Congress moves to strip federal funding from medical schools with diversity programs
H.R. 3518 — To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit graduate medical schools from receiving Federal financial assistance if such schools adopt certain policies and requirements relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion. · Filed by Gregory Murphy (R-NC) · 16 cosponsors · Introduced May 20, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits graduate medical schools from receiving any federal financial aid—including student loans—unless they certify they do not have diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, do not require diversity statements, do not teach that systemic racism exists, and do not make distinctions among students based on race or ethnicity. Schools must also certify compliance with existing civil rights laws. The bill effectively bars schools with DEI programs from federal funding, forcing them to choose between federal money and DEI initiatives.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is not a neutral funding condition but a targeted prohibition on specific ideological content and institutional structures (DEI offices, diversity statements, teaching about systemic racism). It uses federal funding as leverage to enforce a particular worldview in medical education.
What the text implies
- Schools may face legal conflict between this bill's prohibitions and existing Title VI/Title IX obligations to address discrimination, creating a compliance trap where federal law contradicts federal funding conditions.
- The definition of 'diversity statement' and prohibited 'tenets' is vague enough to chill legitimate academic discussion of health disparities, medical history, and structural factors affecting patient outcomes—core medical education topics.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who it affects
The bill restricts schools' ability to address documented disparities in medical education and healthcare outcomes by eliminating DEI infrastructure, potentially reducing opportunities for underrepresented minorities in medicine and limiting schools' flexibility to comply with both federal civil rights law and their own institutional missions. Citizens—particularly those from underrepresented groups in medicine—lose access to programs designed to increase diversity in a profession that directly