UCLA medical school stops 'antiracist' exercise that segregated students after civil rights complaint
UCLA's medical school quickly canceled an exercise that racially segregated students after a civil rights complaint was filed against the school, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
First year students in a required course entitled "Structural Racism and Health Equity" were told to divide up into racial groups and discuss antiracist prompts. Students were directed to group themselves in either the "White student caucus group," the "Non-Black People of Color (NBPOC) student caucus group" or the "Black student caucus group," the WSJ editorial board said.
Students were told to join the racial group that best matched how they appeared to others, according to a letter reviewed by the WSJ. "[R]ecognizing the imperfect and problematic nature of our socially constructed racial categories, we ask that you identify the group in which you feel you are most perceived as in clinical spaces," the school told students.
However, UCLA reportedly dropped the exercise this week after a nonprofit group that fights against "woke activists" in medicine filed a complaint with the civil rights office.
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The medical nonprofit organization Do No Harm filed a complaint letter with the San Francisco Civil Rights Office accusing the school of violating the law. The organization said these racial caucusing groups "illegally segregate and separate its first year medical students based on their race, color and/or national origin" in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, Board Chair of Do No Harm, rebuked the medical school for "perpetuating" racism with the practice.
"That UCLA encouraged racial segregation in its medical school class is an absolutely outrageous abandonment of nearly 65 year old national commitment to eliminate racism in society. All medical students should be working together to learn to provide optimal medical care to all patients rather than to perpetuate, absurd, racist notions," he said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
The school reportedly dropped the exercise immediately when the complaint was filed by Do No Harm.
"The day the civil-rights complaint was filed, UCLA abruptly informed students that the caucusing exercise was cancelled, which suggests that administrators know the practice is legally suspect. In accepting federal funds, schools must agree to abide by Title VI, which prohibits discrimination by race. It contains no exception for discriminating in pursuit of an antiracist agenda. As a public university, UCLA is also governed by the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment," the editorial board said.
UCLA's medical school, the David Geffen School of Medicine, had previously defended the racial caucusing groups in a letter to students.
"For White folks, we often feel uncomfortable talking about our own race and our own identities without Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in the room…For Black folks, discussions of race/racism with non-Black folks can be burdensome and exhausting," the school reportedly told students. The groups will give students the opportunity to "discuss this exhaustion and share strategies for individual and collective healing and self care," it continued.
The medical school's website details its commitment to antiracist and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion "DEI" initiatives.
In 2020, the school launched their "Anti-racism Roadmap" with the goal of "eradicating structural racism." In 2021, the school announced it had joined ten other medical schools in a three-year "Anti-Racist Transformation in Medical Education" (ART in Med Ed) program, which "aims to mitigate racism in the learning and work environment of medical schools," according to their website.
UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine did not return a request for comment from Fox News Digital.