STEM
News related to science, technology, engineering, math + medicine.
How One Medical Board Is Injecting DEI Into All Aspects of Medical Education
Sailer exposes the DEI push by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation, the charity arm of the American Board of Internal Medicine, showing how “it has found its way into the most basic function of the organization, which is the certification of internal medicine practitioners.”
The Message America's Future Doctors Need to Hear
Prasad argues that “The University of Michigan medical students who walked out of their white coat ceremony [due to the speaker’s personal, pro-life views] missed a transcendent lecture about staying human in an age of machines.” Prasad discusses how these students missed invaluable advice regarding their future role as doctors — advice that that could profoundly impact how they learn and practice medicine. It’s also a warning about how future doctors will deal with patients who have different views than their own.
Medical Education Goes Woke
The WSJ Editorial Board speaks out against the “political re-education” that will change curriculum in U.S. med schools coming out of the The Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC’s) recent DEI Competencies report. “Social and economic circumstances clearly can affect individual health behavior. But the hyper-class and -racial consciousness that the AAMC wants to instill in doctors may result in worse care for minorities.”
Association of American Medical Colleges Releases Official DEI Curriculum Standards
National Association of Scholars
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) just released its official DEI Competencies. As John D. Sailor argues, “In practice, the competencies are likely to elicit a wave of highly dubious medical curricula—to say nothing of medical research… [they] will hamper free expression, politicize medical education, encourage physicians to engage in misbegotten activism, and…lead to substantively harmful policies.”
The new gender ideology is being used to coerce speech at universities
In this short piece, Dr. Marisol Quintanilla argues that in many academic institutions, “to participate in most federally funded events or fill most forms…it is required that one affirm that gender is on a spectrum…therefore forcing me and others to lie in order to participate in most programs. This is not freedom of speech.”
Science and Civil Liberties: The Lost ACLU Lecture of Carl Sagan
Harvard professor and FAIR Advisor Steven Pinker (PHD 79) and Harvard alumnus and FIRE co-founder Harvey Silverglate (LLB 67) transcribe an “uncannily prescient” lecture given by Carl Sagan. “Sagan spoke prophetically of the irrationality that plagued public discourse…and the threats to free speech and democracy… Most importantly, he highlighted the virtues common to science and civil liberties…to deal with these challenges: freedom of speech, skepticism, constraints on authority, openness to opposing arguments, and an acknowledgment of one’s own fallibility.”
I Got Thrown Off Etsy and PayPal for Expressing My Belief in Biological Reality
“It's a serious problem when payment processors like @PayPal become political. If this happened to a biologist …for calmly arguing for the reality of biological sex, it can happen to anyone.” In this piece, Wright documents his removal from Etsy and PayPal—”And the kicker is that PayPal evidently has no intention of giving me back my own funds anytime soon.”
Universities Partner To Make Chemistry More Equitable
“On average, Black, Latino and Indigenous students fail or withdraw from general education courses in their first year of college more often than their white peers... Carnegie Mellon University and Arizona State University aim to change that, starting with general chemistry courseware that prioritizes equity.”
Taken Out of Context: A Warning to Scientists
“In an era when classifications of sex and gender have been thrust to the forefront of legal and policy discussions, gender researchers have a message for scientists: Be careful with your words…. A group of scholars from Harvard’s GenderSci Lab created a roadmap to help researchers take greater care when writing or using biological definitions and classifications of sex in their work.”
Science is political - and that's a bad thing
“People who say ‘science is political’ usually aren’t just stating facts - they’re trying to push something on you. Don’t let them.” Ritchie debunks arguments supporting the inevitability that ‘science is political’ or that it’s “good” for science—he offers a better way.
Can $1.5 Billion Help Diversify the Sciences?
“The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is planning to spend $1.5 billion over the next 20 years on funding early-career academic scientists who say they’ll run diverse and welcoming labs.” The process involves vetting candidates based on a commitment to DEI before considering the academic research proposal.
He Was a World-Renowned Cancer Researcher. Now He's Collecting Unemployment.
On the destruction of MIT cancer researcher David Sabatini, 'one of the greatest scientists' of his generation. This exposé raises alarms over due process, untoward financial motives, and the demise of life-saving research due to fear and retribution in academia.
Academic Exile, Two Years On
Psychologist Winegard laments the state of academia after his exile for unfashionable ideas. In this long-form piece, he recounts a trying journey—”my truncated career, like a public execution, became another warning…do not tread this path or you too may suffer this fate”—and discovery of hard truths—“academia has become an intellectual prison.”
Was the Great Harvard Scientist E. O. Wilson a Racist?
“Because Wilson corresponded with the notorious race differences psychologist Phillippe Rushton, critics claim it proves Wilson was a racist. Here’s why the critics are wrong, dangerously wrong,” argues FAIR Advisor Michael Shermer.
Stanford Engineering’s DEI Bureaucracy
In Stanford Review’s first Woke Watch piece, St Johns writes a scathing report. “Let’s be honest: diversity is a cover. The real goal…is to politicize what should be one of the most concrete and objective disciplines: engineering.”
Keep Politics Out of the Doctor’s Office
Former associate dean of curriculum at the UPenn’s Perelman School of Medicine sounds the alarm that “healthcare is being infected by the radical ideology that has corrupted education and public safety…Americans deserve to know that their health and well-being are at risk.”
As If Medical Residency Weren’t Hard Enough
In two pieces for City Journal, National Association of Scholars researcher, John Sailor, documents DEI efforts by the medical education accreditation boards ACGME and LCME that aim to overhaul educational and residency programs with anti-racist training and racial preferences.
It May Not Be Possible to Achieve Racial Equity in American Scientific Research
In a data-driven piece, Morris questions and sets out to examine whether demands for racial equity in STEM are feasible—in sum, he argues, there’s a supply issue.
The Politicization of Federal Science Grants
Northwestern Ph.D candidate Leif Rasmussen argues that progressive politics are dictating (and compromising) science: “Whether a scientist is competent is often overlooked. Instead, his work’s political palatability determines whether he is hired, funded, promoted, or granted tenure.”