Wouldn’t the money be better spent trying to make advances in the actual practice of veterinary medicine?
Campus Reform reports:
Purdue gets $3 million+ federal grant for ‘diversity in veterinary medicine’Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has established a $3.18 million federally-funded program meant to “increase diversity in veterinary medicine.”The Indiana veterinary school’s “Vet Up! The National Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) Academy for Veterinary Medicine” will largely be funded by a $3.18 million grant from The Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to a Purdue news release.Purdue hopes to use the funds to address what it views as a scarcity of veterinarians focused on public health and “rural/food animal practice,” as well as a shortage in members of underrepresented groups entering the industry. The Vet Up! program aims to address these issues simultaneously by filling veterinary shortage areas “with equity-minded individuals from underrepresented populations and rural areas.”Purdue will work with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and state organizations to create a curriculum for the “Vet Up!” initiative. The program also consists of three separate divisions for high school, college, and graduate students.“It is very exciting for our college to be selected for this major federally funded initiative that seeks to address an issue we have been working on for several years within our college and the veterinary profession,” Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine Dr. Willie Read said in the news release.But the Purdue University chapter of Turning Point USA told Campus Reform that the program raises some concerns pertaining to a possible decrease in standards in favor of diversifying the veterinary program.
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