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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) announced new findings from its ongoing investigation into Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) and its use of federal grant money to implement unlawful “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) practices.
Millions of taxpayer dollars have been funneled into WashU’s projects that embed racial quotas, ideological training, and identity-based pipelines into medical education, clinical research, and patient care—diverting resources away from true scientific inquiry and equal treatment under the law.
“The American people expect their tax dollars to fund cures and treatments, not to bankroll a political agenda,” said Megan Redshaw, attorney for AFL. “WashU is embedding race, gender, and ideology into its research from the outset. This means the ‘findings’ are predetermined to validate DEI frameworks, rather than test genuine scientific hypotheses—turning federal grants into a vehicle for social engineering instead of science.”
$5 million to run a nationwide “Neurosurgeon Research Career Development Program” that mandates DEI, builds a “pipeline program” to recruit based on identity, and embeds “diversity” into selection, mentoring, and leadership. $3.4 million to “increase” DEI in Alzheimer’s research, led by “diverse researchers” to recruit participants by race, and frames disparities as products of “systemic and systematic racism,” “ethnoracial factors,” and “classism.” $2.6 million for a “multi-level school Intervention for LGBTQ youth.” The program requires schools to establish “Gender & Sexuality Alliances,” trains teachers to act as public “allies” and run student campaigns to reshape school “climate,” “norms,” “attitudes,” and “policies.” $3 million into overseas vaccine uptake campaigns and ideological “equity” initiatives in Nigeria using African populations as test subjects under the guise of cancer prevention research. $2.6 million for a study on “intimate partner violence among sexual minority youth” that embeds sexual orientation and gender identity classifications into its research. $2.3 million to embed “equity in cancer screening through research” that embeds DEI quotas directly into clinical research, requiring that 25% of participants come from “underrepresented” racial groups. $2.3 million for cardiovascular research that treats diagnostic differences as “racial disparities.” $404,000 for a program to boost “diversity and inclusiveness” in the pediatric neuroscience workforce to “close the gap in health disparities.”
WashU has taken taxpayer dollars to embed DEI ideology into medicine and clinical research. These programs condition participation on race, gender, or identity to achieve pre-determined discriminatory outcomes, undermining equal treatment and corrupting the purpose of medical research. By aligning with the Biden Administration’s DEI agenda, WashU has abandoned merit, compromised integrity, and eroded public trust in science and education—all at taxpayer expense.
“WashU is using federal grant dollars to push DEI ideology into healthcare and classrooms. That’s not science—it’s political indoctrination masquerading as research,” Redshaw said. “Americans deserve a healthcare system built on merit and excellence.”
AFL asked the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an immediate investigation and enforcement action against WashU for its illegal DEI practices and to put an end to taxpayer-funded discrimination.
Read the full complaint here.
Read more about DEI practices at WashU here.
Learn more about AFL’s Merit-Based Medicine Initiative here.
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