Dana Kennedy writes for the New York Post about good news in the fight against the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda.
Conservative activist Kenny Xu … says he’s notched another anti-DEI win at the University of North Carolina — with the help of a renowned, African-born, US-based heart surgeon.
Xu persuaded Harvard-trained Dr. Nche Zama, 66, who was born in the Republic of Cameroon and immigrated alone to the US at age 14 with just $20, to speak at one of the anti-DEI events Xu organized in Chapel Hill in February aimed at getting the UNC medical school to back off its policies.
Now UNC’s medical school says it has disbanded its DEI task force, adding that it has no plans to implement its recommendations now or in the future.
“The most important issue should be educational excellence but it’s the one thing missing in all these DEI policies,” Zama, 66, a Pennsylvania-based cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon who was raised in a grass hut in Cameroon, told The Post about why he spoke on behalf of Xu’s campaign.
“I’m all for diversity and inclusion but I believe these issues should be grounded in excellence in education.”
Zama and Xu, the founder of Color Us United, had objected to recommendations made by a DEI task force set up by the school.
They had been supported by FIRE (The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), which wrote to the UNC Medical School to say the organization was concerned about possible First Amendment violations incurred by the school’s DEI policies.
But the school revealed it was backing off of many of its 84 DEI task force recommendations in response to the letter from FIRE.
“The recommendations have not been operationalized and the task force has concluded its work,” the school said in its response to FIRE, sent in May.
The letter also said there is no plan to implement the task force’s recommendations now or in the future.
