Column: Is UCLA a ‘failed medical school’? Debunking a dumb right-wing meme

A “failed medical school”? The right-wing and Republican project to eradicate diversity and inclusiveness from American society has become more absurd with every passing day, but it will be hard for anyone to produce a more vapid and fatuous effort than a recent article labeling UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine as a “failed medical school.” The reason for that label, according to the right-wing Washington Free Beacon, which published the article, is that UCLA has “prioritized diversity over merit, resulting in progressively less qualified classes that are now struggling to succeed.” To its perverse credit, the Beacon doesn’t conceal the racist import of its claims; on the contrary, it announces it outright, citing the school’s “race-based admissions” and quoting one of its anonymous sources as saying, “We want diversity so badly, we’re willing to cut corners to get it.” An admissions officer is quoted anonymously as grousing, “All the normal criteria for getting into medical school only apply to people of certain races. The article’s author, Aaron Sibarium, wrings his hands over the fact that UCLA’s ranking in “research” has fallen to 18th from sixth place in just the first three years after Lucero’s arrival. “We’re not backing off from diversity, equity and inclusion in our medical school curricula,” Dubinett says. Does this validate the article’s assertion, voiced by an anonymous source, that “a third to a half of the medical school is incredibly unqualified”?