FIRST ON FOX: Leaked video obtained by Fox News Digital shows school administrators at an Illinois school of medicine rejecting multiple Trump executive orders, including on combatting DEI, and outlining how the school plans to fight back against them.
Trump’s executive order on gender ideology “is an attack on women” and on “basic human rights,” according to Dr. Jerry Kruse, Dean, Provost, and CEO of Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Medicine. Kruse recently gave a speech in a small group discussion about Trump’s executive orders and actions that was obtained by the medical and policy advocacy group Do No Harm.
“We will resist obeying in advance. We won’t do any anticipatory obedience,” Kruse said. “The existing laws have not changed, no court directives will require any change in compliance at this time.”
Kruse added that “these executive orders and actions and the general philosophy that they espouse constitute direct attacks on all that is important to us” while mentioning science, higher education and healthcare.
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“More importantly, these orders and actions constitute a direct attack on the people we serve, the people to whom we are accountable,” he said.
Kruse explained that the school of medicine is “very fortunate” to be part of a university system that is “on top of it” in terms of pushing back on Trump’s executive orders.
Kruse also claimed that the executive orders on immigration and DEI from the Trump administration are “an attack on human rights and on justice and fairness” that “have engendered fear among large segments of the population of law-abiding people.”
At one point in his speech, Kruse said he would provide employees with the “resources” to “fight back.”
The SIU school system has been active in promoting DEI in recent years, and it was a topic discussed in the presentation.
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“The work that we are doing around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is a life or death issue for some people,” Dr. Wendi El-Amin, Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, said during the presentation.
The school’s website hosts a page featuring its work on DEI that says it works to “ensure that our students, residents, faculty, and staff reflect the demographics of central and southern Illinois while also equipping them with the knowledge and skills to address health disparities through culturally responsive care, patient access, education, and health literacy initiatives.”
In February of this year, the SIU Board of Trustees reaffirmed its commitment to DEI and the school’s VP of anti-racism and DEI, Sheila Caldwell, claimed that DEI is “lifesaving” and has had measurable improvements for minority students in retention rates.
SIUSOM receives millions in active grant funding from NIH and HHS and Dr. Donald Torry, Associate Dean for Research, said during the presentation that none of the grant funding has been affected so far.
In terms of immigration executive orders, Dr. Vidhya Prakash, Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and Population Health and Chief Medical Officer, said during the presentation that a school dean recently sent an email to faculty members instructing them not to comply with ICE and that they should call security if a situation arises.
“So please understand that no member of our school of medicine whether it’s an employee or its a trainee, should have to engage in conversation or discourse with ICE,” she said, adding that the school has patients who are “afraid” and live in fear of being apprehended.
“Continue doing what you have been doing,” Paulette Dove, Senior Counsel for Health Affairs for the SIU system, said during the presentation, adding that the “law has not changed.”
“These issues demand a strong institutional and collective response,” Kruse said. “Thankfully, the SIU system stands firm with a strong voice. SIU president Dan Mahoney has stated that we will hold our ground and that ‘the executive actions are antithetical to the values of our institution, the SIU system.'”
Lauren Crocks, the university’s director of marketing, communications, and engagement, told Fox News Digital that “Southern Illinois University School of Medicine is committed to following the law.”
“By putting itself directly at odds with President Trump, the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine is begging to be investigated by the federal government,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, Chairman at Do No Harm, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “In this unearthed video, the School of Medicine’s Dean, Senior Counsel, and other officials openly and repeatedly flaunt their contempt for the Administration’s orders to promote meritocracy and protect children from sex-change procedures.
“While defying executive orders and obsessing over DEI and gender ideology, SIUSOM somehow continues to receive millions of taxpayer dollars from the National Institutes of Health. The school’s officials made their playbook clear: ignore executive orders until forced to obey; this strategy must be exposed and nipped in the bud. SIUSOM must stop prioritizing identity politics over patients.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller touted Trump’s efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs on Thursday.
Miller appeared alongside White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt during a Thursday morning briefing, declaring that the administration is bringing a “system of merit” back to the U.S.
“This administration is not going to let our society devolve into communist, woke, DEI strangulation,” Miller said. “We are going to have a system of merit.”
“It’s not just a social and cultural issue, it’s an economic issue. When you hire, retain and recruit based on merit, as President Trump has directed, you advance innovation, you advance growth, you advance investment, you advance job creation,” he added.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
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