An Ohio County DEI Office Is Being Targeted For Investing More Than $600K In An Education Program Aimed At Increasing Black Representation In Medicine
This program’s funding efforts to increase Black representation in medicine is being targeted by legal experts.
The Washington Free Beacon reports Franklin County’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Columbus, OH, has been funding the Made for Medicine program since 2023. It has invested more than $600,000 in the program, which is designed to increase Black representation in medicine by providing middle and high school students who “identify as African American or Black” with resources such as special courses, labs, and research opportunities.
The program does not permit applications from non-minorities, although it is affiliated with the Columbus Medical Association, which is “committed to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access for all.”
“Do I have to identify as African American or Black in order to participate?” a question on the FAQ page read, according to the outlet.
“Yes. Due to the dearth of African Americans and/or Blacks in the medical field, we are specifically recruiting African American or Black youth in order to tackle this problem and to create a sustainable pipeline for the future,” the answer read.
Now, it appears the FAQ page has been taken down.
This coincides with attorneys raising concerns about the deployment of funds through Franklin County’s DEI office for the Made for Medicine program. They say it violates civil rights laws.
“It looks a lot like the discriminatory and unlawful programs that have already gotten the attention of the Justice Department’s civil rights division,” William Trachman, the general counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation, said, per Washington Free Beacon.
Dan Morenoff, executive director of the American Civil Rights Project, commented:
“If there is a state or local government that is funding a program that is racially exclusive, that is a straightforward 14th Amendment problem.”
Morenoff added that the program may also violate Title VI, which prohibits race discrimination against recipients of federal funds.
This isn’t the first time there has been pushback surrounding efforts to increase Black representation in the medical field. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, Florida A&M University (FAMU) lost a $16.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health that was responsible for producing “60% of the nation’s Ph.D. graduates in pharmaceutical sciences from various backgrounds,” according to FAMU Interim President Timothy Beard.
The increase in resistance to DEI initiatives has been driven in large part by conservative groups and the Trump administration.
