Abstract
To analyze data from the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs (ASMPDC) to assess the impact of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) 2023 decision on pediatrics departments practices to promote faculty diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and to examine whether the impact of the decision differed in publicly vs privately funded institutions as well as departments in states with or without anti-DEI legislation.
We used 2022 and 2024 AMSPDC cross-sectional surveys to compare the number of departments offering or mandating DEI training, as well as the frequency of department programs focused on recruitment, retention, and assessment of DEI, by year and by private vs state funding.
Survey response rate was 45% (67/148). Although there were no changes between 2022 and 2024 in the proportions of departments reporting mandatory or non-mandatory DEI training for faculty, staff, and trainees, there was a decrease in the prevalence of an assessment of department leadership diversity (79% vs 62%; P < 0.05) and using race and ethnicity in evaluating department turnover (77% vs 40%; P < 0.05). Departments in states with anti-DEI legislation were significantly less likely to mandate DEI training for trainees (26% vs 59%; P=0.02) and to have a department diversity recruitment plan (29% vs 67%; P < 0.01).
Changes between 2022 and 2024 underscore the combined adverse impact of the SCOTUS decision and state anti-DEI legislation. Departments in states with anti-DEI legislation were significantly less likely either to mandate DEI training for trainees or to have a department diversity recruitment plan. The SCOTUS decision and state anti-DEI legislation have the potential to result in further erosions of DEI activities in academic departments of pediatrics, as well as potential downstream effects on workforce and access.