Posted on September 5, 2019

White Coats for Black Lives Group Gives Harvard Medical School C+ for Diversity and Inclusion

Alexis K. Bolner, Crimson, September 3, 2019

Harvard Medical School received a “C+” on a report issued Monday by advocacy group White Coats for Black Lives evaluating diversity, inclusion, and integration of minorities at 17 medical institutions across the country.

The group’s Racial Justice Report Card evaluated schools including Yale University of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins. The report evaluates schools on metrics such as minority student and faculty representation, patient access, campus policing, and staff benefits. Last year, Harvard received a B- from the organization.

“The Racial Justice Report Card (RJRC) serves not only as an organizing tool for justice-oriented medical students, but also as a set of standards for medical schools aspiring towards transparency and progress in cultivating an anti-racist environment,” according to the report.

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The Medical School’s student body comprises 7.1 percent black students, 0.1 percent Native American students, 9.5 percent Latinx students, and 2.9 percent multiracial students. The report card’s criteria for sufficient underrepresented minority enrollment was at least 13 percent black students, 1 percent Native American students, and 17 percent Latinx student, which are the proportions of these racial categories in the United States population.

Medical School spokesperson Gina Vild wrote in an emailed statement that the school is working to improve its diversity.

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White Coats for Black Lives reiterated in an emailed statement that the group’s members hope the report card will advance efforts for better racial representation at medical institutions.

“White Coats for Black Lives hopes that the Racial Justice Report Card will highlight best practices and encourage academic medical centers to direct their considerable power and resources towards addressing the needs of students, patients and healthcare workers of color,” White Coats for Black Lives wrote in an email.