WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) penned this op-ed in the Washington Examiner to explain why Congress should pass the EDUCATE Act to prevent medical schools from prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over merit.

Key excerpts of the op-ed are below:

“When patients lie on the operating table, they don’t care what their doctors look like or which political parties they support. They just want a safe and successful operation. 

“Many medical schools, however, apparently believe that patients have the wrong priority. These universities place diversity, equity, and inclusion above all else, even if it means worse outcomes for patients. This obsession with racial quotas is destroying some of America’s best medical schools.” 

. . .

“The U.S. is home to the most gifted and innovative doctors on Earth, and it’s not by happenstance. We sought them out by making medical school one of the most impressive, merit-based institutions in our country. 

“It’s wrong for universities, which are supported by American taxpayers, to prioritize the DEI agenda over merit in any academic program, but it’s lethal to do this in medical schools. It needs to stop. There is no reward for being stupid.

“Congress should not stand by as this dangerous foolishness drives more medical schools into the ground.”

Read Kennedy and Murphy’s full op-ed here.

Text of the EDUCATE Act is available here.