Critical race theory taught at America’s top veterinary schools, new study finds

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Diversity, inclusion curriculum is pervasive across veterinary schools: Prof. Bill Jacobson

Cornell University law professor Bill Jacobson argues racial equity training at vet schools imposes a pure, ideological power play.

Eight of America’s top 11 veterinary schools have implemented controversial critical race theory (CRT) or Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) related curricula or training, according to a new study. 

"If veterinary schools think they are advancing racial justice by embedding racial group identity politics into training, they are barking up the wrong tree," CriticalRace.org founder William A. Jacobson told Fox News Digital. 

CriticalRace.org, which monitors critical race theory (CRT) curricula and training in higher education, has expanded its database to veterinary schools. The findings included that four of the schools have mandatory training or curriculum for students, eight have some sort of mandatory faculty and staff training, and six have incorporated DEI training into their search and hiring processes. 

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Cornell Law School professor and Legal Insurrection Foundation president William A. Jacobson founded CriticalRage.org. (FOX)

"Nothing shocks us anymore about the push to inject CRT/DEI into education, but we didn't expect that it would be so aggressive in veterinary schools," Jacobson continued. "The ideological capture of top veterinary schools demonstrates that CRT/DEI is not about pet care, it's about controlling people with ideology. It's not like the patients are howling for their doctors to be social justice warriors." 

Jacobson, Clinical Professor of Law at Cornell Law School and founder of the Legal Insurrection website, believes there has been a concerted effort to push women, along with racial and ethnic minorities, into the veterinary profession. 

"In 2005, when the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) formally announced its "DiVersity Matters" initiative, aimed at increasing enrollment of non-white vet students. Thereafter in 2020, the American Veterinary Medical Association announced a partnership with the AACVM to form the Commission for a Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Veterinary Profession," CriticalRace.org wrote in a summary of the study. 

"Its stated goal was to promote ‘the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the veterinary profession’ and increase ‘diversity among veterinarians, veterinary school applicants and enrollees, interns, residents, and board-certified specialists.’ The AAVMC now states that ‘the number of racially and/or ethnically underrepresented students currently is about 20 percent of total enrollment,’ the summary continued. "Data collected by CriticalRace.org reveals that among America’s top veterinary schools, there is a strong commitment to building a race-conscious bureaucratic apparatus, one intent on implementing and spreading the values aligned with and that perpetuate DEI and CRT."

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Pet owners might be sending their animals to a veterinarian who was forced to learn critical race theory (CRT) or Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.  (iStock)

The CriticalRace.org study was based on the U.S. News "Top 10 Veterinary Schools" but included eleven because the list featured a tie. University of California – Davis, Cornell University, Colorado State University, North Carolina State University, Ohio State University, Texas A&M University at College Station, University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin – Madison, University of Florida, University of Georgia and University of Minnesota – Twin Cities were the featured schools. The study also found that seven of them even provide reporting tools for students to report incidents of bias or violations of inclusivity.

Veterinary programs at UC Davis, NC State and Cornell were among the schools found to have mandated school-wide training, while Wisconsin and Pennsylvania require it for faculty. 

"There seems to be no self-reflection from the schools about the unseriousness of the DEI endeavor in veterinary care," Jacobson said. "Sometimes absurdity proves a point, and it certainly does with CRT/DEI in veterinary schools. There seems to be no limit to which purveyors of racialized education will go."

Jacobson also appeared on Fox Business Network’s "Varney & Co." Monday to discuss the findings. 

"It’s just an ideological power play, it’s taking something that should be free of ideology, which is caring for your pets, and injecting racial group identity into it, and it’s pervasive across the top veterinary schools," Jacobson said. 

WHAT IS CRITICAL RACE THEORY?

CriticalRace.org, which monitors critical race theory (CRT) curricula and training in higher education, has expanded its to database included veterinary schools.  (King Street Cats)

Host Stuart Varney appeared dumbfounded over what CRT has to do with pets, and why it would be taught in veterinary schools. 

"It has nothing to do with pet care, and that’s the whole point, this has nothing to with taking better care of your pets," Jacobson said. "It has to do with imposing a political structure on education, which is something we’ve seen almost everywhere in the country. So, one thing has nothing to do with the other, it’s a pure ideological power play and it’s pervasive in veterinary medicine now." 

Jacobson said that medical schools push the notion that patients must share the same skin color with their doctors to receive the best possible care. 

"We know that’s ridiculous and that’s not true, but it becomes truly absurd when it applies to taking care of pets," Jacobson said. "Your dog, or your cat or your guinea pig couldn’t care less about the ideology of their veterinarian, much less the veterinarian’s skin color."

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CriticalRace.org previously examined CRT being taught in elite private K-12 schools, universities, medical schools and military service academies.

"The negative effects of separating people into racial classifications and group identities will be just as destructive in veterinary schools as it has been in medical schools, higher education, and K-12. Setting people against each other based on skin color and ethnicity serves no proper purpose anywhere, and it certainly doesn't improve human or pet care," Jacobson said. 

CriticalRace.org is a project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, a non-profit devoted to campus free speech and academic freedom.