Doctors advocacy group flags nearly half of U.S. medical schools for defying Trump anti-DEI policies

Nearly half of U.S. medical schools continue to operate diversity, equity and inclusion offices in defiance of Trump administration policies, a new report says.

The conservative physician advocacy group Do No Harm flagged 43.5% of the nation’s 154 accredited medical programs, or 67, for maintaining their DEI offices as of last month.

That’s down slightly from 79 in February. That month, the Department of Education gave universities receiving federal funds 14 days to end race-based policies, programs and practices.

“To eliminate DEI’s divisive influence in medicine, we must recognize medical schools that focus on excellence and expose those that promote political activism,” Ian Kingsbury, director of Do No Harm’s Center for Accountability in Medicine, said in a statement.

The group’s new Medical School Excellence Index graded all 154 programs on whether they have lowered academic standards to boost the number of underrepresented racial minorities training as doctors.

Among the 28 institutions that received an “F,” it said the University of California, Davis School of Medicine exhibited the worst combination of strong DEI commitments, low Medical College Admissions Test scores and subpar grade point averages.

The next-worst were the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Central Michigan University College of Medicine, and Oregon Health and Science University College of Medicine.

“UC Davis is arguably the most ideologically extreme medical school in the country, or at least unparalleled in candor about prioritizing identity box checking over excellence,” Mr. Kingsbury wrote on p. 11 of the report. “Meanwhile, OHSU practices racial separatism and racial discrimination, New Mexico judges residency applicants based on their commitment to ‘anti-racism,’ and Central Michigan continues to operate a DEI office in contravention of President Trump’s executive order.”

Most of the lowest-ranked medical schools did not respond to a request for comment.

Chris Ramirez, a UNM Health System spokesman, insisted that the New Mexico campus “follows all state and federal anti-discrimination laws.”

“The UNM School of Medicine’s stated enrollment requirements emphasize that the School does not discriminate based on race, gender, or other protected classes,” Mr. Ramirez said in a statement. “Instead, admissions decisions are based on factors such as preparedness, ability, aptitude, academic credentials, MCAT scores, and personal attributes.”

The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Trump has cancelled Biden administration policies encouraging racial preferences for Black and Hispanic minorities in higher education. His administration has also investigated dozens of universities for hiding rather than dismantling them.

‘Attempting to hide’

Some legal experts reached for comment said the Do No Harm rankings could prompt new investigations and lawsuits against medical schools that have renamed or hidden race-based programs since Mr. Trump returned to office in January.

“What I can say is that the Trump Administration will carefully scrutinize whether schools are disregarding [civil rights laws], or attempting to hide behind facially neutral policies that accomplish unlawful DEI goals,” said Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston.

The index suggests that dozens of institutions may be violating presidential orders to dismantle DEI programs and a June 2023 Supreme Court ruling that overturned race-based admissions practices in higher education.

Do No Harm noted that the medical program at public UC Davis has a DEI office, a pass/fail grading system for preclinical coursework, and one of the lowest grade-point averages for matriculating students in the nation.

The report cited racially segregated “camaraderie groups” for Oregon Health and Science professors and below-average grades for students accepted to the UNM and Central Michigan medical programs.

Attorney Heather Mac Donald, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, said the index’s failure to correlate academic performance to medical school admissions by race limits its usefulness in proving reverse discrimination against White and Asian candidates.

“At present, the index does not look like it will provide the grounds for suits based on violations of [the Supreme Court’s] qualified ban on racial preferences, since the index does not measure the extent of preferences directly,” Ms. Mac Donald said in an email.

Meanwhile, a racial justice advocate condemned Do No Harm as a hate group.

“When I look at their criteria, much of their hate stems from the fact that the schools at the bottom have diversity statements or some form of commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Omekongo Dibinga, a professor of intercultural communications affiliated with American University’s Antiracist Research and Policy Center.

Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a former associate dean for curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school, founded Do No Harm in April 2022.

The group has filed several lawsuits to overturn medical school DEI policies. It now claims over 35,000 doctors, nurses and other members nationwide and in 14 foreign countries.

Investigating diversity

On the positive side, the new Medical School Index awarded its only perfect “A+” grade to the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine for academic rigor, transparent admissions standards and avoidance of “identity politics.”

In descending order, the next-best schools receiving an “A”: New York University Grossman School of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, the University of Michigan Medical School and the University of Central Florida College of Medicine.

Other schools received weaker grades or earned an “A” for maintaining rigorous standards while still operating a DEI office.

For example, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine received an “A” despite having an Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity.

“The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine considers diversity as one of the core components of medical education,” reads a statement on its website, as quoted in the Do No Harm report. “We are committed to supporting learners via one-on-one mentoring, recruitment and retention of a diverse student body, and sponsoring activities to increase diversity.”

In an email, a Johns Hopkins health equity professor declined to comment on the report, citing his involvement in the admissions process as a conflict of interest.

William A. Jacobson, a Cornell University law professor and advocate for color-blind civil rights policies, urged the Trump administration to launch a “thorough investigation” before drawing any conclusions about such schools.

“Just because a school is ‘bad’ on DEI does not, in and of itself, prove a civil rights violation, but it is a huge red flag that further investigation is needed,” said Mr. Jacobson, who maintains a website tracking medical school diversity policies.