Statement on the Federal Executive Order on Diversity Training
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The University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health is committed to training socially responsible public health researchers and practitioners who share a commitment to serve and protect the health and well-being of all people in our city, our region, our nation and the world. This goal of educating for service in a diverse and inclusive society quite simply cannot be accomplished without recognition of and attention to the role played by social determinants of health in producing disparities and inequities in a host of health status outcomes. Among the most powerful of the social determinants of health is structural racism and its associated stress. By structural racism we mean those elements of social, cultural, political and economic life that function to perpetuate inequalities in power, access and opportunity with or without the presence of overt, conscious individual racial bias. If we hope to remedy disparities in health status outcomes, we must develop, implement, and evaluate interventions, policies and systems changes that acknowledge and confront the legacy of slavery and the structural underpinnings of health inequities. When we do our jobs well, our students graduate with a keen understanding of these principles, and we have seen first-hand that they go on to make the world a safer, healthier and more equitable place.
Because we feel so strongly about the importance of educating future health professionals about historical and modern mechanisms of structural racism and their direct connection to health inequity, we were outraged to learn about the content of the Executive Order issued by the White House on September 22nd. This order is clearly designed to silence the voices of educators who dare to acknowledge that racism in our society is not a thing of the distant past, “soundly defeated on the blood-stained battlefields of the Civil War.” The Executive Order cynically cloaks itself in praise of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and other champions of racial equity, while it twists and distorts the laudable goals of diversity, equity and inclusion to present them as “divisive” and “malign”.
In the face of this cynical and vicious attack on free expression of ideas, we could simply choose to put our heads down and continue with our work, knowing that the picture painted of diversity training in the Executive Order is nothing more than a crude and distorted caricature. We could choose to carry on and not make a fuss, knowing the truth that our diversity and equity initiatives do not, as suggested in the order, portray people or our country as “irredeemable” or claim that a person’s race or sex makes them “automatically an oppressor.” We can hope that the result of the November 3 election will make this all go away. But we believe that ignoring this attack on our academic freedom would be a mistake. This order is antithetical to our principles as scholars, educators, and citizens and we must speak out. Already we have seen the chilling effect this Executive Order has had both inside and outside of academia, with institutions and organizations cancelling diversity trainings for fear of losing federal support for research and programs.
We in the UIC School of Public Health choose to stand up and speak out against what we recognize as overt censorship. We have a shared understanding that public health professionals are expected not just to understand health inequity and its causes, but also to take action to attack those causes at their roots. This important process is dependent on robust discussions around diversity, equity and inclusion, because it is silence on these issues that makes our academic institutions and individual stakeholders complicit in racist processes. While the Executive Order calls such discussions divisive, we have seen that these opportunities bring people together. They foster empathy, understanding and shared meaning, and allow us to grow personally and professionally. With critical reflection as part of public health education, we all can become better members of society and better teachers and scholars. We urge all who care about the principles of equity enshrined in the U.S. Constitution to join us in speaking out against this harmful and misleading Executive Order.
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Signatories Heading link
Wayne H. Giles, MD, MS
Dean of the UIC School of Public Health
Dr. Linda Forst
Senior Associate Dean
Rashid Ahmed, PhD
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
David DuBois, PhD
Associate Dean for Research
Jeni Hebert-Beirne, PhD
Interim Assistant Dean for Community Engagement
Supriya Mehta, PhD
Interim Associate Dean for Global Health
Kaye Oberhausen
Assistant Dean for Advancement
Karin Opacich, PhD
Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Public Health
Nadine Peacock, PhD
Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion
John Slavick
Assistant Dean for Student Affairs
Lorraine Conroy, PhD
Division Director, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Arden Handler, DrPH
Interim Division Director, Community Health Sciences
Dr. Ron Hershow
Division Director, Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Lisa Powell, PhD
Division Director, Health Policy and Administration
Christina Welter, DrPH
Director, DrPH Program in Leadership
Maggie Acosta
Research Specialist
Ashley Bieniek-Tobasco, PhD
Assistant Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Yvette Casteneda
Research Associate
Frank Cervone, PhD
Executive Director, Information Services
Aeysha Chaudhry
PhD Student
Saima Chaudhry
Grants and Contracts Associate
Kamil Czarnowski
Director of HR Operations
Mayra Diaz
Student
Sara Giloth
Director of Donor Relations
Sylvia Gonzalez
Project Manager, Center for Healthy Work
Alexis Grant
Community Engagement Fellow
Christopher Hollenbeck
IT Manager/Staff Committee Chair
Jyotsna Jagai, PhD
Research Assistant Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Elise Levin
Research Specialist
Alyson Lofthouse
Senior Associate Director, Global Health Program
Kimberly Miller
Director of Finance and Administration
Miguel Negrete
MPH Student
Fabiola Ochoa
Student
Robert Schroeder
Director of Communications and Marketing
Robin Sylvester
Director of Research Services
Alisa Velonis, PhD
Assistant Professor of Community Health Sciences