Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education suspends DEI enforcement after Trump executive order
A top medical school accreditor has backed off of its DEI mandates.
The accreditor’s decision follows an executive order by President Donald Trump targeting leftist bias in the accreditation process.
A top accreditor for U.S. medical residency programs has paused enforcement of its diversity mandates after President Donald Trump recently issued a sweeping executive order targeting leftist bias in the accreditation process.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)—which accredits all medical residency and fellowship programs in the country—has relaxed several of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) requirements just weeks after Trump signed an executive order on April 23 aimed at holding accreditors accountable for platforming ideological agendas rather than academic excellence.
[RELATED: UCLA medical school continues to use racial preferences: REPORT]
According to a May 9 statement, ACGME leadership said it was responding to “significant concerns” from stakeholders in multiple states and federal institutions about whether its DEI policies violated state or federal law.
The executive order signed by Trump, called “Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education,” empowers the U.S. Department of Education to assess whether accreditors like ACGME are unlawfully promoting race-based preferences in education—and to strip them of their federal recognition if necessary.
“The standards for training tomorrow’s doctors should focus solely on providing the highest quality care, and certainly not on requiring unlawful discrimination,” the order states.
[RELATED: Ohio U will ‘sunset’ DEI offices in response to new state law]
Watchdog group Do No Harm previously noted how ACGME and other accrediting bodies were quietly enforcing racial preferences and radical ideology across the medical field.
“ACGME has finally cracked after three months of doubling-down on its commitment to radical identity politics,” Do No Harm senior fellow Dr. Travis Morrell told National Review.
ACGME is not the only accreditor to turn its back on DEI. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, a group that accredits medical schools across the United States, announced earlier this month that it will also no longer consider DEI programs during its evaluations.
Campus Reform has contacted the ACGME for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.