Veterinary Medicine goes woke

The American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) recently awarded nearly $100,000 in DEI-based scholarships in hopes of upholding its “champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in veterinary medicine” status.

In partnership with Merck Animal Health, AAVMC provided numerous students attending AAVMC member institutions with scholarships. 

For example, the Merck Animal Health Diversity Leadership Scholarship, a one-time scholarship of $5,000, was awarded to eighteen second- and third-year students in “good academic and professional standing” nationwide. 

“These eighteen awardees have contributed to enhancing diversity and inclusion through course projects, co-curricular activities, outreach, domestic and community engagement, research, and/or developed an early reputation for influencing others to be inclusive,” AAVMC’s December news release reads. 

[RELATED: WATCH: ‘DEI has taken over’ civics education]

Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University student Alexandra Awad was the only recipient of the $6,000 Patricia M. Lowrie Diversity Leadership Scholarship. 

“Awad is recognized for showing exemplary promise as a future leader and for significant contributions to enhancing diversity and inclusion in academic veterinary medicine,” the website reads. 

Susan Leigh, AAVMC’s director for marketing and communications, further explained to Campus Reform the importance of its scholarship program, especially when it comes to students from “underrepresented and/or marginalized backgrounds.”

“This scholarship provides continued support to students from historically underrepresented and/or marginalized backgrounds,” Leigh told Campus Reform. “The students recognized with these scholarships also have made it a point to not only advance diversity by their very presence by providing leadership on DEI issues across many institutions, thereby having a positive impact on academic veterinary medicine more broadly.”

She also revealed that diversifying the scholarship’s applicant pool is a priority of the organization.

“It is our belief that while scholarship criteria can highlight and emphasize diversity, the lack of a diverse pool of scholarship applicants is a primary barrier to believing any scholarship can improve representative diversity in any sector of the profession,” Leigh said. 

[RELATED: OPINION: Universities have no clue what a diverse campus truly looks like]

Campus Reform consistently reports on the DEI takeover within the higher education system.

For example, incoming freshmen are more likely to be given DEI-related materials than free speech materials during orientation, according to a report by Speech First. 

“The study pinned DEI as 4.9 times more prevalent than free speech in handouts, and 7.27 times more prevalent in video material, respectively,” Campus Reform reported. 

In June 2022, Campus Reform reported on the Indiana University School of Medicine’s decision to require faculty members to commit to DEI in order to obtain tenure or promotions. 

“Participat[ing] in active recruitment of diverse students and trainees” and “Policy development, quality improvement efforts, and other service to the profession that has significant impact on DEI-related outcomes” are two examples of what was expected of the school’s staff. 

Campus Reform reached out to each party mentioned and this article will be updated accordingly.

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