A nonprofit advocating for a race-blind America vows to take its pushback on the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in medical schools to a new level: asking leadership to admit the harm of DEI to medicine.
Earlier in May, the efforts of Color Us United (CUU) and its partners drove the University of North Carolina (UNC) system to end its task force integrating social justice into the medical school’s curriculum. That made UNC the first medical school to do so.
The task force, led by E. Nathan Thomas III, vice dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion at UNC’s medical school, was a part of the public institution’s DEI initiatives. In its final report (pdf) released in October 2020, the panel stated goals such as training and evaluating medical students and doctors on social justice, DEI, and health care disparities—another name for structural racism in hospitals. The report also recommended tying DEI evaluations with student admissions, faculty promotion, and tenure guidelines….