BOSTON, MA--May 8, 2003--Racial and ethnic diversity in the student population is a positive influence that helps medical students work more effectively with patients of different backgrounds, according to a study in the May Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. The findings were cited in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court in the University of Michigan affirmative action case.
In conducting the survey, faculty at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Graduate School of Education used telephone interviews to reach students at Harvard and the University of California, San Francisco medical schools. Fifty-five percent of the students were reached and 96 percent of these responded. The ethnic and racial composition of the students surveyed was comparable to the makeup of U.S. medical students as a whole.

Asked if interaction with students of diverse backgrounds was a positive element in their educational experience at medical school, 94 percent of the students agreed, and the responses did not differ significantly among races. Seventy-six percent indicated that a diverse student body improved their ability to care for patients of different races, while only 4 percent said diversity was little or no help.

"I think this is simply a recognition of the fact they're going to be practicing in a multicultural society, and since little of the multicultural component is going to come from faculty, it has to come from other students," said lead author Dean Whitla, director of the Counseling and Consulting Psychology Program and lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Of perhaps even more relevance to the Supreme Court case is that 90 percent of all students believed that affirmative action should be strengthened or maintained at medical schools, while only 3 percent thought it should be discontinued.

"There are very few data that address students' own perceptions of the role of diversity in the classroom," said Joan Reede, HMS dean for diversity and community partnership and one of the study's authors. "In terms of medical education, diversity opens people's eyes to the kinds of issues, perspectives, and populations they're going to be treating in the future."

"I think this study is important in that it modifies the dialogue to incorporate not only what administration and faculty deem to be important but also to include what students think is important," Reede added.

The survey began by asking students about their interactions with students of different races. Interaction increased steadily through their educational lives; on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being often and 1 none, 50 percent of students rated their interaction with those of other races as a 4 or 5 before and during secondary school; 67 percent gave that high rating for their college years; and 85 percent did so for medical school.

"It was surprising that students hadn't had a great deal of contact with students of different backgrounds until they went to college, and that was true for both African Americans and for the whole student body, in fact. But 90 percent of them had friends of a different racial or ethnic background when they left medical school," said Whitla.

Eighty-four percent of students surveyed believed that diversity improved classroom discussions, leading to more examples and increased discussion of alternative viewpoints, though they did not think that diversity necessarily led to higher levels of intellectual conflict or challenge.

The researchers said that some majority students commented in open-ended questions that high diversity was an important factor in their choice of medical school and they felt that it was an honor to be chosen at a school known for efforts to recruit minorities.

These high numbers were unexpected. "If you do a lot of social science research, you don't expect to find such overwhelming support for a concept such as diversity," said Whitla.

"What this study doesn't tell you is whether the effect lasts," Reede said. "It doesn't tell you that it changes how students practice medicine down the road. We have classes that have been more or less diverse, and it would be very interesting to see how diversity has or has not shaped the thinking, actions, and behavior of Harvard alums."
 

The Medical School the most diverse student populations at Harvard: 26% Asian, 12% Black, 8% Hispanic, 2% Native American.

Other schools at Harvard could learn from the kind of institutional changes that brought this diversity about.
 

Interesting article about the role of diversity to help medical students. Shouldn't the same argument extend to public service?

In contrast to the Medical School, students at the Kennedy School of Government are 7% Asian, 5% black, 6% Hispanic, 1% Native American.

It's OK to have minority doctors but not so much political representatives. Perhaps those are to come from the Law School, not Government.
 

Maybe minorities who apply to Harvard are more interested in making big bucks and not so interested in public service?
 

Maybe docs at HMS just understand better the demographic transformation of the country than profs at JFK...
 

Who appointed the Deans at HMS and JFK?
 

How odd that enrollments at HMS are much more diverse than at HSPS:

HMS HSPS
Asian 26% 12%
Black 12% 4%
Hispanic 8% 4%

Source: http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/budget/factbook/current_facts/2006OnlineFactBook.pdf
 

Why doesn't the Crimson interview Deans Donoff and Bloom to understand their views on the value of Diversity. Actually, why not interview all of the Deans on that subject?
 

Whatever happened with Evelynn Hammonds, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity ... Did her office ever published a report identifying what the needs on this topic were at Harvard? For instance, a report on the number of minority faculty at different levels of the tenure ladder?
 

In 1995 a group of Harvard Undergraduates launched a quarterly publication 'Diversity and Distinction' to discuss issues of difference at Harvard.

I understand that the magazine died during the Presidency of Summers, after 10 year of uninterrupted success. Does anyone out there know why?
 

Is it true that those who most need to publicly affirm their commitment to diversity are those who in private are least committed to it?

"I take pride in Harvard's longstanding commitment to diversity. I believe it is essential for us to maintain that commitment, working to create an ever more open and inclusive environment that draws on the widest possible range of talents. Our approach to admissions, cited as a model in the nation's highest court, advances our compelling interest in racial and other forms of diversity. Diversity contributes to educational excellence by enabling outstanding students, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds to come together and learn from one another. I look forward to working with colleagues at Harvard and elsewhere to promote ever greater opportunity for all."

Lawrence Summers. January 2, 2002.
 

For a historical study of Diversity at Harvard by Neil Rudenstine see:

http://www.neilrudenstine.harvard.edu/pdfs/diversit.pdf
 

Faculty Diversity? Not at Harvard...

http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/030218.html
 

How much diversity is there among the Deans at Harvard?
 

Whatever happened to the survey of junior faculty???

In October of 2005 Evelyn stated:

"We will be getting more and better data on our faculty, beginning with a survey of junior faculty this fall. We will support programs to encourage more women and minority students to concentrate in the sciences and engineering while enhancing the research experience of all students in these fields...

The number of African-American women at Harvard is likely to remain low for the next decade in large measure because the pool from which we draw faculty contains so few women from this group...

If we want the numbers of African-American women faculty to increase at Harvard, then more African-American women at Harvard College have to decide to become academics."

Would it be helpful to this cause to have some role models?
 

The Simpsons are an original commentary on diversity in America.
 

Episode: Homer the Heretic (Homer is conversing with Apu about the statue of Ganesha sitting on the counter)

Homer: Hey, Ganesha, wanna peanut?
Apu: Sir, please do not offer my god a peanut.
Homer: No offense, Apu, but when they were handing out religions, you must've been out taking a whiz.
Apu: (angrily) Mr. Simpson, please pay for your purchases and get out and(cheerily) come again!

Much of the humor in the situation, granted, derives from the use of the characters as stereotypes, but focus on the reactions to the lines (yours and the characters). Why might Homer's first line be considered amusing (while clearly Apu does not)? How is his second line different from his first? Does Homer now become a bigot or is he just an asshole?
 

Why are there almost no black characters in the Simpsons?

There are only 3 black characters of any significance on the show - Carl, Lou the cop, and Dr. Hibbert. The number seems small, but when you factor in the sheer amount of characters on the show it seems incredibly paltry. Blacks make up 10% of America - what happened to equal proportions? If anything, "The Simpsons" should, from casual reasoning, have more black characters - they're not restricted by hiring black actors, since they can simply animate characters with whatever skin tone that they want. So why, on such an intelligent show, does there seem to be such a stunning bias?
 

Since pretty much every character on the show is one sort of asshole or another, maybe they're just avoiding portraying African-Americans as assholes -- in a despicably PC manner.
 

Seven Years Later...

It's been seven years since the infamous tete a tete between Cornell West and Larry Summers. Seven years is a long time. It's interesting to reflect on:

...what's happened to Cornell West since

...what's happened to Larry Summers since

...what's changed at Princeton since

...what's changed at Harvard since

Perhaps this is a good time to plan a conference on Diversity at Harvard that examines what exactly has changed there on that matter...