News/Commentary

‘Sill reeling’: Johns Hopkins dean apologizes to staff for DEI ‘hit list’ – no exit for diversity chief

January 15, 2024 | | Print Article

Johns Hopkins Medical School (JHM) is “still reeling” from the outrage sparked by a DEI “hit list” sent internally by Dr. Sherita Hill Golden, diversity officer for the JHM system, that labeled all whites, Christians, men, and more as “privileged.”

Theodore L. DeWeese, the Dean of the Medical Faculty, and Kevin W. Sowers, president of Johns Hopkins Health System, issued an apology to “the Johns Hopkins community,” the popular “End Wokeness” account reported on Saturday, and, on Sunday, the account posted a JHM memo featuring “talking points” staffers should refer to when questioned about the leaked DEI email.

“Every month, the Johns Hopkins Medicine Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity distributes a newsletter from JHM’s chief diversity officer, Dr. Sherita Golden,” the apology letter began.

“Regrettably, the January edition of this newsletter, which was distributed to all Johns Hopkins Medicine employees yesterday, included a definition of privilege that runs counter to the values of our institution, and our mission and commitment to serve everyone equally,” the school leaders continued. “Dr Golden heard the feedback from our community, sincerely apologized, and retracted the definition. We fully support and appreciate her decision to do so, and as leaders of Johns Hopkins Medicine, we too repudiate this language.”

As BizPac Review reported, Golden’s drama began with an internal Martin Luther King Jr. Day newsletter that was leaked on X by a hospital worker.

In it, she defined so-called “privilege” as “a set of unearned benefits given to people who are in a specific social group” and named as examples:

  • White people
  • Able-bodied people
  • Heterosexuals
  • Cisgender people
  • Males
  • Christians
  • Middle or owning class people
  • Middle-aged people
  • English-speaking people

“Privilege is characteristically invisible to people who have it,” the newsletter read. “People in dominant groups often believe they have earned the privileges they enjoy or that everyone could have access to these privileges if only they worked to earn them.”

After End Wokeness’s original post on the story went viral, the Johns Hopkins DEI Office “retracted their ‘privilege list,'” the account reported.

DeWeese and Sowers hope the DEI smear — and the understandable fury that it fueled — can be viewed as a learning moment.

“For us as a community,”  they wrote in their apology letter, “we hope this can be an opportunity for reflection on how we build bridges and connection even around challenging topics.”

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On Sunday, End Wokeness reported, “Johns Hopkins is still reeling from the leaked DEI email.”

The “talking points” list issued by JHM repeats the previous statements and urges employees to state, “We are committed to embracing and celebrating our differences and educating and developing our staff and learners.”

The final talking point stresses Johns Hopkins’ commitment to the DEI agenda.

“We have made important progress in advancing diversity and inclusion at JHM and remain committed to those initiatives,” it reads. “It is the language of this particular definition that we disagree with.”

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“The damage control going on at these woke institutions like Johns Hopkins is hilarious,” one user on X wrote in response to the latest update. “They still don’t realize that they can avoid this whole mess by getting rid of DEI completely.”

“They keep trying to fit square pegs into round holes,” the user said. “They won’t learn until it’s too late.”

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Melissa Fine
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