“A ‘People First’ Approach”: Dalhousie Medical School Removes Portraits of White Deans in the Name of Inclusivity

We have previously discussed schools such as Harvard, Yale, and even courts removing portraits of white people in the name of inclusivity despite complaints that the left is engaging in its own form of racism. The media as praised these efforts and, in one case, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow spurred Rockefeller University to change what she derided as the “Dude Wall.” Now Canada’s Dalhousie University Medical School has joined these ranks in ordering the removal of  former “old” and “white” deans in a campaign to “put people first” … with some obvious exceptions.

Dean of Medicine David Anderson announced the portrait cleansing in a message as part of the school’s “Valuing People” initiative. He declared that showing former white deans was inimical to “creating positive, safe, and inclusive environments for people to thrive.”

He claimed that the appearance of white people in the portraits make students feel unwelcomed and “dominated by senior male white leaders.” In other words, their race was viewed as interfering with maintaining a healthy and friendly environment.

This exclusion was all done in the name of inclusion, part of the Orwellian logic of today’s culture in higher education.

What is lost is the history of the institution and the recognition of those who built the medical school regardless of their race. Whatever they may have done for the school has been now superseded by their race and gender. As greater gender and racial diversity is achieved, those portraits show an institutional progression that is reflective of a changing society and profession.