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UNC School of Medicine Embedding Social Justice Policy Through ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’

UNC School of Medicine Embedding Social Justice Policy Through ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’

“Task Force to Integrate Social Justice into the Curriculum”

The left’s agenda is being injected into every area of higher education, but the effort to do this to medicine should alarm you.

The James G. Martin Center reports:

UNC School of Medicine’s Quiet “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” Revolution

In May, the UNC School of Medicine revised its Guidelines for Appointment, Reappointment, and Promotion. Now, faculty seeking promotion must tout their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. One sample DEI statement, posted on the School of Medicine website, shows what that requirement might entail, concluding with a nod to the concept of intersectionality.

As I move forward in my career, I intend to continue to include issues of equity and inclusion in my bedside teaching. I commit to annually attending a seminar offered by the University Office of Diversity and Inclusion to learn more about the intersectionality of race, gender, and sexual orientation in clinical care and medical education, and to confront my own biases and the biases of our medical culture to improve inclusivity in my environment.

These revisions mark an innovation in DEI policy—a step beyond the now-common DEI statements for admissions and hiring. But they make up only one small part of a much larger overhaul taking place at the UNC School of Medicine.

In June of 2020, the School of Medicine created a “Task Force to Integrate Social Justice into the Curriculum.” As the title suggests, its purpose is to make social justice an omnipresent feature of the School of Medicine. It was charged with making recommendations regarding faculty development, curricula, and the general learning environment. The Task Force delivered its Final Report in October of 2020. The report lists and elaborates on 42 recommendations. These include requiring students to engage in political advocacy, integrating a list of social justice concepts into teaching, creating a mandatory social justice curriculum, and overhauling the school’s approach to assessment.

By all indications, the School of Medicine intends to follow through with every one of these edicts. A dropdown menu on the Task Force webpage shows which administrative office is responsible for which recommendations, and it shows the status of each. All 42 recommendations register as “On time.”

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Comments

Final report link is dead. As a physician I weep for the former glory of our profession.

What does the NC legislature think about this? Is there any way that they can require the medical school to promote based upon merit and ask each faculty and student to respect the viewpoint diversity of their fellow staff, students and patients?

Loyalty oaths used to be the subject of jokes. The left continues to have no capacity for self-reflection.

The only wokeness that is important in medicine is the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. I like mine awake while I be sleeping.