LILLEY: Med schools shouldn’t lower standards for diversity

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It’s the lowering of the grade point average for med school that has annoyed most of the people I’ve heard from.

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In case you haven’t heard, Toronto Metropolitan University, the place we used to call Ryerson, says it will lower the GPA needed for med school based on race, ethnicity and other “Equity-Deserving” groups.

This isn’t fake news, this isn’t hyperbole, TMU’s new medical school will let you in if your GPA falls below their minimum if you check the right boxes.

“In exceptional circumstances, applicants in the three admissions pathways (Indigenous, Black, and Equity-Deserving) with a GPA below the minimum requirement of 3.3 may have their application considered for admission by the relevant pathway subcommittee,” the school’s website says.

The anger coming from the medical community, including doctors who come from minority communities, is palpable. People are furious that TMU is saying that if you are from certain groups, you don’t need to meet standard admissions criteria.

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This is a classic case of the soft bigotry of low expectations. It says that if you come from certain minority groups, we don’t expect as much of you.

“So, we are going to let you in even if you have a ridiculously low GPA. But if you’re black, indigenous, or gay, we will let you into med school with a ludicrously low GPA,” one doctor from a minority community wrote to me.

Another noted that there is no need to lower the GPA requirements since there are plenty of students from these communities who can pass the academic requirements to gain admission to med school. What’s remarkable is that the anger isn’t so much that TMU’s new med school will set aside 75% of their 94 spots for students from Black, Indigenous, or from “equity-deserving” groups but that the standards, especially for people from those groups, have been lowered.

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Applicants to TMU’s medical school don’t need a science or medical background, any four-year undergraduate degree will suffice. That is something that has been successful in other medical schools and isn’t a major problem.

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Most schools require that students pass the MCAT, the Medical College Admission Test, or use CASPer test, which evaluates situational decision making. At the TMU medical school neither of those tests will be required and, as already noted, if you are from one of the designated groups, you don’t even need to have done well in your gender studies degree, you just need “lived experience.”

“The government has spoken to TMU about their equity admissions,” Grace Lee, director of media relations for Premier Doug Ford, said Friday. “While we are making sure that Ontario students are prioritized for medical school seats in Ontario, medical schools must ensure that qualified individuals fill these seats, regardless of their race or background.”

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Health Minister Sylvia Jones has also weighed in saying on Global New Radio in Toronto saying she expects qualified candidates to fill the spots.

“I do have a problem with that,” Jones told host Alex Pierson in relation to the admissions criteria during an interview last week. “We have, as a government, been very clear that we must have individuals who are highly qualified and frankly top of class.”

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This is as it should be but sadly, at TMU and other schools, that’s not the case.

At Dalhousie’s medical school, at Simon Fraser, at the University of Alberta, there is an ever-increasing politicization of medicine. We are seeing the same thing happen at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, which wants to “centre values such as anti-oppression, anti-racism and social justice, rather than medical expertise.”

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It’s dangerous for patients, it is insulting the communities who are told expectations will be lowered, and it sends the wrong message all around.

Thankfully, some doctors like Mark D’Souza – who is not a white dude – are speaking out. Many more, including non-white dude doctors, are afraid to speak out for fear of reprisals, they’ve seen what has happened to Jordan Peterson.

By all means, Canadian medical schools should encourage diversity within their ranks, but they shouldn’t be lowering standards to do so.

Listen to Brian Lilley interview Dr. Mark D’Souza on the Full Comment podcast on the issue of politics in medicine. It was recorded on September 13, 2024, before the TMU admission guidelines were public.

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