Critical race theory programs are mandatory in 58 of top 100 medical schools: Report
Jeremiah Poff
Fifty-eight of the nation’s top 100 medical schools require some form of critical race theory-based program, according to new information from a database that monitors the prevalence of such programs in higher education.
The latest update to the database said that 58 of U.S. News and World Report’s top 100 medical schools require mandatory education in anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion, or some other form of critical race theory-linked program, either through mandatory training or in the curriculum.
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The database, criticalrace.org, is a project of the nonprofit organization Legal Insurrection, which monitors critical race theory programs in higher education. Shortly after its launch earlier this year, the project found that 23 of the top 25 medical schools had incorporated critical race theory into their programs in some form. The latest update expanded the database to include information on the top 100 medical schools.
Critical race theory is an academic theory that says U.S. institutions and culture are systemically racist and oppressive to racial minorities, especially black people. Proponents of the theory advocate anti-racism and diversity, equity, and inclusion as means to combat the effects of systemic racism. Critics say the theory and its proposed solutions create and exacerbate racial division.
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With just over 150 accredited medical schools nationwide, the 58 schools with mandatory critical race theory programs represent about a third of all U.S. medical schools and span public and private institutions in dozens of states.
At the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Heersink School of Medicine, the faculty recruitment and hiring process must be “INtentional and INclusive,” and at least half of the candidates on a hiring short list should be “diverse.” Members of the search or interview committee are also required to undergo “unconscious bias” training prior to partaking in the hiring process.
At the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, all student orientation programs include “anti-racism content,” and the school mandates “health equity” and “anti-racism” as part of the student curriculum.
Similarly, the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California modified its curriculum so that “the Health Justice and Systems of Core Curriculum will include the topics of systemic racism and bias in healthcare.” The school also says it monitors “all lecture and small group content … to ensure that any discussion of race is framed in contemporary anti-racist thought.”
Other schools that have adopted similar programs include Stanford University, the University of California, Los Angeles, Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, the University of Florida, Harvard University, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia, and Baylor University.
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The pervasiveness of critical race theory in medical schools has broad implications for students who wish to pursue a career in medicine but do not wish to be subjected to racialized content, William Jacobson, a Cornell University professor and the president and founder of Legal Insurrection, told Fox News in an interview.
“Because there are only just over 150 accredited medical schools in the U.S., and they are so hard to get into, students really have no options,” Jacobson said. “Unlike universities and colleges, where students may be able to avoid a race-obsessed campus climate, with medical schools, students have to submit to race-focused medical education or give up their career hopes.”