors and medical experts are being selected and trained on the basis of their willingness to “disrupt power imbalances between racialized and non-racialized people.”
Bill to remove federal assistance from medical schools with DEI policies
To preempt detrimental effects of DEI policies in medical schools, as feared by Sailer, Representatives Greg Murphy (North Carolina) and Brad Weinstrup (Ohio) have introduced a bill to eliminate federal funding from medical schools with DEI programs. Their bill, called Embracing anti-Discrimination, Unbiased Curricula, and Advancing Truth in Education, or the EDUCATE Act, would also bar medical students from receiving loans for schools with DEI policies.
Murphy, a practicing surgeon, tweeted the announcement of his bill during which he gave listeners some “food for thought” (@3:31) regarding the reason for introducing the bill:
Imagine you are the patient and you're looking up because tomorrow you're going to have your chest cut open because you're going to have bypass. Who do you want as your doctor? Someone who is skillful or someone who got into medical school because of identity politics?
