End DEI in Medical Schools - US Congress Announcement 3-18-24

Ban DEI Quackery in Medical Schools

A new bill would deny money to institutions that engage in the worst practices.
By Greg Murphy and Stanley Goldfarb
March 18, 2024 Wall Street Journal
The ideology of “diversity, equity and inclusion” is dangerous everywhere, but
especially in medical education. Its influence has become entrenched nationwide. Accrediting institutions are pushing all of America’s 158 accredited medical schools to train future physicians in political activism, wasting precious time and resources that could be spent on rigorous coursework and preparation for medical practice. The result will likely be future physicians less qualified to meet patients’ needs.

To restore medical education to its life-saving mission, Congress should ensure
that taxpayer dollars don’t fund its decline. One of us, Rep. Murphy, will introduce
the Educate Act on Tuesday. It would eliminate all federal funding, including
student loans, for medical schools that engage in the worst DEI practices.

Schools would have to agree to the following:
• No racist teaching. Medical schools teach about “intersectionality,” “colonization” and “white supremacy” while promoting the idea that people are either “oppressors” or “oppressed.” These concepts push medical students to treat patients differently based on race, sex or “gender identity.” In 2021 two physicians proposed giving preferential treatment to “Black and Latinx heart failure patients” at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.
• No racial discrimination. Medical schools increasingly offer scholarships, classes and programming designed for—and sometimes available only to—students of specific races. This includes “affinity groups” students can join voluntarily, as well as classes that segregate students for the sake of learning.
• No loyalty oaths. Medical schools routinely require applicants and faculty to write DEI statements as a condition of acceptance or employment. Such requirements violate freedom of speech and eviscerate merit. Schools reject candidates for not being “progressive” enough while choosing others for their devotion to DEI.
• No DEI offices. Most medical schools have a department, team or office
dedicated to DEI. These bureaucracies exist to spread a divisive ideology across
campus, from the curriculum to extracurricular activities.

In addition to denying federal money to schools that engage in these practices, the Educate Act would prevent accrediting organizations, such as the Liaison
Committee on Medical Education and the Association of American Medical
Colleges, from requiring DEI education at medical schools.
Lawmakers and the public should recognize DEI for what it is: a dangerous and
contagious philosophy. Until Congress takes action, this ideology will continue to
corrupt the institutions that train physicians. Medicine and the people it’s meant to serve will suffer.

Dr. Murphy is a practicing urologist. A Republican, he represents North Carolina’s Third Congressional District. Dr. Goldfarb, a nephrologist, is chairman of Do No Harm.