Critical race theory-related ideas found in mandatory programs at 23 of top 25 US medical schools: report ‘The racialization of medical school education is troubling,’ William A. Jacobson said: Brian Flood
https://www.foxnews.com/media/critical-race-theory-related-mandatory-top-medical-schools-report
At least 23 of America’s 25 most prestigious medical colleges and universities have some form of mandatory student training or coursework on ideas related to critical race theory (CRT), according to CriticalRace.org, which monitors CRT curricula and training in higher education.
“The racialization of medical school education is troubling. It’s one thing to recognize the health needs of different populations, it’s entirely different to inject racial politics into medical care. Demanding that medical school students become activists is dangerous,” William Jacobson told Fox News Digital.
At least 23 of America’s 25 most prestigious medical colleges and universities have some form of mandatory student training of coursework on ideas related to critical race theory (CRT), according to CriticalRace.org. (iStock)
Jacobson, Clinical Professor of Law at Cornell Law School and founder of the Legal Insurrection website, founded CriticalRace.org’s sprawling database that previously examined elite K-12 private schools and 500 of America’s top undergraduate programs.
“The mantra of the so-called ‘antiracism’ movement has no place in medicine. Current racial discrimination in order to remedy past racial discrimination is wrong generally, but is downright dangerous in medicine,” Jacobson added.
The schools examined were based on the rankings by U.S. News’ rankings of America’s top medical schools. Of the top 25 colleges and universities, 23 had some sort of mandatory training and 21 have offered materials by authors Robin DiAngelo and Ibram Kendi, whose books explicitly call for discrimination, according to Jacobson.
Training is sometimes targeted, such as a new requirement for a major or department, and sometimes school-wide. The subjects of mandatory training and coursework are worded and phrased differently at individual schools, but use terms including “anti-racism,” “cultural competency,” “equity,” “implicit bias,” “DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion” and critical race theory, according to CriticalRace.org.
The study found that 16 of the top 25 medical schools have declared that anti-racism, DEI, CRT, and/or other similar elements will be embedded into the general curriculum of the university. Among them is The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, where first-year students must take “Health Equity, Advocacy, and Anti-Racism.”
At the University of Michigan Medical School, the school’s Anti-Racism Oversight Committee recommends that it, “[i]ncorporate critical race theory, health justice, and intersectionality framework into doctoring materials,” according to CriticalRace.org.
The study also found that an additional six of schools mandate department-specific training, including University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Yale School of Medicine.
At Yale, the Department of Psychiatry’s Anti-Racism Task Force’s Education Subcommittee “is charged with addressing the legacy of racism on training, increasing the representation of BIPOC individuals, anti-racism training efforts, social justice and healthy equity curricula, and interfacing with the clinical subcommittee regarding the clinical context of training,” according to CriticalRace.org’s findings.
School-wide training consisting of modules, online orientations, and other programs were found at 12 of the schools, including Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine where Kendi’s “How to Be an Antiracist” is required reading for the class of 2025.
“Medical school activism is playing out in real world patient care, with health departments in multiple states, including New York, injecting racial preferences into COVID therapeutic eligibility,” Jacobson said.
Critical race theory isn’t only pushed on students, as 17 of the top 25 institutions were also found to have some type of mandatory training for faculty and staff. For example, The Office of Education at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will “require diversity and bias training for all searches and admissions processes including student, resident, fellow, faculty, and staff positions in education,” according to the study.
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA also required anti-bias and anti-racism training for all search committee members.
“When a patient presents for treatment, that person needs to be treated as an individual, not just as a member of some larger racial or ethnic group,” Jacobson said.
CriticalRace.org, which details activity and contact information for each school, previously found that at least 236 colleges or universities of 500 examined have some form of mandatory student training or coursework on ideas related to CRT.
“While our prior databases on higher education and elite private schools served as educational tools for students and parents making application decisions, the medical school database serves as a wake-up call for the public to pay attention to the damaging racialization of medical education,” Jacobson said.
Defenses of CRT-associated materials have ranged from outright denying CRT is being taught, to claiming that the underlying ideas are key to creating an inclusive educational environment.
CriticalRace.org is a project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, a non-profit devoted to campus free speech and academic freedom.
Fox News’ Sam Dorman contributed to this report.
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