Medical school proposes DEI requirements for tenure

Indiana University School of Medicine recently announced new diversity, inclusion, and equity standards for professors looking to be promoted or receive tenure.

Activities that count towards the new DEI requirement include incorporating 'inclusive teaching practices' in the classroom, publishing on DEI-related topics, and participating in development programs.

Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) recently announced new diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) standards for professors looking to be promoted or receive tenure. 

The new standards will require professors to prove that they have made an effort to promote diversity and inclusion “by including a short narrative DEI summary in their personal statement and by listing DEI-related activities on their CVs.”

Activities that count towards the new DEI requirement include incorporating “inclusive teaching practices” in the classroom, publishing on DEI-related topics, and participating in development programs to “increas[e] one’s self-awareness and knowledge” on issues such as “microaggressions” and “unconscious bias.” 

[Related: Cal Poly seeks to close ‘equity and achievement gap’ by redistributing wealth via student fees.]

The proposal comes after a recent update to the school’s honor code includes  diversity and inclusion as a core value. 

Under the new honor code, all members of the IUSM community must commit “to creating a safe, inclusive, and supportive atmosphere,” learn from others what actions are “racist, discriminatory, exclusionary, or otherwise detrimental to the community,” and must “champion health care equity in both medicine and society.”

Professors are being encouraged to include DEI in their curriculum through grants, scholarships, and projects that are supposed to “serve communities of color or other historically marginalized communities.” 

[Related: Unfollowing the science: America’s doctors go woke]

DEI would also need to be worked into the professors’ research, service, and training if they wish to pursue tenure.

IUSM would not be the first to include such policies. 

Other schools, including the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, have also implemented DEI-related activities as a key consideration in deciding whether faculty will achieve tenure or not. 

Campus Reform has reached out to Indiana University School of Medicine and will update this article accordingly. 

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