LETTER TO THE EDITOR: VUMC did not need to erase its DEI footprint

Vanderbilt alumni and current VUMC employees argue that VUMC’s recent actions were an unnecessary response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

Truman McDaniel

The side of Eskind Biomedical Library, as photographed on Aug. 29, 2020. (Hustler Multimedia/Truman McDaniel)

By Lynne Berry, Joseph A. Little III and Sydney Afan Cornelison

Feb 17, 2025

Dear Editor,

We have significant concerns about VUMC’s website and social media purge of all things DEI-related. The Hustler’s Feb. 4 article points to “[VUMC’s] contractual relationship with several government entities” that “requir[es] it to comply with federal regulatory guidelines.” However, we believe this was an unnecessary step preemptively and willingly taken by VUMC.

We have not been able to find any executive order that mandates the actions VUMC has taken. The two most likely:

EO#14173 (21 Jan 2025) requires recipients of federal funding to comply with all applicable federal anti-discrimination laws. This is nothing new: VUMC is already required to comply with all applicable laws in all areas.
EO#14151 (20 Jan 2025) takes a wrecking ball to DEI programs in all federal agencies and departments. VUMC is neither a federal agency nor a federal department. It is a private institution.

VUMC leadership has not, to our knowledge, specified these or any other discrete action or other legislation as the impetus for its actions.

Is VUMC’s funding currently at risk? Yes, absolutely. All federal funding for healthcare and biomedical research is currently at risk. However, does current federal law mandate that VUMC shutter DEI programs and purge websites of select subsets of truth and fact?

We believe the answer to this second and entirely separate question is a resounding no.

The VUMC Credo begins, “We provide excellence in health care, research and education. We treat others as we wish to be treated.” Yet VUMC leadership has chosen to scrub our websites of references not only to DEI but also to principle, fact and truth — the principle of equal access to healthcare; the fact of social drivers of health; the truth of health disparity.

Absent any clear federal mandate, why has VUMC leadership made this choice?

We hope The Hustler will continue its coverage of this important issue.

Sincerely,

Lynne Berry, PhD ‘97

Joseph A. Little III, BA ‘72, MD ‘77

Sydney Afan Cornelison

About the Contributors

Lynne Berry, Guest Writer

Lynne Berry is a research assistant professor of biostatistics at VUMC. She earned her PhD in cell biology from Vanderbilt in 1997.

Joseph A. Little III, Guest Writer

Joseph A. Little III is a pediatrician in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He earned his BA from Vanderbilt in 1972 and his MD from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1977.

Sydney Afan Cornelison, Guest Writer

Sydney Afan Cornelison is a senior research data specialist in VUMC’s department of biostatistics.

Truman McDaniel, Former Multimedia Sports Specialist

Truman McDaniel (2023) is a student in the College of Arts & Science majoring in Environmental and Ecological Biology and Political Science. In his free time, he enjoys taking pictures, drinking coffee and watching movies. He can be reached at truman.j.mcdaniel@vanderbilt.edu.

Comments (6)

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vandy student

1 month ago

Obviously it was a preemptive move…they want to stay out of the crosshairs of the anti-DEI folks in charge of their precious funding, as do other prominent private institutions funded by NIH that are doing the same thing. The writers suggest VUMC should wait to be legally forced to scrub DEI, but VUMC doesn’t want to reach that point, for justifiable reasons.

The research funding at risk saves lives while DEI initiatives do not. Tough pill to swallow but easy call to make from admin perspective.

Vandy student

Reply to vandy student

If you genuinely think that DEI doesn’t save lives when it’s been proven that patients do better when they have providers similar to them, then I pray you never enter the medical field.

-4

Reply to Vandy student

So if a white patient declined care from a black doctor using this same logic, is that racist? Are you saying black doctors are not as capable of taking care of patients who aren’t black?
Also, for anyone like this commenter who believes in this nonsense theory of racial concordance, it actually has *not* been proven! Do your own research y’all and think for yourselves.

-6

Paul Hemphill

DEI is an affront to the spirit of our Constitutional Republic & all its foundational documents . A revolution was fought against England’s imposition of rigid rules & regulations & laws which destroyed the liberty of the people to reach their hopes & dreams without governmental mandates. DEI operates contrary to merit because of its arbitrary impositions of categories. And BTW, what percentage of race is relevant? Think about that, please. My wife is 25 % Cherokee & asks for no preference anywhere. Incidentally she has a bit more native American blood than Sen. “Pocahontas” Warren.. (Class of ’70, Perry Wallace classmate)

John Burnett

Reply to Paul Hemphill

“DEI operates contrary to merit because of its arbitrary impositions of categories.” This is a pitiful and simply wrong characterization of DEI initiatives. The fact is that Vanderbilt, like other national institutions, should resist the racist executive orders that do not, in fact, even purport to compel VU to act. (Class of ’74)

Just Asking

26 days ago

Reply to John Burnett

Should the NBA, NFL, MLB, NCAA athletics, MLS, USA Track & Field, all be required to diversify their participants to look like the rest of the country? So what if the product suffers, all that matters is the DEI ratios and check boxes right?

OR…Perhaps America is a meritocracy and the best rise up to the top in their chosen fields.