Code Crimson: It’s Time to Take Control of DEI

Students participate in an activity near Royce Hall on the campus of the University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 11, 2020. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

In his new book “In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face With the Idea of an Afterlife,” best-selling writer Sebastian Junger recounts his 2020 near-death experience. After several brushes with the Reaper, mostly as a war correspondent, one peaceful New England morning while at home, Mr. Junger collapsed with what was later determined to be a ruptured aneurysm.

One long chapter of this thoughtful book includes an in-depth look at the medical treatment that saved Mr. Junger’s life. Soon after his arrival by ambulance at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Massachusetts, one of Mr. Junger’s doctors declared a “Code Crimson,” a term used for patients faced with life-threatening hemorrhages. As they carried out emergency measures to find and stop the source of his bleeding, the physicians, nurses, and the rest of the staff continually impressed Mr. Junger with their intelligence, competence, and compassion. Readers of “In My Time of Dying” will likely come away, as I did, hoping and praying that if they or a loved one experiences some dire medical emergency, they’ll find themselves in equally expert hands.

Unfortunately, the odds against that happy circumstance just shrunk a bit.

In 2020, the University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) David Geffen School of Medicine was ranked sixth among the nation’s medical schools for research, accepting about 300 students annually from approximately 13,000 applicants. Yet in the past four years, the school has fallen to 18th place in the rankings.

So, what happened?

In June 2020, Jennifer Lucero was appointed dean of admissions for the school. Deciding that the student body needed more racial diversity, Ms. Lucero reportedly set out to make that change happen, allegedly pushing for the admission of underrepresented, and often unqualified, minority students.

Consequently, the number of students failing exams on basic knowledge in several areas has reportedly increased 10-fold since Ms. Lucero took up her post. A majority of students are now also failing standardized exams in such areas as emergency medicine, pediatrics, and family medicine. Meanwhile, precious hours of instruction are given over to such subjects as “interpersonal communication skills” and “structural racism and health equity.”

Washington Free Beacon journalist Aaron Sibarium took the title for his article “‘A Failed Medical School’: How Racial Preferences, Supposedly Outlawed in California, Have Persisted at UCLA” from a comment made by a former admissions officer that race-based admissions had led to a “failed medical school.” That whistleblower added, “We want racial diversity so badly, we’re willing to cut corners to get it.”

And as Mr. Sibarium discovered, those cut corners allegedly included racial preferences in admission:

“Led by Lucero, who also serves as the vice chair for equity, diversity, and inclusion of UCLA’s anesthesiology department, the admissions committee routinely gives black and Latino applicants a pass for subpar metrics, four people who served on it said, while whites and Asians need near perfect scores even to be considered.

“The bar for underrepresented minorities is ‘as low as you could possibly imagine,’ one committee member told The Free Beacon. ‘It completely disregards grades and achievements.’”

Readers of Mr. Sibarium’s article are left wondering why no one associated with the school has stepped up to put an end to these alleged policies.

Whether diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) deserve a place at the table in our institutions is debatable, but it should never be allowed to smother ability and talent. A case in point can easily be found in professional sports. Though black Americans are only about 14 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 70 percent of the players in the National Basketball League. Those men are on that court for precisely one reason, because they have proven themselves the best at the game.

Which is as it should be.

Whatever their race or ethnicity, some of those UCLA med students will fail or drop out of school. They’ll leave gaps that other stronger candidates might have filled, a circumstance occurring at the same time that the United States is up against a growing physician shortage. Some students will likely squeak by and earn a medical degree, but will they be competent doctors?

For a good while now, DEI has affected policies in universities, professions, corporations, and government positions. Now, it has seemingly entered our medical schools.

Unlike Mr. Junger, our country isn’t hemorrhaging blood. We are, however, hemorrhaging talent and ability, which will ensure the decline of our nation’s health and well-being.

It’s time to call a Code Crimson on DEI and bring back earned achievements as the standard of success.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.