Texas professor slams ‘activist’ faculty over pledge to support critical race theory
The University of Texas at Austin Associate Professor Richard Lowery discusses how faculty policy has shifted and impacted students.
EXCLUSIVE -- At least 39 of America’s 50 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.
Earlier this year, CriticalRace.org found that CRT was prevelant in medical schools across the country. The project from Legal Insurrection Foundation, a non-profit devoted to campus free speech and academic freedom, has since expanded its database and found even more elite medical schools are focusing on "racialization" of medicine.
"The national alarm should be sounding over the racialization of medical school education. The swiftness and depth to which race-focused social justice education has penetrated medical schools reflects the broader disturbing trends in higher education," Legal Insurrection founder William A. Jacobson told Fox News Digital.
At least 39 of America’s 50 most prestigious medical colleges and universities have some form of mandatory student training or coursework on ideas related to critical race theory, according to CriticalRace.org. (iStock )
Jacobson, a clinical professor of law at Cornell Law School, founded CriticalRace.org’s extensive database that has also examined elite K-12 private schools and 500 of America's top undergraduate programs.
The schools examined were based on the rankings by U.S. News’ rankings of America’s top medical schools. The latest findings show that 39 of the top 50 medical schools "have some form of mandatory student training or coursework" related to CRT and 38 offered materials by authors Robin DiAngelo and Ibram Kendi, whose books explicitly call for discrimination, according to Jacobson.
"Mandatory so-called 'anti-racism' training centers ideology, not patients, as the focus of medical education. This is a drastic change from focusing on the individual, rather than racial or ethnic stereotypes," Jacobson said.
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.
In 2021, the American Medical Association (AMA) committed to utilizing CRT in a variety of ways and criticized the idea that people of different backgrounds should be treated the same. All 50 schools examined by CriticalRace.org are accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which sponsors the Association of American Medical Colleges, which has also taken steps to support anti-racist initiatives, and the AMA.
Earlier this year, guidance issued by the Biden administration stated certain individuals may be considered "high risk" and more quickly qualify for monoclonal antibodies and oral antivirals used to treat COVID-19 based on their "race or ethnicity."
Many medical students have critical race theory forced on them, according to a database that monitors CRT curricula and training in higher education.
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The study found that 12 schools have department-specific mandatory training, including The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University’s Committee on Anti-Racism and Equity (CARE) that established Discussing Anti-Racism and Equity (DARE) as an "educational intervention aimed at emergency medicine frontline providers."
According to CriticalRace.org, the curriculum for these medical students includes "conferences on racism and equity, simulations, reading groups, and film screenings integrated into the existing education at Brown in order to ‘encourage anti-racist attitudes and behaviors’ and to provide ‘equitable and actively anti-racist care’ by assessing implicit bias and structural racism."
The study also found that 17 schools have school-wide mandatory training, including Albert Einstein College of Medicine and University of Utah School of Medicine. These trainings at these schools consist of modules, online orientations, orientation programs and all other forms of training that fall short of an academic course, according to CriticalRace.org.
CriticalRace.org found that 28 of the 50 schools have school-wide mandatory curricula, such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), CRT or similar elements embedded into the general curriculum of the university. The Ohio State University School of Medicine and Keck School of Medicine of USC are among the schools that fall into this category.
"Almost all medical students will have attended colleges and universities awash in so-called 'anti-racism' social justice educational and training mandates," Jacobson said. "These concepts will not be new to them, but they are attending medical school to learn about medicine and patient care, not as a refresher course on undergraduate race-focused education."
He believes "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion entrenched bureaucracies promote, protect and relentlessly expand their administrative territory in medical schools," but the resources should instead be used "to expand medical knowledge and patient care, not to enforce an ideological viewpoint."
The study found that 28 schools also have some sort of mandatory training for faculty or staff, which can either be department specific or implemented school-wide. CriticalRace.org found that everything from onboarding new hires to filling out faculty research applications can include terms such as anti-racism, cultural competency, DEI, equity, implicit bias and critical race theory.
Residents of Loudoun County, Virginia, have helped make critical race theory a national conversation in 2021. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
Jacobson’s team at CriticalRace.org isn’t finished putting a spotlight on the situation that many feel is plaguing medical schools across the nation.
"We expect to roll out a visual interactive map of our medical school database, to accompany our higher ed map, as part of a broader expansion of CriticalRace.org in the near future," Jacobson said.
Last month, nonprofit organization Do No Harm was launched to fight back against radical progressive ideology in the healthcare industry while promoting fairness, equal access, and the best, most personalized treatment for every patient.
"We are a diverse group of physicians, healthcare professionals, medical students, patients, and policymakers united by a moral mission: Protect healthcare from a radical, divisive, and discriminatory ideology. We believe in making healthcare better for all – not undermining it in pursuit of a political agenda," the organization’s website explains.
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A recent Marist Poll, sponsored by Do No Harm, found a mere 28% of Americans feel elevating race or ethnicity as a more significant risk factor over medical history in determining the type of treatment prescribed for patients would be beneficial
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.
Fox News’ Sam Dorman and Kyle Morris contributed to this report.
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